Shadow Play

The blackeyed Susans are blooming. They make really cool shadows in the noon day sun...

Happily some things are ok....

The columbine is blooming....

"The Woods"

Our Pennsylvania wild cherry is full bloom. They do give off a pretty light scent. At one time the cherry was used extensively for furniture. We are lucky to have some Pennsylvania cherry furniture pieces in our home. Sadly the manufacturers have all closed...and now a lot of the stuff is made in China.


When we built our home we were in the deep woods. (today it is a residential development) We transplanted a many of the woodland violets as we could. Today, our yard and beds are full of violets.

We have kept the backyard fairly natural, so it still has the original woodland sense to it. The forest floor is starting to green up and the ferns are producing their fiddle heads right now

Profusion!

Everything is blooming all at once this year. I feel like I am living in a yard and garden magazine. Usually our flowers are staggered, but I get that week of 80 degree (86 degrees one day) just got everything all excited!

The daffodils are beautiful....

as are the tulips...

And one of my favorites are Forget-me-nots. I just let these little guys wander all over the beds....

BRING IT ON!!!!!!

The windows are open!!!!!

(This is so much nicer than the last screen shot I had!)

We have BLOOMER!!!!!

And the Bleeding Hearts are starting to sprout!!!

TRA LA LA!!!

Summer Phlox

A lovely pink phlox along the walkway at the cottage.

This one is going to be used on Sunday for the service slides for our powerpoint at church. I will add a scripture to it. I also will print the photo with scripture for notecards.

A June Beauty...

I always think I will remember....

We plant a bush here, plant a bush there, a certain kind of apple... and we will remember just what they are.

Well the truth of the matter is.... we have forgot.... and I never wrote it down years ago.

So this is a bush that gives me these lovely white flowers in June....

The name of the bush eludes me.....

I love how their little "faces" act like a sun dial.... when we have sun. Currently we are having a wet summer

A beauty of June....

The ants have finished their job... and the Peonies are open... and smell lovely!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's not warm out today......

It's raining and yukky.....

But I am getting my planting done.....

(and just what does this picture tell you? 1) it rained 2) someone broke a flower pot 3) we had corn on the cob for dinner....

This is lobelia....one of my favorite summer annuals. I could have pots and pots of them mixed with sweet potato vines all over the place!

Oh and this......Mums went to the vets today for her first check up and shots. This photo translates "I am not happy"

Flowers are everywhere!!!

Less than a month ago it was snowing.... and now everything is bursting forth.

This is flowering cherry. I love this plant...the leaves are a dark cherry color, along with the branches. The flowers have a lovely light spring scent.

My Favorite After Christmas Buy...

I love growing these, amaryllis bulbs. I wait until the after Christmas sales to buy the bulbs, I get one for me and one for my mom. We enjoy watching the growth during the hard cold month of January. Usually we get the reward of the beautiful red blooms for Valentine's day.

Susies Black Eyes

My husband had a friend, a retired Byzantine Priest, who was originally from Ukraine. He became a dear friend to me, as we shared the same interests... gardening, cross-stitch, and cooking. He use to call me and read recipes to me or challenge me with the height of our plants. "My iris' are 32 inches" he would say, "and my dear how tall are yours?" (mine had better be a bit shorter!). He always beat my husband at Gin-Rummy...always. I finally caught on to how he counted his cards...he always managed to add a few extra numbers to his hand! When my grandmother was still living, we would visit her on Sundays and then go to his home for dinner. After my grandmother passed away, this little routine sort of ended...until one day. FatherEmil called me up and told me he did not like the fact my grandmother died...since we no longer came to his house every Sunday for dinner ( he was a great cook). "So" he said "I will be your grandfather now and you will be my grand-daughter. And the grand-daughter must see the grandfather every Sunday for dinner." And so I became the grand-daughter to a priest. My card raised a few eyebrows at his funeral....

Father Emil had a unique way of saying things, and this is one of them.... "Black Eye Susans" that are pictured here he always called them Susies Black Eyes. He was a dear and is missed.

A very interesting plant

9PM last night a lady from my church called and told me that her "Night blooming cereus" was blooming. The night before it had 10 blooms, last night it had 6. They are absolutely beautiful. I have never heard of that particular tree before. What is so is interesting is the blooms are the size of good size hand and formed like a cup. They start to open around 9pm and continue opening until midnight. The fragrance is very sweet. At 6AM when she gets up they are done. That's it... a one night bloomer. It's hard to imagine all that work for one night.

View from the porch

Everything is blooming like crazy

...the Purple Cone Flowers are just coming out. The birds, while waiting their turn at the little feeder, try in vain to sit on them. I guess they have had a bit too many sunflower seeds....and the flowers won't hold them.

It's a dilly....

This is very tiny bee on just one tiny flower on the dill head.

Dill is one of my favorite herbs... I love the way it smells, I like it on potatoes, in salads, and I make my own flavored vinegars with it. I love opening that "summerinajar" in the dead of winter and using it on a salad.

This morning the garden was damp (from all the rain yet again yesterday)...but oh the wonderful aroma that is there....dill, oregano, lemon balm, lavender, mint, and the damp earth. I can just stay there all morning!!! I love when you brush up against a plant and you suddenly get that good smell.

I love summer....

All this space for me????

When my grandmother had reached the point that she had to give up her house and move into a home, I went a dug up a number of her plants. This is her clematis, and we have had it for 14 years now. (hard to believe she's been gone for over 10 years). For some reason it went growing nuts this year, and totally ignored the trellis and just spread itself out ( it is draped all over the lillies of the valley which came from the home of my other grandmother. I have a yard full of old friends...) . Frankly, I think it looks lovely all spread out.

I would have liked to have shared some fireworks photos.... except it ended up raining like crazy last night, and then got really foggy. Oh well...there will be next year...

We have been in a rain pattern for the last month... so now we have a yard full of mushrooms. They are everywhere. If I walk through the grass without shoes I can feel the slimy things...yuk!!!

I wonder if they do tell????

We have a whole bed of these wild daises. They are pretty to look at and the bees love them. I did this with a macro lenses. The center pattern is so pretty.

We call them Poo Daises because of their unique fragrance.......

Today we are taking a road trip...just for the day will be back late tonight. We are off to Gettysburg. (one of 4 favorite 'burgs)

Whining and Complaining has stopped...

The forget-me-nots are blooming. They are the tiniest little things...

I AM NOT COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!

Life is not a highway strewn with flowers,
Still it holds a goodly share of bliss,
When the sun gives way to April showers,
Here is the point you should never miss.
Though April showers may come your way,
They bring the flowers that bloom in May.
So if it's raining, have no regrets,
Because it isn't raining rain, you know, (It's raining violets,)
And where you see clouds upon the hills,
You soon will see crowds of daffodils,
So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,
Whenever April showers come along.
And where you see clouds upon the hills,
You soon will see crowds of daffodils,
So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,
Whenever April showers come along.