Day 329 - Still going strong

Amazingly, my birthday bonsai is still blooming in November! Must be doing something right. :)

Day 247 - Bonsai bloom

Keeping a close eye on it for the past two weeks, I was rewarded today when the one bud that's been showing color finally bloomed. It's not the perkiest flower, it actually looks a little peaked, but I'm just pleased I haven't killed the thing!

Day 234 - Birthday Bonsai

My son and daughter-in-law sent me the cutest little bonsai azalea for my birthday. It has lots of teensy little buds so it'll be interesting to see what it does since blooming season has passed. It's an outdoor type that's supposed to be able live in the same conditions as a normal azalea, but I don't know. At the moment it's sitting on the patio where I can keep a sharp eye on it.

I've never taken care of a bonsai, so I sure hope I don't murder its delicate little self!!

Day 149 - Planting time

One of the perennials we planted in the side bed last year has failed to make an appearance as it should have. So, needing a bit of fill-in, Lew planted this pretty little scabiosa pin cushion plant today (shearing through the automatic watering system hose in the process... ooops! - luckily, we're not using that zone right now.)

Day 90 - Dandelion Days

Not nearly as spectacular as yesterday's cherry blossoms, and certainly not as welcome, another rite of spring is the inevitable appearance of that all-too-familiar weed, the dandelion.

Day #165 - Lilies for lunch?

So all in all, it hasn't been the best past couple of days. After a major screw-up by Comcast, we finally have our cable and Internet back (if you're curious, I wrote about it on my blog,) but I noticed today that something is majorly munching on my lilies. Whatever it is is non discriminating - it likes the leaves and flowers. Erg!

Day #151 - Passion for purple

My clematis started opening yesterday and is in all stages of bloom - from buds, to creeping open, to fully open. I hope to get a shot of it in full bloom in a couple more days.

Day #150 - End Product...

The new bed that Lew worked so hard on is flourishing and got some finishing touches today with a few pieces of garden 'art' - birdie bath, sundial, frog house - tucked in here and there.

A favorite that my sister bought me years ago, this one gets a bit more worn each year.

Day #137 - Garden Goodies...

The impatiens we bought last night went into the ground today. Little by little we're getting everything planted and should be pretty much finished with everything this weekend. Unless, of course, I see something else I like. :)

Day #134 - Still digging...

So, today's picture was a toss-up between these flowers we just planted or the beautiful bouquet I got from my son for Mother's Day. I thought my tacky pink flamingo added a bit more interest. lol I bought the whirligig a few years ago as a joke and surprisingly have grown rather attached to the little beast. It kind of 'whimsifies' the bed - I like a little whimsy here and there.

Day #133 - Digging in the dirt...

My traditional favorite way to spend Mother's Day is digging in the dirt. It's usually safe to plant in our zone then, so the goodies we got before finally made their way into their new home today. I'm anxious to see how this mailbox bed fills in.

Day #132 - Fruits of his labor...

After a day of hard work for Lew, (more pics on my blog) the new bed is ready to receive its euonymous bushes.

Day #131 - Still more blooms...

(without flash)

(with flash)

Our rhododendron are all suffering from some kind of leaf damage this year, probably due to the irregular weather, but they're still presenting us with some beautiful flowers. Still waiting on two others to show their stuff, but this second one has burst into bloom in the last few days.

(If you enlarge the photos, the stamens look like they're painted with gold paint! Isn't that wild?)

Day #128 - Beauty in bloom...

At the risk of y'all getting sick to death of my flower/yard photos, I just couldn't resist our first rhododendron bloom of the season. And this is from a bush I thought was dying years ago. It's all scraggly and spindly and only gets a few blooms a year, but the flower is so unique and pretty I just hate to dig it up.

Day #126 - Cozy corner...

Lew got the replacement azalea (second from left) in the ground today, and the front corner of the yard is looking much better now without the dead bush or the gaping hole it left.

Day #125 - Plant zone...

We went to another nursery today and finally got the shrubs (euonymous) for alongside the garage that we've been talking about forever. Also picked up a hosta and bleeding hearts for the mailbox garden, along with ...

... a hanging verbena for the deck, and some New Guinea impatiens for an existing bed of sedum and lilies.

Still have more annuals to get, but these will give us a start-up with this season's planting.


And, the answer to yesterday's "what is it" - you all were so close!...




keep scrolling...





a little bit more...




One of our kitties' scratching toys... they scratch them to pieces!

Well done, ladies! Thanks for playing! :)

Day #123 - Dainty daisies and friends...

Stopped at our local nursery on the way home from the dentist and picked up the beginnings of a mailbox garden I'm planning to plant...

... some sweet little daisies, black-eyed susans, a couple of coleus varieties, and forget-me-nots.

And a bonus photo, Lew took a picture of me getting up close and personal with my new plants.

Day #121 - Spring Surprise...

We pruned the lilacs pretty severely last season, so I'm delighted and surprised with the number of blooms they're putting out this year - usually it takes a couple of seasons for them to return to their pre-pruning prolificness. And, oh boy, they smell absolutely scrumptious! The real surprise, though is the next photo...

Talk about bonus shots! Whoa! As you can see, it's a white dogwood. It's growing in among the lilacs (if you look close, you can see some blurred lilac/dogwood blooms to the left.) The bonus part? We never planted a white dogwood! We have two pink dogwoods on the other side of the yard. Isn't that too cool?

What's really weird is the lilacs have been there for years and started out as cuttings from my original three bushes. So, the dogwood can't be a mistake from the nursery or anything like that, not to mention the umpteen years it's taken for it to bloom.

Verrrry strange, but hey, who am I to question things? If Mother Nature wants a white dogwood growing in my lilacs... fine by me!

Day #120 - Lush succulence...

One of several sedums we planted a couple of years ago to fill in some bare spots. They're definitely doing what we intended - spreading like crazy and coming back healthier and greener each year. A nice, low maintenance plant, this one gets pretty, little yellow flowers later in the season.

Day #118 - Dogwood flower - petals of pretty...

I got this beauty at K-Mart in 1980-81 for a whopping $8. It took years for the silly thing to bloom - seems it was getting too much nitrogen from the lawn fertilizer and had to be mega-mulched - but it finally figured out what it was supposed to do and has been rewarding us with it's loveliness ever since. Now it's priceless.

Not wanting to get my camera (or me!) wet in the drizzle today, I took a quick close-up instead of putzing around trying to frame the whole tree for a full shot. Maybe when it's dry outside, I'll try again.