What's Happenin' in the Garden

I strolled through the garden on Sunday to see what was happening. Don't let these pictures fool you. They are pretty, for sure. But our yard is big so the color is really spread out.

 We have this Oklahoma Red Bud in the front yard. I love the horizontal nature of it.

 Close up of the red bud flowers.

 The dogwood is spectacular. It was a windy day when I took the pictures, so they are not the greatest.

 We have wild violets in the yard. You really have to look closely to find them amidst the grass.

This is a Forest Pansy Red Bud. It's a shade loving tree and doesn't get too tall. It's meant to be a tree that sits beneath other larger trees. It's also a darker---more fuscia color than purple.

 I love how it really adds color to the darker shade garden.

 The Virginia Bluebells are looking pretty weak this year. Maybe they need more fertilization.

 The same goes for the foamflower (tiarella cordifolia). I used to have several more plants.

 I seem to have only this one left.

I

 The bleeding hearts (dicentra) are gorgeous as always.

 The wind was really blowing when I took this picture. The "bishop's hat" (epimedium) is really low to the ground.

 This lenten rose (hellebores) is in my little white garden. It's really pretty, but wish they didn't have that droopy nature. It's kind of hard to see the flowers.

I have had this white climbing hydrangea for at least 15 years now. It has not flowered a single time. It's in a good sunny location, so I have no idea what the problem is. Maybe I got a male.

When we first moved in---19 years ago, I had bugleweed (ajuga) everywhere. I gave a lot of it away. Now I have just this little patch left. It's a nice ground cover. It looks nice next to the lamb's ear---which can really get out of control if you don't watch it.

 My lilac is just beginning to bloom.

          
Just walking near the lilac is heavenly. It smells so good. If I weren't going to be out-of-town for the next two week, I'd cut some for the house. By the time I get back, it will be gone. It's easy to miss.

And that just about covers what's happening in the garden right now. The peonies should be in bloom in a couple weeks.

A Few Things

Hey All!
Just a few things:
Sorry about my gigantic font. Ever since I had my blog revamped, the font has been off---no matter what I do. If I choose something smaller, it comes out very tiny. Yet, "normal"---what I've always used is huge. Even as I'm typing up the post, the size and font are fine. But as soon as I post it, it reverts to some other font and is gigantic---with gaps that are too large. Just wanted you to know that I'm aware of the problem, but not how to fix it. I guess it's not really a big deal, but it's going to cost me a fortune next January when I have this year's blog entries printed---many more pages!

 Mindy had her 10 year class reunion where she met up with her first friend in Nashville. Leigh Anderson was about a month old when we moved here---Mindy was 2 months old. We lived in the same neighborhood and they went all through school together. They've recently reconnected over dinner.

This is our next needlepoint project---a witch on a stick.
Here's another version of a witch on a stick!

 
Sandy, Victoria, Mitchell and Elizabeth standing in the pancake line at Pancake Pantry. Every time we go by there, the line is around the block. Butch has always shaken his head---"I can't believe anyone would stand in line for pancakes! I just don't get it." From the man who doesn't want to stand in any line waiting for food!

My hydrangeas are spectacular---pink, purple and blue on the same plant! And just to show you what lighting can do:

 These are those same hydrangeas. The lighting is bad---I took the photos at different angles.

This one is better, but still not true to life.

 A different angle and better yet, but still not the true colors.

 This one was the best of all the shots on the kitchen table. Then I moved the vase to the artificial light under the counter.

I never thought artificial lighting would actually show the truest color of all. I just learned something about photography and lighting. I don't claim to be any great photographer and am not all that concerned about it. But this little experiment has made me realize that I need to pay a little more attention to light.

You may have noticed that "Operation Organization" has disappeared. Well, just like a lot of people, I lose steam after a couple of months. But, I am happy to report, that I have gone through ALL of my papers in my scrapbook room. and have gotten rid of about an 18" stack. Yes, you read that right---18"---and I still have about 36" left! That's 3 feet of paper. Hmmm. Maybe it's more like 4 feet.

Lastly, someone has asked me to explain the card game "fan tan." Here goes. Any number can play. Deal out all of the cards (some people may wind up with an extra card). The player to the left of the dealer must put down a 7. If they do not have a 7, then they have to put a penny in the pot. Let's assume that player #1 has played the 7 of hearts. The next player now must either play another 7 or build on the 7 of hearts by playing either the 8 or the 6. If they cannot play, they pay a penny to the pot and play moves to the next player. The table will look something like this:

Play continues with each person making a play. If you cannot, you have to put a penny in the pot. The strategy comes in if you have more than one play---figure out which card will block the most and hold it as long as you can. If you have a play, you must play---you cannot pay a penny and pass. Aces are low. The first one to go out wins all the pennies---plus a penny for each card left in the other players hand. This is a great game for kids---teaches them matching and numbers. Our grandparents used to play it with us on Sundays when we were little. They would give each of us 25 pennies. It was always fun.

That's about it for now.

Gettin' my bloom on

I took these pictures before our trip. I plan to take a stroll through the garden again to see what's new. A lot happens pretty quickly here in the spring. I have some blooms I haven't seen in years. If you blink, you miss them. 

It's raining today and you know what they say about April showers. I love this time of year. Everything is so green. That doesn't last long. We still manage to keep our lawn partially green during the heat of summer due to our sprinkler system and the huge water bills to go with it. 

 I always look forward to the "creeping phlox." It provides such a cheery sight from the kitchen window.

'Hellebores'---lenten rose---is one of my first bloomers. I love their droopy nature.

I have white 'dicentra'---bleeding hearts in my white garden. This is a shady area, so white flowers really brighten up the space.

And, of course, I have to have the pink ones in the shade garden.

The hostas are popping up in front of the Virginia blue bells.

I don't remember the name of this fern amidst the bluebells.

This isn't even all the "babies" I have. I'm tellin' ya'---you need to come get some. They are beautiful.

The ostrich ferns spread a lot, but they are also easy to control. Either pull out the babies or give them away. I'd rather give them away.

The pond definitely needs cleaning, but I'm happy to see that our fish have survived. These are just a few of them. I hope the herons don't spot them again this year. We've had problems for the last two years, but never the 16 years before. I hope that doesn't mean they have memories. Our fish are about 3 inches long now. The grow about an inch a year.

When I get a chance to take another walk through the yard, I'll send an update. I know the lilacs are in bloom.

Garden Update

I'm probably making you sick with all of my flower pictures, but remember, this blog is just another way I scrapbook. The gardens look magnificent right now. Here are just a few views:

I love cutting hydrangeas for inside. These will last until next year when I cut some fresh ones. The trick is to just let the vase run dry. They will dry beautifully. By next year, they will start to brown due to the intensity of the sun coming in these windows in the sunroom. Anywhere else, they will last for years. They just need to be kept out of direct sunlight.

If you look close, you can see some of the hydrangeas under the magnolia tree out in the yard.

I cut these for the old milk bottles I have on the front porch. I have no idea how they will do outside---whether they will dry or not. They get a lot of really hot sun here.

A view from the front porch on to the "never ending summer" hydrangeas. They go from cream to pale pink as seen below.

I have the "annabelles" all around the yard. I just love them---they give such a nice show and you can see them from a distance. I specifically put them around the pool because white flowers "glow" at night. White flowers of any type are my favorites.

I've planted them under all of our magnolia trees. The blooms here are fresh---the white ones. They fade to green when they die. They will stay green until we have a hard freeze---around late December. Then they will be brown. Still, they add interest and texture to the winter garden when the only thing blooming are pansies.

 All of the flowers I cut came from here. I cut just about all that were hanging out of the fence.

The kitchen table has "annabelle" hydrangeas along with the purple/pink one that I had in the shade garden. It's gorgeous---as you can see below. I left it in the garden for a couple of weeks as it was the only bloom. I have no idea if it will dry. 

 
You might think I have them all over the house, but I don't. I just have them in the kitchen and sunroom---don't want to over do it.

The purple is Russian sage. 

I didn't even take any photos of my "tree hydrangeas"---they've only had a couple of blooms so far. For this post I just focused on hydrangeas. I have a lot of other pretties out there. Next time....

Oh and the crape myrtles haven't started blooming yet. That will be my next garden post---mid to late July.

Show me what's in your garden! You know I'm a flower geek.