Category Archives: flowers

May25

Nice day for a zombie

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We had temps close to 80 today. It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade. I had one of those nights where I couldn’t go to sleep until the birds were starting to chirp. I did manage to do a few loads of laundry and vacuum. I had the cat outside and almost fell asleep, so decided to actually lay down (a rarity for me) for a while. I had made beef stew, so that was simmering. Kitty came back on his window hammock and we rested.

After dinner, I did mulch a few gardens with the red mulch Bri found for me Wednesday night. I have 4 bags of root mulch (dark color) for a little variety. I noticed the flowers in the sunny beds were almost asking for the cool blanket of mulch. Sean needs to do his garden. As for the other areas, I will only do the rim of them as the one with the Sweet William has some newly planted bulbs and astilbe in it that has not come up and I don’t want to cover them with mulch-yet.

I am getting worried about bugs like Japanese beetles munching on my flowers. Some of my yellow petunias look nibbled. Rats. And the mosquitoes are starting to come out. I don’t like the humidity and insects of summer.
Lantana and yellow petunias

We are getting invaded by little black ants. They are getting into my dishwasher and I am finding 100s of them in there if I don’t run the load. I don’t want to waste water, so I just rinse them away. I had to get out the insect spray and do around the kitchen. We had no problem last year with them after the remodel. I guess now that the dust is settled, they found their way back! I am glad they haven’t found the low level bread drawer!

May24

I think I’m almost finished

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Sean and I went down to a few garden centers in nearby Hockessin, Delaware on Wednesday. The one place has unusual plants, but as my grandmom would say ‘are very dear’ with their prices. I did purchase plants with an all yellow tone-some of which were portulaca, marigold and licorice plant-it’s a whitish yellow. I bought two different kinds of fuchsia and planted them together. I also added to my coleus collection. I planted my purple and yellow sweet potato vine in strawberry jars and in it’s holes I added apricot color portulaca.

I have yet to plant my flower seeds though I am not worried. Zinnias and cosmos are quick to germinate. I found some lavender and green zinnia seeds. I also have seeds I saved from last year. I want to plant sunflowers, but I am afraid they will be a snack for deer. I guess I’ll throw some in to see what happens.

We’ve been watching all the tv finales-nothing too surprising with the ‘reality’ based shows. I did think that maybe Laila Ali would win Dancing with the Stars. I think she got a bit of a chip on her shoulder and people didn’t care for that. I thought that Blake would win on American Idol, but Jordin did. She’s a pretty decent singer for a 17 yr old, but he is a great performer.

Lost also had it’s finale. I’m really confused now. I think they get rescued, but Jack (Matthew Fox) is really messed up. I’ll be curious to see how they continue that saga.

Happy 18th to my nephew Patrick! 

Columbine

May21

8 minute post

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(before the dentist)

Finished sewing girl done on linen with 4210 variegated DMC red floss. I’ll probably hang her in the family room along with the redwork piece my mom made for me.

Finished cross stitch

Iris garden (are you tired of looking at them yet? I’m not! See how close the road is?)

Irises

Gnome garden-waiting for the flowers to fill in, but newly mulched.

Gnome garden
Update-Dr. B thought I was biting down on my filling so he sanded off some of the tooth. He said if it continues to bother me it may be a nerve problem-crossing fingers.

May20

The 3 Merry Gardeners

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Actually we are the tired gardeners. We all did our share of yard work. Sean mowed around the house and weeded and planted his garden. He planted some of his annuals too close (I’m surprised at him) and used all the Cleomes and I wanted half of them. I’m stealing some back! Brian did the long part of the yard, some extra trim work that Sean didn’t do and rototilled the veggie patch plus a big circle for me for my flower seeds. I weeded a lot of my lily/grass garden; planted pots; planted impatiens and snapdragons and put down the two bags of mulch I had (I hate mulching, but it’s so worth it). I need about 5 or more bags. I saved the lives of two newborn field mice too. Mama and her brood had a nest in the rototiller! She took off leaving two babies behind. I picked them up with a plastic pot and gingerly put them under a hosta and covered them with part of the nest. About 10-15 minutes later, Mama came back for them.

We got Chinese food for dinner (so Sean would go and get it as he showered before Bri and I did) and it was ok. I’m always weary to eat it.

Tomorrow I’m getting a tooth checked out to see if the filling is cracked. Saturday Sean took me to a hospital fair and the ‘Attic Attack’ was a joke-hardly any donations this year. We ended up grabbing a sandwich and buying a few plants. We went to Kmart and bought Bri a small chain saw as an early Father’s Day gift. We then went to a book store where I haven’t been to since college and it had expanded! I enjoyed their huge magazine aisle and their discounted shelves-I bought two-Angel inspired recipes and Victorians and their flowers. I should review these for you! Maybe tomorrow.

And to answer Barbara’s question in my comments-we have 1.4 acres all on a rectangular piece of land. The house is on one end and I would say my gardens are confined to about 1/4 acre or a little more.

Check out this neat link that my pal Nancy sent me last month. Make it pretty now!

May19

Gloom and chill

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The funeral for Bri’s Aunt Rose was today. He attended the viewing last night and left before we did this morning to go to the funeral home first. Sean and I picked up my mom and went right to the church. I just didn’t want to remember his aunt ‘that way’, you know? I showed my respect for her and my husband’s family which is really decreasing rapidly. I think with the one son’s wife’s family, there was only 40 people there. The kids (Sean’s age and a bit younger) are getting so big which makes us feel old. Soon we’ll be the oldest generation. Ugh. I got up to go to the restroom (at the restaurant), the mom of Aunt Rose’s daughter-in-law said loudly (so I could hear her) ‘Oh those are the people who didn’t go to the wedding’. I acted like I didn’t hear her. If Brian’s dad had gone last year to his nephew’s wedding (and the nephew begged him), then we would have gone too.

The church was the one we use to go to 20+ years ago when we lived in the area (we lived in the same apartment complex as Aunt Rose and Uncle John (also residents in the late 50s-early 60s were Dick Clark and Ed McMahon).

After the luncheon (at an Irish pub style restaurant-one of the dishes Shepherd’s Pie), we went to a Dollar Tree store across from the restaurant (ha) and then remembered that a great plant/product place was about 10 minutes away. I got 3 nice hanging baskets for $7.50 each (two toned pink petunia, multi-colored vinca and burgundy impatiens) , a gorgeous Christmas cactus and a clematis vine for $5.00. Good prices!

I came home and planted a few tomatoes (roma), green pepper and an eggplant before the early evening chill sent me in.

May15

Working hard

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I spent a large part of the afternoon outside. It was around 70 or so and a little breezy, so nice. First I cleaned the chaise that a lady from Freecycle gave us (another freebie). It was really dirty and only spray on bleach and a wire brush would take the mildew and green off. I let it dry and started to spray paint it green but ran out. What a difference though. I also trash picked a perfectly good outdoor side table with a glass top. They were tossing it because it was green (on the underneath mostly) which came off in 10 minutes! Now it’s like new again!

Here are some photos of the fruit of my labor. Sean also edged and planted ‘his’ garden that he’s had for over 1o yrs.

This is one half irises. I just replanted gladiolus I save from last year. My hollyhock was split in 3 and moved to here.

Circle garden

Red azalea

Red azalea with my fairy birdbath in the background

Lily and grasses garden
Where I have most of my lilies and grasses. The grass is taking over and it’s getting thinned out. I have about half of this weeded. We are slowly getting rid of an old grape arbor in the background that is covered with sticky vines-it’s hard work.

Honey iris
An iris that bloomed today-honeycomb(?)

Guess what happened to us about 6:45 tonight? We got locked out of the house! I went to go in to put the camera away and the suction from the screen door pulled shut the big door! Luckily, a window was left open in the back of the house and Sean was able to take out the screen and ‘slither’ into the house (he had to hand me about 5 African violets before he had room to get in). He did get a brush burn from the handle that opens the window and hurt his stomach a little-I don’t think Bri or I could have done what he did. Lesson we learned-hide a set of keys somewhere outside!

May11

Green things

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Here is my garden out front in a semi-circle under our big evergreen tree. This is where I added the Victoria blue salvia and the peach colored salvia. There isn’t too much room for much more with the Columbine (pink/purple), Barrenwort, bulbs such as tulips, narcissus and hyacinths and Bleeding heart. I know I am missing a few, but all these perennials were divided from other areas of the yard. I love the plant in the foreground, it’s really spread. It has the interesting polka dot leaves and blooms that range from pink to blue. The Barrenwort is pretty cool too. It has heart-shaped leaves rimmed with red (almost like the red was stenciled) and it gets little star-like reddish flowers.

Woodland garden

And Sean’s gift-the planter with the fern, begonia and a few other plants.

Planter from Sean

And some planters from Longwood Gardens, sure to inspire us!

Used as center piece on round brick patio

Out front at Longwood Gardens

I have to go round up 5 items for the photo hunt contest tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I’ll be switching out (finally) my winter to summer clothes. What a pain, but I am so sick of wearing the same clothes for the past few weeks.

Today I may plant a few more flowers and I did find my gladiolus  from last year, so I can plant them in the rock hard dirt. We had rain near here last night in Harrisburg, but it was ‘close and no cigar’.

May10

Kiwis and honey bees

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Although I took over 50 photos at Longwood Gardens yesterday, I still wanted to take photos of my own flowers before they faded away. We haven’t had rain for a while and it’s dry as punk outside. So here are my Kiwi Slices irises and a very fast and busy bee heading for the bleeding heart.

Kiwi Slices irises

Busy bee with bleeding heart
I tried to do a little edging with the hoe and I was dripping in perspiration. My house inside desperately needs attention, so I better tackle tidying up some areas.
Sean is taking his 3rd final. So far he has a ‘C’ in Chemistry and an ‘A’ in Social Psychology. He is taking a music final today and a Geology one tomorrow.

May9

Longwood Revisited

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Sean and I went today-the most humid day so far. We were really sticky. I did manage to get some excellent shots. I have to start going there every week and writing down the names of plants. I also need not to have my photo taken when my hair needs attention (I went to the hairdresser right afterwards). You won’t be seeing that one-ugh!

Papery flowers
These are called Painted Tongue or Salpiglossis

Tulips in dark purple
I like the contrast of the deep purple and the light green

Gorgeous orange
In the conservatory-it’s tropical and not in my flower book.
And the main reason for my visit was to see the orchids. This is a wall of them in the main conservatory:
Wall of Orchids