Category Archives: gardening

Jun29

We ♥ Commerce Bank

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Sean and I went out for a few hours this afternoon. We had to exchange some trousers I had bought as a gift for him. We also had two huge bags of coins that we have saved for many months. Commerce is open on Sundays and they have a free coin counting machine. So we guessed we had $124.00 (they ask if you want to guess) and after all was said and done-we had $197.00! Yes! We split it up and I saved Bri $50 (Sean got $100 since he will be driving the most for his internship) and then we went to Macy’s. Sean got an extra pair of trousers and a few shirts in another store-from the coin money! We then went to a shopping center where Old Navy and Michaels is-I went to Michaels and Sean to O.N. I picked out some things there and went down the clearance aisle and I started to chat with a nice lady there. She asked if I had ‘a coupon’ which I didn’t. It was for after 4pm and for 25% off your total purchase. She had an extra and gave me one. I thanked her and headed to check out and saved $10!

We ate in Friendly’s and shopped a bit in Trader Joe’s then headed home. I called my mom and she had talked with brother #2 and they may be seeing eye to eye again. I seriously hope so. He tends to get mean about things that he doesn’t agree with. I still am not crazy about being chummy with him as I feel like I don’t know him anymore and he talked about me behind my back that night he horned in on our ‘girl’s night out’. I wish mom hadn’t told me he thought I looked fat. He had said that to my face when we went down to visit him in Florida in 2002. Nice isn’t he? I’m not having high hopes about this, but at least, and I’m praying, he’ll treat her nice and with respect.

Anyway, here are some yard shots for your enjoyment. They sure make me smile. : )


This is what I call my herb bed. The Roma tomatoes are taking it over. There’s basil in the front along with fennel and cilantro.

My favorite lilies are blooming too! I missed the first blooms a few days ago.

A pretty hanging basket with pinkish daisy like flowers and portulaca

Look how big the butterfly bush is! You can see the rain gutter there. Not a ton of blooms, but we cut it back a lot last year.

Sean got a B- in his English class he just finished. My boy’s not a writer, so he was happy.

Jun25

2 hour excursion

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I was able to venture over to Longwood Gardens and had a nice time trying to see all I wanted to see this time, including their veggie patch and idea garden. Here are some shots that I really like, but I did take over 100 and most will be in my flickr account within the next few days. That’s a lot of photos to upload and tag!

Coneflower and orange butterfly weed. There’s a bee on the coneflower in the middle there.

A neat birdhouse and faux gourds hang in the veggie patch. The residents, I think wrens, love it!

Pretty coleus! I also bought some, not the same as the above and some Persian Shield.

This plant was in the conservatory, I believe it’s like throatwort? I think it’s pretty!

Some pretty roses. I heard a gardener say they aren’t doing well this year. I noticed many of them had black spot on their leaves.

I told this guy (inside the pool with the waterlilies) that my little pond was really green. He told me to buy some water hyacinth to help balance it out or add dye to it. These are dyed.

Here’s a link to my flickr slideshow!

Jun22

Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies

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Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here’s what I was talking about in my previous post. See the spots? I did take many of them off by hand. Not sure if that will help or not.

My 50 gallon in ground pond was in ‘distress’. I have never seen it so full of algae, mud, you name it. It reminded me of my cousin’s big pond behind their farmhouse that we use to swim in. Icky mucky! I have no trouble sticking my hand in algae-it’s like long green threads. I use to make a mean mud pie as a kid. : ) So I decided to bail it out. Bri came out and did a few, but my back is going to feel it tomorrow. I even pulled out the two meshed encased waterlilies and peeled the algae off of them. I was fascinated that one was the home to earthworms as I didn’t know they lived under water. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow and if more bailing needs to be done.

The guys went over to the patriarch’s again as tomorrow he turns 85. I helped Bri pick out a food basket and a cake. I also suggested they take over a gourmet pizza from our new favorite pizza joint. Sean almost begged to go out to eat, even to Friendly’s but pop declined. He does get out of the house to ride the bus to Atlantic City though. I feel when he knows I am coming, he needs to clean, etc. Plus I can’t eat their usual choice of take-out. I use to take food over there all the time. It was so much work. And he use to take us out to restaurants too. We would have paid today. The people he wants are there IMHO.

The weatherman got it wrong about thunderstorms, so I was watering things yesterday and today. Bri trimmed our front hedges that run along the house and didn’t cover my impatiens on one side, etc so that was a mess to clean up. And I am so discouraged as deer have eaten all my sunflowers, leaves on my Hollyhock, leaves on my Dinner Plate Hibiscus and about a dozen buds off of one of my roses. I am happy that my tomato tepees are holding up so far. Those plastic clips that Martha Stewart suggested are great. Instead of using string or panty hose, these little circular clip with a latch do the trick.

Stay cool!

Jun19

Some plant stuff

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I’m basically breaking tidbits of info up. A few weeks ago, Lee asked me if I knew what was wrong with her plants. Well, didn’t some of my own plants get ‘rust’ on them. I did some research and it’s a fungus from too much rain and dampness. They tell you to remove all the leaves, but I’d be out there for a while to do so. The rust is mainly bothering my Shasta Daisies (Grrr-I love them) and a few other perennials. I think you can spray them, but since it’s there already, I don’t know how that would help. I guess I’ll just watch it and pick off the ugly ones.

Jun18

Rainbow effect

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We had a heavy downpour a little after dinner and this pretty rainbow appeared briefly. I just heard on the tv, that something similar happened after Tim Russert’s memorial service. The last song that was played was a ukulele version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. When the guests left, they looked up to see a double rainbow in the sky. Pretty awesome.

Tim’s 22 yr old son Luke did an awesome job on his eulogy. He has so many of his dad’s mannerisms.

Since I was out in the after rain, I took a few more shots:

The pretty peachy pink Hollyhock that use to be across from our front door. You can see where the deer nibbled the leaves right to the stem.

Golden Lantana with rain droplets

Red and rust colored coleus

I cooked dinner on the grill about an hour early as rain was threatening. I got the burgers cooked, then threw on some chicken and thought I’d do a few hot dogs for the heck of it. I brought it all in and the skies opened up! Brian ate all three things (I cooked more for other meals)! and Sean ate a burger and a hot dog.

Sean’s first day on the job was ok-he washed walls for most of the time. The lady from my hometown called this morning to offer him the internship! Can you believe it! If he had waited a few more days before accepting the janitorial job he would have made it easier for himself. All the ‘old’ folks want him to do the internship. It would look good on his resume next year when he’s looking for a real job. He’s stalling about it and we think he’s a big scared. Reality will have to set in one of these hours. I think he’ll do fine. Wish him well in making up his mind.

Jun18

Finally assembled!

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I mounted this piece on the cigar box today and now I have a scissor box! I bought some grosgrain ribbon to finish it off even more. The apples aren’t that red and I think the ribbon helps, though I’m not crazy about the corners-maybe little buttons? I believe I had started this at least 9-10 years ago and by the date, you can see that I finished it last year. I haven’t done anything to the inside except to stain it. These boxes are really reasonable-under $5 if I remember correctly.

I also did this ATC card a few days ago, but I have finished another item that I will share with you in a couple of weeks when I mail it to its recipient.

The girl was printed on vellum paper and glued to paper with a pattern. I added some tissue paper and glitter to make it ‘cloud like’.

Sean went to fill out his paperwork and I took a ride with him as he was going to Walmarts. I got to sit in on the meeting with the assistant. Isn’t your birth certificate from the hospital the ‘real deal’? Brian said no, but it’s signed and sealed and has his baby feet prints and my thumb prints on it. I think because we sent for ours from Harrisburg, he thinks those are the real ones. Also, he just got a paper back and got a ‘B’ on it. He had talked to my mom’s friend about the Vietnam war era to help with the paper. The teacher said he could have had a bit more info on Jim. He has to work on his resume and do one more paper. He wanted to fix a paper about NYC that he got a ‘C+’ on. Hope he can!

The weather is really nice as it’s cooled down. I went out after dinner and pulled lots of weeds and didn’t even break a sweat. I noticed deer or varmints munched on my gorgeous rose bush, Hollyhock, Dinner plate hibiscus and some Nasturtiums, but left the lettuce alone. I sprayed all the above with bug spray to make them taste nasty.

Sean has to get up at the crack of dawn. He’s really a night owl like me. I don’t know how they are going to keep him busy in an empty school, 8 hours a day for 8 weeks. The lady mentioned painting. I just don’t want him lifting heavy stuff and hurting his back. Maybe he’ll hear from one of the other half dozen jobs he applied for.

Jun13

It really is Friday the 13th

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I’m thinking about the former classmate of mine that passed away as it was her funeral today-31 years to the day that we graduated from high school. As I was reflecting on that, I see that news journalist Tim Russert had  died suddenly at the age of 58. I always enjoyed watching him as he was really excited about reporting, especially the elections. He did get to see his son graduate from Boston College this year.

I know election coverage won’t be the same without him. My mom had just bought his book about his relationship with his dad, ‘Big Russ’ to give my uncle for his birthday. Ironically, my grandfather passed away at the age of 58 also.

Sean’s ‘gal pal’ Kat is graduated from high school tonight. He’s been gone for a few hours to the graduation. She is going to Penn State, but another campus and yes she has a steady boyhood, much to Sean’s chagrin-no he really sees her as a friend. He’s going to her grad party tomorrow night and got her a nice frame with ‘2008’ cut out in the mat so you can add photos under them.

Here’s some more surprises:

I knew I had planted this Clematis out front, but what a neat surprise to see it had really grown and was blooming! I had to untangle it from the bleeding heart there and take a trellis from another area of the yard. It’s a pretty white with a lime green accent.

The Red Hot Pokers are having a good bloom year all around. Here are some next to the pond and gazing ball. I also have the original next to the house in the back and more in the yucca garden.

Here it is up close. It’s a rather unusual bloom isn’t it?

The Sweet peas are coming up well. They are in my herb patch plus in Sean’s garden.

I know I show you a lot of close ups, but here is what I call the Lily/Grass garden. The Lamb’s Ear really has spread well. I have a clematis and moon flower where the supports are. The lilies are situated more in the back. The grape arbor has been here the entire time we have lived in this house. It use to provide us with dark purple grapes, now it has a disease. I’d love to cut it down and plant a variety of azaleas here. The veggie patch is way to the right. And those are Queen Anne’s lace a wildflower next to where I am trying to grow wildflowers. I do see flowers, but I am seeing lots of grass too. I can see why people put a block like newspapers in an area they want to garden to smother and kill the grass, etc. there. You really can’t just rototill it and hope for the best.

I found this Blue Moon delphinium at Lowes the other day. I love true blue flowers. I tried to grow it before, so we’ll see.

And last but not least, for Zoey:

See that little grayish green clump there-my only Rose Campions from the seeds Zoey sent me! They are right near the above plant.

Have a great weekend. I have a funny photo for Photo Hunt tomorrow, so watch this blog. : )

Jun11

Tuesday night light show

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We had a wicked rainstorm with tons of lightning go through last night. Earlier we lost power 5 times which was a pain as we had to keep resetting the clocks. It did considerably cool things off in the evening, but it was warm again today. My father-in-law lost power and it’s still not on after 24 hours. When they had their windows replaced years ago (on the lower level), my late mother-in-law decided to put in windows that didn’t open for ‘security reasons’. I questioned her about if she burnt something in the kitchen and she said she would use the stove fan and open the back door. Well, he is really suffering from not being able to have proper circulation in there. Glad something like this doesn’t happen often.

Sean took me grocery shopping over in our town’s new Acme which is 6 miles away. I know, we live closer to the mushroom town-lol. I think he wanted to check it out. We ran into Lowes to get Bri hot peppers. That’s all he talked about last week. They are something he just has to grow it seems. Anyway, the store is huge and I just wanted to zoom around in there and grab what I needed, if it was priced right. I wanted lemons-79¢ each-picked up about 3 and the last one was moldy on one side. I put it back, mold side up-bought nada ! I can go to the farmer’s market and get some at 5 for $2 and they are perfect. What’s going on here?

Got strip steak for dinner-two pieces in a package for $11! Not a lot for 3 people, but we had enough of other things-red potatoes, peas and Focaccia bread (and mini eclairs for dessert) that we were quite happy. I cook steak in a pan, with a little butter and steak rub-just what you buy in the spice aisle. I brown it well to get a crust and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes to cook the middle. Rachael Ray said not to put ice cold meat in a pan as it ‘seizes up’ and makes it a little tough. I have to remember that. It was good!

My brother hasn’t gotten around to fixing my mom’s car yet. Guess he got held up on something tonight. Now she can’t go spend the day with my uncle on his 85th birthday tomorrow. We sent him cards, but it’s not the same. I will probably go and help her food shop before Sean goes to night class. Maybe we can do something for him over the weekend.

I’ve been working on ATCs and have some cute ones to share, I just need to photograph them. I have a series called ‘Rose babies’. Jennifer over at Sweetpea Stitches had sent me beautiful rose stickers and they were my inspiration for the two I have made so far, but I have 5 new ones altogether!

Someone in my graduating class passed away over the weekend. She was a cheerleader and an art major. Not a friend, but it’s sad to know someone my age has passed-too soon. She had two sons and still lived in our hometown. They are asking for donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, so I am wondering if that was what took her too soon.

I wish the idiots who use my blog for spam would take a hike! I can see what you are trying to do and I just delete it from my spam finder. They stick URLS, etc in the middle of my posts-lame!

Jun9

View out the window-pond garden

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View out the window-pond garden, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This seems to be the best view, through the dining room window! It’s another scorcher. Schools in the city and surrounding suburbs were closed around noon.
The Canna lily in the pond’s waterfall is blooming! The portulaca looks good as do the purple petunias. The Red Hot Pokers are about to bloom too. The only think that bothers me is the Creeping Charlie taking over the stones. I have added some perennials on the end such as Lupine and English Daisies. I don’t believe Pentas are perennials. You can’t see some of the garden next to the gazing ball. I have some pineapple sage and salvia there.

Jun9

June or August?

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The heat got turned on full blast two months too soon! Eek! It’s horrible. We’ve been holed up inside and only venture out after the sun goes down like vampires. Last night, Sean helped me water things, proclaiming that his dear old ma had a lot of flowers. : ) I will say we ate well on Sunday. First we had scrambled eggs and bacon, then Bri ran out (we needed a few things at the store) and picked up a taco pizza-that was yummy. The same place that made the cheesesteak pizza we had a few weeks back. They are a new place nearby, but I think they need to advertise their ‘gourmet’ pizzas. For dinner I had oven roasted red potatoes and pork tenderloin. And to top that off, Sean took me to Brusters and I had a turtle sundae! I’ve been sweating a lot-calories are getting burned, I swear!

Not much else is new. My Uncle Don turns 85 on the 12th and not sure if we will have a get together. There is so much family tension. Mom needs to have her starter replaced. My younger brother usually works on the car, but something is up-I guess he is so busy! I would love him to charge my a/c in the van one of these days. Poor guy!

Hopefully the heat will break by Wednesday. Bri can’t understand why the air has to run so much. It’s midnight and still around 80!

Thanks to Missy for her link to the peony page. It said my peony may need to be reset and divided. Makes sense to me!