Category Archives: gardening

May23

Some more movie magic

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 by Dianne

There’s a really nice slideshow here

The Local Paper put this up. Bri also brought home the printed newspaper, but this is much better. The snow looks so funny-they even added it to the trees. I’m glad to see Owen looking so good now considering he had a rough time last year. This town reminds me of a larger version of both Kennett Square (nearby) and my hometown.

Not much new on the home front. Got to mulch a few gardens, but so chilly and windy to do so. I have one more garden to do.

Sean has rented a few movies-‘Blades of Glory’ (I like ice skating, though this was a bit silly, though funny) and ‘National Treasure-2’ (liked the first one better). Been watching some finales of the shows. Seems they just started airing new ones!

Did a nice thing yesterday-the mailman delivered a package here that was meant for a Diane a few roads away. There are about 4 Diane/Diannes (that I know of now) within a 1/2 mile radius. The package was sent to this Diane from my hometown, so I felt obligated to get it to it’s true owner. I was a little nervous when I saw ‘Beware of Dog’ signs, but the mailbox is across the road from the long drive. I did write a note to the mailman. I guess I’m the Dianne who gets most of the packages!

May15

Mrs. Green Thumbs

Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 by Dianne

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I swore I wasn’t going to buy anymore flowers…then Sean said he needed more for his garden and we stopped at Richardson’s. Got some pretty things there. BUT, we headed down to the mall and the Boscov’s store had there gardening area set up this year! I guess they wanted to utilize their big metal fence. They actually had decent and different (and inexpensive) plants, one of which was the salvia I looked in about 5 different places for. It’s pink, but I was happy. I was a gardening happy lady today and after dinner. I’m almost finished. Here are some shots as I feel some of these plants or shrubs won’t look this pretty after the rain that is forecast tomorrow:

A peachy keen Azalea in the front of the house. Sean and I were standing in front of this on Mother’s Day

A close up of a delicately scented Azalea blossom

Some of my various irises, some in bloom

A close up of a gorgeous iris bloom

A begonia I bought yesterday-only $12.99! It took two plant stands to hold it up.

The red hibiscus Sean gave me

The yellow hibiscus

Lettuce growing in the tire garden

Still have a few more flowers to plant! There’s the pink salvia on the left

This was just to perfect not to photograph-although Dandelions drive me crazy, it looked so unusual and fuzzy next to the fuzzy Lamb’s ears.

Worked on-potting up geraniums and newly bought flowers.

Gardens -gnome garden-polka dots plants (burgundy and dark green and green and white-new colors from Boscov’s), mini Gem Marigolds and white alyssum

Herb Bed-Fennel, Basil, Dill, Dianthus, Marigolds, Roma tomato. Need to plant up to 8 more things-might be a squeeze there.

I was left a comment above about ‘the real’ Mrs. Greenthumbs aka Cassandra Danz who passed away in 2002. I was just thinking of a funny name for my post and that name came to mind. I do remember the real lady when she appeared on the ‘Live with Regis and Kelly Show’. Thanks for pointing that out.

May8

Nice to have my pal back

Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008 by Dianne

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Sean asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day and I said we could go over to Walmart and look around their garden center. They do have a ton of nice plants, even perennials at a good price. I happen to spot yellow flowers, my favorite color in blooms, and it was a Hibiscus! He said he’d get it for me. I looked around a little more and only bought a few other plants. I think I have enough. Now I will wait for some clearances! So I got a few more things in the store and when we checked out, the hibiscus was only like $5.44, so I got two! Not sure what the other color is, but it will be a surprise when the flowers start to open.

He headed over to Blockbuster and one of his choices is ‘Juno’, which I thought was interesting. I asked if we could run down to Lowes to see if they had any more decent hanging baskets and he agreed. They didn’t have any that I liked, but I bought another pond plant and a few other plants that I didn’t have. (what did I just say above about buying more plants?) We stopped at Wawa to gas up the van-$35 only brought it a bit over half full. We went in and got hoagies and ate them as soon as we got home as we were starving! And to think I was happy I had lost 3 pounds. ; )

Bird Alert!!!! Brian has spotted (and I have seen for a second) a hummingbird twice now! I’m so jealous! The first time was on one of the new hanging baskets that has the big flowered Dianthus in it.

They just showed a story on the news about a place in Vineland, NJ that was getting renovated. When the guy went to tear down the tin ceiling, 100s of vintage photos came tumbling down, all in relatively good shape, but unmarked-so they don’t know who the brides and grooms, etc. are. It use to be a photography studio (of course). What I could tell, they looked like they were from the 30s to 50s.

Here’s a Mother’s Day Quiz. I got 6 out of 10, so see how you do!

May7

80 degrees!

Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by Dianne

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I’m a little light-headed from spray painting a lot of my outdoor furniture today. I have more to do, but need the paint. It’s $5 a can, I bought two hunter green cans of it and was able to spruce up a large settee, two Adirondack chairs, a foot bench, a little table and a little child’s Adirondack chair! Not bad!

I took some photos earlier, before Sean arrived home safely around 4:10. He got stuck in traffic 10 miles out of State College, but it was smooth sailing from there. He had a nice oven roasted pot roast and veggies for dinner.

I had this mosaic planter/birdbath and put it on top of an over turned flower pot and added a bowl I had. It’s amongst the mums which are wilting a bit from the heat.

Here’s my seating area near the holly bushes. I just sprayed all the furniture (and repaired some broken areas on the top of them) earlier. You can also see the four planters with an assortment of Coleus, petunias and lobelias.

This is the garden I worked on all day yesterday. This is what I see when I come out the front door. The little flag is blowing! I have lots of cats in there in honor of Mr. Cosmo.

This is the Amaranthus that looks like a Summer Poinsettia. I hope they get big!

The Nicotiana is in the garden out front too!

I wanted to show my friend a Lily of the Valley flower and since they are coming up in the fairy garden, I used one of the fairies to display it.

This is of the same flower on one of my new blue dishes.

This is a bit blurred, but I liked it-these are Johnny Jump-ups.

When I was spray painting the furniture, one of the Philly News NBC10 van drove down my road. I have never seen any news people around here. They had a news story about my county earlier, but not this area. A 19 yr old Annapolis female Naval Academy student, from Kennett Square was found unconscious in her room and later passed away . That may be the reason they were near her.

Another tragedy-a Philly policeman got killed as he drove up to a supermarket that had just been robbed (there is a bank in the place I think) to stop the get away car. He hadn’t even gotten out of his vehicle and was shot about 5 times. He was about to celebrate his 40th birthday this week.

May7

Deadline-June 1st

Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by Dianne

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I say that every year, I want to get everything cleaned up, planted and mulched by June 1st. Since it is now May 7th and I have made a nice dent in the work, I may reach my deadline! It seems I need deadlines. I just started another birthday gift which is must be sent out a few days before June 10th. The two gifts are for non-stitching friends. I had started the one for July and figured I should do the one for June right away. I had planned on making 2-3 gifts. They are small and are from The Prairie Schooler, so I think I can get them finished by their deadlines.

It’s about 77 in the shade right now. Too hot for me to garden. Sean should be on the road now. It will be nice to have him around, but he should have a busy summer. He is still up in the air about his internship and needs to get a job. Most internships pay you.

Yesterday I worked on the garden across from the front door that happens to be under an evergreen tree. I think I raked up the equivalent to two wheelbarrows full of pine needles! FYI, mums love to be planted in this condition and I mentioned in an early post that mine had naturalized nicely. I planted Snapdragons, Nicotiana and like a summer Poinsettia and even mulched it! So I have my herb/tomato bed to plant, do a few more pots and hanging baskets and some maintenance in the other beds and I should be finished before bug season! I do have a gazillion Rose Campions coming up in 2 of the 3 places where I planted them. The wildflower seeds from eBay did nothing so far.

Sean will be getting pot roast for dinner. I bet he hasn’t had that too often. In three months he’ll be living in an apartment. Hard to believe!

Another Wa wa wee wa moment (I believe it’s the March 08 issue of MSL-special gardening issue):

Martha Stewart’s 90 x 150 foot veggie patch!

May4

A May day in PA

Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008 by Dianne

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Just took some photos a bit ago. Sometimes I fix them in Flickr after I post here, so you can look at all of them there if you wish also.

It was simply gorgeous, around 70 with a slight breeze. Who could ask for anything more? I decided to continue gardening.

Here’s an ATC I made a week ago. I used an image form a catalog for the background. I call it Seeds of Friendship:

I was wearing overalls today, but shorts kind. Gotta feel like a real gardener!

See how high up the lilacs are? We need to do some serious topping on this shrub!

Look at the dear Dogwood flower!

I potted these up a few nights ago. The African Daisies are near the pond.

This is the shady side of the house! Now, who can tell me what is happening here with this azalea bush?

Here’s where I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds. I hope they come up!

It is behind where my lilies and grass garden is.

Here’s a garden that is a bit more prolific growing! Mom gave me the pansies around the perimeter. The Bleeding Hearts are just starting to drop, but the Barrenwort is going strong (heart-shaped leaves). The hanging pots were purchased at Loew’s last night. One is Dianthus, the other is a variety.

Had to show you an iris! It’s Raspberry Blush.

And my new water plant. Will have to go look at the name of it. See the baby waterlilies there?

My friend the catbird (or child of catbird) came back yesterday. He (or she) was serenading me the entire day and most of today. The only thing I don’t like are the droppings all over the chairs. Speaking of chairs, I bought two cans of green spray paint to spruce up my plastic furniture. I may need more!

May4

Seed lady

Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008 by Dianne

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Not to say I wasn’t zonked from all the flower planting the day before, but I still went out Saturday and did more strenuous yard work while Bri mowed the lawn.

I raked the weeds out of two areas where Bri had rototilled for me. I planted wildflowers in one bed and mostly zinnias in another bed. All that raking really hurts my arms and tummy, but I am hoping to tone up too! : )

I need to stay away from places that sell plants. I go crazy! There is a new Loew’s right outside our town that we checked out last night. I wasn’t too impressed until I saw water plants and some fairly nice hanging baskets for under $7. I bought two, so that saved me planting two. I did buy a water plant for my second water garden. : ) I think I’ll go back and get a few others for the in ground pond.

I also moved (Bri helped with one) two hydrangeas that weren’t doing a thing except taking up space where they were. Mom has a lovely one. It is in a shady area and the soil is fairly wet, so I moved mine to a shady area. I also saved two ‘sucker’ Spirea bushes and may give one to mom is it amounts to anything.

I’m getting somewhere, but am not finished hanging baskets, planting flowers in the ground, weeding and mulching. I have a June 1st deadline-wish me well!

I’ll take some photos later if it’s not raining.

May2

Rudeness

Posted on Friday, May 2, 2008 by Dianne

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Today I had to mail off a few things and decided to go look for Marigold Gem and Polka plants for my fairy/gnome garden. I went back to my ‘count on them’ nursery and they did have the Marigolds (I got orange and tangerine). They have feathery leaves and produce mini flower heads, perfect for my little gardening gnomes. They didn’t have the Polka dot plant, but a lady who overheard me ask told me to go to the place around the corner. I decided I would and they wanted $4.99 for a 4″ pot! I bought one (they had a dark and light variety) and also a magenta with a yellow center Wave petunia. I then decided to go to a nursery in my town. I was now looking for Pineapple sage that I like to put near my pond. I started up a nice conversation with another customer (around my age) while we looked through the herbs. I bought a few things there (no Pineapple sage) and headed for the checkout. I said I was so glad I found ‘Nicotiana’ (I said it nick-o-teen- e- ah). She said, no it’s not pronounced that way, but is part on the nicotine family and told me the correct way to say it, as she was a tour guide for Longwood for many years. So why did she feel she had to insult me in front of the owner of the greenhouse? So what if I said it incorrectly. She said ‘Nih-ko-she-Ah-nuh’.
She also said ‘people who know plants would find my pronunciation unusual’. At least I knew what I wanted, you know. Heck, I’ve been gardening over 30 years! So none of us have to feel like asses, I found this site!

In the google search, the plant they mention that people have trouble pronouncing-yep-Nicotiana. Isn’t is easier to say ‘Tobacco flower’?

Anyway, I went to one more place and got flower and veggie seeds. I now have 6 different unusual colors of zinnia to plant. My lettuce looks like it is coming up, but I don’t see the wildflowers or Rose Campion yet.

I planted about 12 pots of assorted annuals, lots of purple petunias in different hues. You’ll be seeing them. I didn’t want to sit on my wheeled seat tonight to plant things in the ground. Thank goodness for the cheesesteak pizza Bri picked up on the way home-really yummy!

May2

Friday!

Posted on Friday, May 2, 2008 by Dianne

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I can’t believe this week has gone by somewhat quickly. I had fun with the childhood toy post yesterday! My mom didn’t take a ton of photos of us as there were four of us. There’s more of my older brother because my maternal grandfather was still alive and he enjoyed photography. He had a ‘Brownie’ (or other make) camera and I remember getting to use it as a kid. It was the kind you lined up the shot through looking at a piece of glass in the top, similar to how some digital cameras work now.

Similar to the above and it looked like this (thanks to this blog):

The digital I mainly use, the Canon Rebel doesn’t work that way. I have to look through the viewfinder like an ‘old fashioned’ hand held camera.

Not much new. I put down some mulch in a few gardens on Wednesday, didn’t have enough. I figure I will need 8 bags for where I want to put it. I weeded out the herb garden, whew that was bad! The Creeping Charlie weed is such a pain. All that bending over hasn’t helped my problem I mentioned at the beginning of the week, but I really think I have a pulled muscle pressing on my bladder.

Dragged in many bags of groceries yesterday. Sean will be home on Wednesday and he’ll hungry! ; ) He is still trying to find an internship.

I’m trying to figure out if I want to go to my mom’s. She’s still in the middle of going through things. I could help her with that, but I do miss going shopping with her! She’s been in a few thrift shops lately though. She confessed to me. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Happy 23rd to my nephew David tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!