Category Archives: gardening

As warm as the 4th of July

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Bri and I worked outside today and Sean worked in Big Lots. He was scheduled for 3 days in a row and the boss even tried to snag him for tomorrow, but he put his foot down. He has a new Dell laptop to play with and hasn’t had that much time to look at it (no internet yet).

Bri planted tomatoes and green peppers while I planted zinnias, cosmos, daisies, Mexican sunflowers and an assortment of seeds that came in a package between paper (you just lay them on the soil and throw a 1/2″ of dirt over them). They were poppies, zinnias and a few others. By the time I was done, I had two very rosy cheeks and was dripping in perspiration. I cooled off and mulched Sean’s garden so he could just enjoy it and not worry about doing it. Bri cut the entire lawn too.

My gladiolus (planted a few weeks ago) are coming up! Yes! And I see astilbe poking it’s finger-like leaves up near my Sweet William flowers.

I had a ‘Perkins’ dinner tonight-eggs with chives and a little cheddar cheese on top, bacon, fries, biscuits and grapes.

Before I went outside today I worked on 4 Art trading cards. (so G if you are reading my blog stop here). Our pal chose the project-pick an artist, do cards like their artwork. I picked one of my favorites-Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting for all four cards. They were fun to do! For my cross stitch readers-I used some gold cording from my stash for the sky swirls. Two have star shaped brackets. I did use one element from the original painting in each design-a star or the village (for instance). Some of you may recognize the Don McLean lyrics from his song based on this painting. I was sad to read that Vincent had painted this when he was in an insane asylum. 

Famous Artist ATCs

The original Starry Night
We are having rainstorms tonight. We need the rain, but I know that some of my plants were really getting hammered. I am also hoping that I patted the ground down well after I planted the above mentioned seeds.

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!

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

Working hard part 2

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Today Sean and I went to my mom’s to wish her a belated Happy Mother’s Day and to plant some flowers for her. I need to go back to the nursery in Delaware as the garden centers around here aren’t that great-even Walmart! We stopped there and I couldn’t believe they wanted $10.88 for one hanging baskets. Guess I’ll be making my own. I did get a couple of waterlilies and a couple of perennials like asters.

So we get to my mom’s and I have never seen the yard around her house look so weedy and terrible. I had to fix her weed wacker and then I went to town with it! Most of her front yard isn’t fit for a mower, so you have to use a weed wacker. The leaves (mostly from Japanese maples) were never cleaned up from the fall so I did some of that. I would say that we made a nice dent in the yard and the flowers that I planted last year (white astible, white bleeding heart, hosta, lilies and barrenwort) were all coming up nicely. It was warm though breezy today. What my brother did to the back yard is really neat. Imagine a thicket of evergreens with the bottoms trimmed up and a new layer of green, green grass growing under them. It never looked like that when we were kids. (I’ll bring my camera next time).

Mom treated us to dinner at Carabbas which was nice. Glad it was dark in there as I had some grass still stuck to my legs! I had chicken, spinach and ricotta stuffed raviolis. We hit Macy’s and I bought some necklaces, a dress and a few tops.

We just found out that Brian lost his Aunt Rosemarie (she looked like Lucille Ball) on Sunday. She is also Brian’s godmother. She has two sons around my age and 3 grandchildren a bit younger than Sean. This is the auntie who was in a nursing home in Delaware, very close, yet Bri’s dad or Bri never went to see her. That is the last of my father-in-law’s six siblings. I am either going to the viewing on Thursday or the funeral on Friday as we have a 70 mile round trip from here.

Snowball bush beginning to bloom

Snowball bush beginning to bloom
My windowbox 2007
Windowbox 2007

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’.

Down a country road…or two

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I ventured out to the bank and post office and decided to go to my favorite nursery and do some more flower shopping. I went straight on a road that I thought would lead me to the correct road down in Delaware. Boy was I wrong! I couldn’t believe I was in like 3-5 miles of my house as I couldn’t get my bearing and saw nothing familiar. When I finally found a road that said ‘Old Kennett Pike’ I turned and then the sign said ‘to PA’. Geez, that was a 30 minute ride I won’t forget! I did go to the nursery down the regular back roads I know. I was happy I went as I bought a profusion of color in the form of petunias, dianthus, snapdragons, impatiens and a few more. So I’m all ready to start planting. The place didn’t have my red mulch, so I have to go back for that.

By the way, when I got home I looked at Google maps and some of the roads I saw I actually could get to the nursery-I think I went the wrong way on Old Kennett Pike. I do appreciate where I live even more-the landscape is gorgeous.

Finally, some snapshots:

Transplanted bleeding heart
I transplanted a bleeding heart plant that was hidden between bushes last year. What a treat to see the plant (separated into three new ones) blooming so lovely.

My 1st iris of the year
My first dear iris of the year called ‘Stitch Witch’ (don’t say ‘so appropriate’-lol). I can’t wait to see all the different colors blend together.

Gardening to oblivion

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I’m a tired pup tonight. I did a mountain of yard work yesterday and today as the weather permitted (maybe a little too warm and a bit windy).The weeds were invading so much and I just didn’t have the stamina to pull them, so I used the weed whacker. I do rake and hoe the area afterwards. I swore I pulled up the invaders last year, but there they were again. The weeds mimic a spreading plant called Snow on the Mountain. I also get that stuff that looks like ivy with the little purple flowers. My kitchen garden/herb area was horrid. It looks 85% better now, meaning I’m not finished in there yet.

While the guys tossed a football after dinner (a little too close for comfort) I hoed the weeds around my roses in their new bed. They are looking good! I got Bri to hoe around my little box hedges in my iris bed. I had moved the huge hollyhock away from the garden across from my front door (I want a tidy look there not a towering plant). The hollyhock was divided into three plants and they all made it! I just hope they don’t get that rust on them like the mama plant did last year. I gave my perennials a drink of Miracle Gro too!

Still so much to do, plus 2-3 beds at my mom’s. She is complaining about how overgrown the lilies look. Her look better than mine, but I can divide them up and bring some here. My lily bed needs attention too.

My crush from high school, then and now. I downloaded the slideshow from my classes’ website and found this photo. I won’t type his name as I don’t want him to see that I have him on my blog. ; )

Soccer star and middle aged

Off to la la land.

Florida weather

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Thank you very much O’ creator for bringing back my gardening mojo (sorry Barbara I stole that one from you). I didn’t actually garden today, I went to a book sale and then my hometown’s Super Sunday main street sale. When we arrived at mom’s she ushered me outside to present me with a ‘journey’ diamond necklace-you know the swirly ones you see in the tv ads? She said that it was a special Macy’s had. It’s really pretty and she got one for herself too. Wow!

The book sale had been on since Saturday and things were picked over. I spent too much ($2 for one hardback-how dare them!), but found fairly new books for crafting and some older musty books for cutting up for my paper crafts. My creative writing teacher from high school was there as a volunteer again this year. I didn’t speak to him as he seemed more interested in tidying up the books and I didn’t want to make him or myself feel old by bringing up the fact that my 30th high school anniversary is this year. Eek gads!

The main street sale was a bust. Mom got some applications to adopt a few kitties she saw up in town at booths for animal rescue. She was just going by seeing them in a cage and cat carrier. She wants a pet so badly, poor thing. The kitties were so pretty-the boy Leopold was white and Kyra the girl was almost white with a little calico thrown in.

We ate at a good Chinese restaurant this time. Sean was along (opps-forgot to mention him) and he drove us around. Nice when they get to that age.

I will be doing a little digging tomorrow. My irises have spread like wild fire! I am thrilled. I think of digging them up in the fall and adding them to other parts of the yard, sharing with my mom and maybe selling them myself. : )

Have a fine week-maybe I’ll finally get to Longwood Gardens to see the orchid display.