Category Archives: gardening

Jun23

Just plain hectic

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by Dianne

This last full week of June is proving to be a busy one. Yesterday, Sean took me to the grocery store (I needed him to lift the heavy stuff like 24 bottles of water and his help is great). That was 3 pm. I think I didn’t sit down again for an extended amount of time until close to 8! I made a quick and easy grilled chicken Caesar salad(love grilled chicken!) which called for fresh corn, which I used (I altered a recipe from a magazine I have). I then decided to plant three things in my soon to bloom lily garden. After I put the plants in, I started to edge the garden with my half moon edger. Brian came out and finished it, but he dug too deeply. I need to break up the dirt and get out the grass. Using that tool gives gardens a finished look.
Today is Brian’s Dad’s 86th birthday. Incidently, Ed McMahon passed away at age 86 today. He got his start in Philadelphia and just a few years ago was the guest of honor in a Memorial Day parade (I think) in my hometown. Ed and Dick Clark both lived in the same apartment complex (but in the 1950s of course!) that Brian and I started married life in-in Drexel Hill, PA.
Oh, I also went with Brian when he dropped his car off for inspection-there were about 30 other cars- some people (like us)waited until the last minute!
I was just watching ‘The View’ and I have the same measurements as Sherri*Shepherd before she started exercising! Oh well…hopefully I can get myself toned up a bit. I am sure she doesn’t do the gardening and cleaning I do. : )
Sad stuff:
There was a terrible train accident in Wash*ington, DC yesterday and now 7 have been confirmed dead. They said it’s the worse one in their history.
Update-spent the entire afternoon ripping out ornamental grass and planting other things here. That sick grape arbor behind this garden (the grapes are diseased) needs to come down!

I added some bird statuary here.

Jun17

I went from using this for one thing…

Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 by Dianne

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Waterlily container with faux waterlilies, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

The plastic container worked a few years until it sprang a leak over this past winter (cracked). Now I am using it for its intended purpose-plants! I have planted 6 Romas (hope I didn’t plant too many) in it and I can walk down my back steps to it. Hope it’s not to accessible to the wildlife!

Jun15

The years seem to melt away

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 by Dianne

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I’m not talking about a new kind of vanishing cream-though, wouldn’t that be nice? ; )
What I’m referring to is spending time the other night with some former classmates from my high school! One lady was in my kindergarten class-45 yrs ago! Face*book has helped me and other classmates find each other! I started a group at FB just for my class, and I believe there are close to 70 of us in it!
Anyway, this past Friday night, Brian and I got together at a beachy like place and sat and chatted with 10 nice people, 7 former classmates and two of their spouses and a member of the class under us. Our pal Ron was back in town for his son’s graduation and asked ‘yours truly’ to post an event and round up some of the group. Ron has moved to Arizona-twice-the second time this April. I can tell you he had a great time! I ordered a Cosmopolitan-it was a bit heavy on the Vodka, so I asked Bri to have them put a splash more cranberry juice in it which helped.(I hardly ever drink). I was really happy to see Meg (I was suppose to go to her house a few weeks ago) and her three pals arrive. Ron said really nice things about me and calls me ‘The Queen of Face*book’. He mentioned my photos and gardening too. : )

Ron and another Meg! So glad she came too!
Scott added photos and I grabbed a few:
DiRon
PHS77grp
Thanks to Ron, Meg H-M, Scott, Linda, John, Darcy, Meg B-M, Janet, Karen and Barb for a nice evening.
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The garden is all planted-about 2-3 weeks late. We plant a lot of tomatoes to mainly share with the family. Over the last few years, our garden hasn’t been producing, so we added a few layers of new top soil. Crossing fingers for a bumper crop.
Sean and I are watching ‘Twilight’. We have another hour to go. I think it’s definitely for the younger crowd.
We are having our septic tank drained tomorrow-country living folks! It hasn’t been done for about 4 years which is a long time!
Sean said he will help me plant zinnia and cosmos tomorrow. I am having some back and tummy issues, so I’m glad he can do the bending. I think I’m overdoing it!
Sean’s graduation announcements went out today with their personalized stamps-even the lady at the post office was impressed! And Zoey, your DH should expect a package in a few days-finally. I put a little something in there too.

Jun14

Can you see my little gal pal?

Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2009 by Dianne

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Happy Flag Day!

cardinal nest inside butterfly bush, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

She’s almost at eye level in her nest in my butterfly bush. When she is alarmed, she flies to the back and up and out. I was a bit nervous when taking this (and three other shots) as the flash was going off and I didn’t want her to put my eye out.
We tried to get some tomatoes in the big garden yesterday(about 10 so far)-between showers that is. The new top soil seems to be helping a lot! The ground looks almost like ground coffee! The weather looks more promising today. I’m going to add a few mounds of fingerling potatoes to the other part of the garden too.
And I repotted this lovely orange Gerbera daisy and it presented me with a flower yesterday.

I found the neat basket for $3 at the Goodwill.

My ‘lilies of the field’ are starting to bloom. They are indeed near the long part of our yard! I think I saw a ruffled yellow one too. This is a Asiatic lily:

There is a Daddy Longlegs on the one blossom there.
And last but not least, a small part of my fairy garden:

Some of my little figurines have lost a wing or look a bit worn, but they still look cute when the flowers and plants grown larger and they are hiding beneath them!

Jun8

Finally

Posted on Monday, June 8, 2009 by Dianne

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Finally got three bags of red mulch down today. I had to pick a day when it was 65% humidity. I did not feel too well when I came in, but after a cool shower, was more like my old self. I was fine sitting on the bag and dispersing the mulch, but as soon as I started dragging the bags around (I did two tonight and one last week), I became drenched in sweat and got a stomachache. The mulch really helps to protect the flowers and I can see a big difference in my Sweet William garden just in one week. I felt better later as I polished off the last Breyer’s vanilla dipped in chocolate bar-it says lower in fat on the box! : )
Earlier, I finally put together a graduation announcement card for Sean and was pleased how it came out (I used a 10 yr old card program):
gradcard
The inside is special too. I found a neat PSU Nittany Lion logo and a nice graduation announcement to gain inspiration from on the web.

I have strived for and accomplished
an important goal in my life
of which I am very proud

I, Sean M. C.
am pleased to announce
my Graduation from
The Pennsylvania State University
which took place on
on Friday, the fifteenth of May
Two thousand nine
Degree Achieved:
B.S. Geography
minor Climatology

And they are one-of-a-kind cards!
Oh-I got a trial from Sta*mps.com (which was a bugger to get working as I had to get our anti-virus software to accept it) and ordered personalized stamps with Sean’s grad photo on it-the one on the front of the card! They should be here in a few days.
I sent off a ton of mail today…one is going to South Korea in a Artist Trading Card swap to an Australian lady who lives there teaching English. You should have seen that address! I hope it gets there in good time. Can’t wait to see what she makes for me.
Swapping is fun!

May31

The guys playing softball

Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by Dianne

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The guys playing softball, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We have a long yard down to the left there, yet they chose to bat a ball around my flowers and lawn ornaments! I don’t think they broke anything-they are lucky.
We had glorious weather for the weekend. I went out and used the weed whacker today, and believe me, I had to whack and hack plenty of weeds. It’s such a helpful contraption. I also planted up a few more pots and did flowers around my gazing ball in the pond garden. I got this blue salvia-it’s almost purple, and it looks great with the blue gazing ball with the swirls of color.
Also put down some mulch in my Asian bed that has lots of Sweet William in it-about 18 plants. Love those. I bought three little solar light to line my brick path up to the house and two didn’t work. Silly me didn’t check to make sure all three were on auto.

Have a great week ahead!

May24

Hog Wild for Coleus

Posted on Sunday, May 24, 2009 by Dianne

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Newest Coleus , originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean was sweet enough to take me to three(!) different garden centers/greenhouses and Low*es on Friday where I found most of what I needed for pots and hanging baskets. I hit the mother lode for Coleus at Gateway in Hockessin, DE. They had tons of them, but at $5 a pot, I had to be choosy. I’m going to go out and photograph them and write down the names, but some off the top of my head are ‘Henna’ and ‘Witch Doctor’. When these need a trim, I pinch off a few stems and put them in water where they root in a few weeks. I then plant them in bare spots in my various gardens. I noticed that the above center had them out in the sun and the lady there said that many coleus are sun tolerant now. I just love all the colors and how some look like they have been watercolored.
I had a busy day in the heat yesterday, so I’m taking it easy today.
Updated-my collection:

Have a lovely Sunday!

May14

Clematis blooming

Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 by Dianne

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Clematis bloomng , originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I was walking around the yard a bit today, it’s so windy! Look what I found blooming! I’ll have to see if the tag is still there, but I think Clematis vines are some of the coolest flowers to grow-and seem fairly easy too! Maybe I’ll make a Clematis garden next!
This one was altered in Picnik:

Penn State photos next!

May12

Sleepy Tuesday

Posted on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by Dianne

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I don’t know if you guys know how hard it is to live with someone who has been having sleep issues for almost 4 months. Last night Brian decided he was going to have company and announced very loudly that I was snoring-and that was 2 am-not sure if I had even dozed off yet. The night before I had had PMS issues and was up a lot. I think I finally went to sleep around 4 and at 9 was dreaming about pancakes when the cat jumped on me. Bri had been taking prescription sleep med for about 3 weeks-didn’t work out for him. He will be going to a sleep center for a consultation on the 19th. He had called and scheduled for June 3rd- I called back and asked for something sooner and got him in Tuesday.
I’ve been drifting around the house like the cartoon bunny sniffing a carrot on a string. I did lay down in the afternoon for a few winks before Sean’s phone started ringing in his room-can’t seem to win!
I finally fixed my live feed there. I had email issues a few weeks ago and it got changed to Collingswood, NJ-never been there-is home to Comcast.
I planted some Snapdragons, Sweet William, Nemesia and African Daisies tonight while Brian cut the grass. I don’t know how he does that on a few hours sleep. He is laying down right now.
Wish us well for Friday. I have to sleep on a inflated mattress and it wasn’t feeling great on my back when we tried it out. We are renting a full size car, so that will be nice.