Category Archives: yard

May18

A wave of irises

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A wave of irises, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Taken today, after a mostly wet day. I am sad to see these bloom and take a beating from the weather, but they seem pretty much ok. I’m waiting on a really dark purple one. My little kiwi color one either didn’t bloom or died back. I see where most of these will have to have their rhizomes separated and replanted in the fall.
I like the way Flickr resizes the photos. When I do it, they always look blurry. I— D.N.T. W.W.-drastically need to weed whack (around the Chestnut tree) and trim the little box hedges.

Oh my, I just heard some thunder! More rain!!

The fellows went over to Pop-pop’s house and I stayed home to catch up on some mail to send out and wanted to tidy up my paper stuff, which I haven’t done yet. It’s really getting dark out too. I plan to make dinner when the guys get home since they had a big lunch.

May15

Mrs. Green Thumbs

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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.

May7

80 degrees!

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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.

May4

A May day in PA

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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!

May2

Friday!

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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!

Apr27

Chasing my tail!

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Yep, what to do, what to do? Do I continue outside because that’s what I really want to do or clean my house? There’s so much to do in both locations. I did sort through a huge pile of junk mail, but I should have done that Thursday as Friday is recycling day. Now it will be sitting around all week.

My gardens are getting there. We had a cooler day and a little rain last night, so I was able to get to the lilies. There are so many weeds in there, I chopped off a few lilies by mistake. I do that every year!

I got my first iris today! It’s a pretty all white one! A few dianthus are blooming too. We went to Walmart and I must say their flowers and veggies are pretty decent this year and I bought a bunch last night. I planted more dianthus (Sweet William) that are named ‘Diana’ something. The ones from last year are coming along nicely.

Heard brother #2 has been planting a bunch of things at mom’s. This is good, but I use to help her with that. He also found her a nice used bed set (with a double bed) on Craig’s List and they went and looked at it and bought it! She has been sleeping on a twin bed and couldn’t stretch out right. I hope she is sleeping now as she was exhausted getting the room tidied up for the new additions. She is suppose to have a cat scan tomorrow and wants me to go along (I went with her when she had an MRI a few years back and waiting freaked me out a bit as I knew she was in that closed machine all that time). The weather is suppose to be rainy too.

That’s about all the news. I did sit after dinner and make one ATC! I haven’t made one for weeks. Speaking of dinner, I made the Rachael Ray turkey burgers which are so good! All you do is grate a small white onion in the ground turkey and toss in some seasoning like parsley and poultry seasonings. Next you make the patties and roll them around in pecan pieces and instant potato flakes and fry them up!

I am doing a little cross stitch at night. I am trying to finish off a Christmas ornament that I started back in ’05. I have to do birds over one stitch and it’s hard! Plus the design isn’t right at the top, and I can’t figure out why. It’s pretty though.

Apr25

Ahhhh Lilacs!

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Happy Arbor Day!

It surely is spring when the Lilacs are blooming! We have an ancient bush next to our driveway that we were trimming back last year. Unfortunately, the blooms are way over my head as the top wasn’t trimmed off! I had to bend a few branches to get theses. Usually Lilacs remind me of May as that’s when they usually bloom. The Azaleas are getting ready to burst open next! I have one bush that looks like it is about to bite the dust as it is so scraggly looking. I’d love to tear out a grape arbor that is mainly covered with weeds and do an area of Azaleas.

And here’s an update on Plant Kindness:

I had this on the back of the sofa, so looks a bit bumpy. I am not happy with the legs of the chairs, but have given up on them! I figure if someone is using chairs to hold flowers, then they are too rickety for human derrières!

I may be going to Longwood…we’ll see. My allergies are behaving better today.
Mom can call here again! I guess me calling Comcast did the trick. : )

Apr24

Hoping for new flowers

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My friend Zoey over at Perennial Passion blog was nice enough to send me a package of Rose Campion seeds last year. I figured since the Lilacs are blooming and the Lily of the Valley are unfurling their leaves, I might as well plant the seeds. I planted them in three different areas to see where they would do the best-near the pond, in my grass and lily garden and in the iris bed. All between sneezing and blowing my nose. My neighbor has a ton of flowering trees and I guess they are bothering me, but I guess a ton of things could be outside! I also threw in some flower seeds I had gotten from eBay last year-Butterfly weed, Bee balm and Columbine. If they come up, they come up-they hardly gave me any! I was going to start them inside, but I have had Columbine that has spread by itself.

Thanks to Barbara for defining the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ in the last post. I had to chuckle because a local tv ad for a dept. store says ‘Did you Boscov today?’ They are using a noun in a verb position!

Here’s an odd thing-my mom can’t get through to me on the phone, but I can call her! It’s been like that for a few days now. We both have called our respective phone service (we use Comcast VOI) I even had her dial my next door neighbor and it went through. She can call me on her cell phone, not her land line.

I really wanted to go to Longwood Gardens today, but too much of the nose problem. Maybe tomorrow. I can do everyday if I wanted with my pass. (There’s a tv commercial for Longwood on right now!)

Apr23

Get out the weed whacker!

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It’s time for me to do a little trimming-actually a lot of trimming. I might as well get the hoe out too! The weather is fab, I’m feeling better good (except for an on and off itchy throat and post nasal), but it’s the spring and everything is blooming and leafing like crazy.This makes me think of Sean. Many of you know Sean is a Geography major with a climatology influence and he’s finishing up a 15 research paper on climate changes in the Northeast. I proof his papers and I learn a lot too. Actually what I proofed last night had to do with how early warming is causing problems with animals and their food chain. The example was saying that chickadee babies eat moths that need to hatch when oaks are blooming which are maturing before they hatch and destroying them and affecting the birds. (I thought it was effect and Sean’s prof says affect). Interesting stuff. He is going to be doing an internship nearby in Delaware at Ashland Nature Center where he volunteered in high school. It’s really pretty there. He tried to get in Longwood Gardens, but they didn’t need anymore interns.

I did make the pasta, arugula and cannellini beans for dinner. It really fills you up, but I was hungry at 6:30 this morning! I had to get a Special K bar then. I have to recommend this yummy peanut butter mix called Better n’ Peanut butter that I purchased at Trader Joe’s the other day. It’s not all peanut butter, but it’s only 2 grams of fat and tastes like roasted peanuts! I had some on whole grain bread this morning. I have to recommend their chocolate meringue drops again-if you love chocolate, these are a good fix!

Here’s a photo of our dinner from last night (with a topping of toasted walnuts):


It needs Parmesan to boost the flavor! Also, don’t overwilt the arugula as it gets stringy. The actual recipe looks like it uses more than I did.

Apr22

Hugging the earth

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Earth day just happens to coincide with the PA election and my first look at annuals for my gardens. It’s a sunny day with a little breeze stirring up the pollen (ah choo!) I have to go vote solo as Bri and I are different political parties and his candidate doesn’t have anyone running against him! I think I’ll head to Sean’s old elementary school around 3:30-3:45 when there is more parking space. I get all mushy when I go back there as I spent a lot of time volunteering there for 8 years. I was even the corresponding secretary for the Parent/Teacher Org for a year. One of the things I helped create was the butterfly garden at the school. I brought some of my own perennials to fill in empty spaces. I’d love to see how that is coming along. If I remember, I’ll go look.

As for flower shopping, I saw that my favorite garden place’s other nursery (on the way to my mom’s) has a bunch of flowers for sale. That peaked my interest, so I’ll go take a look down in Delaware at the closer (and better) nursery.

Down at mom’s, brother #2 was doing some landscaping. Some was ok, but I was having nightmares over the placement of some big rocks right next to a path he was putting in. I could see my mom losing her footing and tripping. Seems bro #3 agreed and they are moving them. #2 also replanted daffodils and hosta under one of the front windows. The hosta are too close together and I think daffodils need to rest and get replanted in the fall so their bulbs can gather energy for the next bloom. This is correct I believe. I do have to thin out some of the lilies I planted along the one side of mom’s house a few years ago. They love the location! I’m about to order a mock orange bush and will have to order mom a new butterfly bush as #2 yanked up the one that we all loved.

So, do something for the earth today. Every little thing helps!

Updated:

I did some flower shopping! What a great selection too! For some reason, the nursery switched sides and the perennials were where the annuals use to be. Of course the perennials cost more and they are the first plants people see. I saw a perennial, Barrenwort, I have had since I lived here for $10.99-ouch!

Here I am with some of my new flowers:

And the mentioned Barrenwort which is spreading nicely


You know I was going to buy coleus! I was only able to save one plant from last year by rooting it in water.

I did vote, it was a great time to go. I was voter #277 and it was 3:30 in the afternoon. Not such a great turn out, maybe it was better in the evening. We had Obama ‘call’ us a few minutes before 8 which was pretty comical. Brian didn’t vote.