A Year in the Life of our Flower Beds

Sixty-three!

2011-06-28T21:25:00.001-04:00

There are sixty-three blooms on our big lilies right now, and more still to open. This has been the best year ever for them! And, the aroma is so strong, we can smell them in the house, it's rather lovely.

More of the impatiens from Beth, and this picture stinks because it doesn't show that some are purple and some are pink. Hmpf.

Yucca is blooming!

Surprise rudbeckia, some years it grows, some years it doesn't. This is a year it grew.

One of the geraniums we over-wintered in the basement window is blooming, and on the shelf behind that is a Black Pearl Pepper that reseeded itself!

Bee Balm!

Our first sunflower of the year - again, all volunteers, we haven't actually planted sunflowers in a few years.

More goings on...

2011-06-25T16:41:00.000-04:00

The Rose Campion looks pretty good with the orange daylilies:

Every year I worry the Smoke Bush won't come back, but it did, yay:

Even the potato flowers are pretty:

Endless Summer Hydrangea:

And, the pink lilies:

Some blurry photos...

2011-06-25T16:39:00.000-04:00

Some of these aren't so clear, but you get the picture, haha. :-)

New Coreopsis, Poppies and Speedwell out front:

I'm so excited about the Canna and Voodoo Bulbs this year, they look pretty happy:

Bellflower and Astilbe (and stupid wild grapevine/weed):

I forget what this is called. It's one of those "stepable" herbs we planted in here a few years ago, and it took over and always comes back. Gotta love persistence:

Some pinks and storm damage

2011-06-12T10:52:00.000-04:00

We had a fierce storm last week. We were not home to experience it, but this is some of the hail damage to the banana:

Thank you Caleb and Ethan for these beautiful dianthus you gave me last year. They look great in front of the canna!

Rose Campion is doing it's thing:

And we saw this on the Beacon Zero Waste Garden Tour yesterday. The gardener said it was a philopea, but that can't be it, since I tried to google that and I find nothing...

Ideas anyone?

So many beautiful and delicious things

2011-06-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

We had our first pick up from our CSA last night (Common Ground Farm) - yay! And in with the delicious veggies were two beautiful "florals."

Technically, this was labeled as an Edible Pea Bouquet - ALL of it is edible, but I think it's too pretty to eat:

This is not edible, but beautiful to look at. Rye Grass:

And in our garden, Great Grandma Eaton's roses are blooming! The sweetest roses on earth. My grandfather used to make rose petal wine with these, and my grandmother carried them in her wedding bouquet.

Close up, pretend you can smell them. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

The Peppermint roses are doing well this year, too - lots of double blooms!

We are going to need some chicken wire soon to protect these babies from the birds!

And...it's a Christmas song, but oh so appropriate, "It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeear!" Strawberry season!

Irises!

2011-05-30T21:49:00.000-04:00

The irises are happy this year:

As are the peonies:

I am so far behind in blogging...

2011-05-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sorry about that! Here is what was happening recently:

Yay, the Cold Spring irises are blooming this year!

The Carolina Allspice is growing where we took down the sick rhododendron:

The bleeding heart is shading the purple columbine:

The primrose seemed happy this spring:

I'm loving these lime coral bell leaves. I have two of these, one on each side of the pear tree and even from the house I see them. I need to do more with colorful foliage.

Chives! We never eat them, but they sure are pretty when they bloom.

Things to come...

2011-05-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

We took down the dead/dying/sick rhododendron today, this is now the empty spot where it was. I'm sure the Carolina Allspice we ripped out years ago, which continues to grow anyway, will fill in the spot if nothing else does!

I am super duper excited that the white peonies that Mom gave me last year will bloom this year!

And, this doesn't look like much now, but I am pretty sure it's Forget Me Not and Alyssum that reseeded itself last year. Awesome!

I am embarrassed to tell you...

2011-04-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

that I spent five years trying to kill this:

But you have to cut me some slack, in that I did not know what it was! To me, it was just greenery with thorns, big ouchie thorns. Then one spring a couple of years ago I didn't get out there early enough to begin my annual chopping and pulling of it, and a few flowers bloomed. Last year, a few more, and this year, it's getting better! Oh, and according to my Mom, it's Flowering Quince.

First asparagus of the season!

2011-04-22T10:36:00.002-04:00

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

2011-04-09T16:23:00.000-04:00

Ah, spring. Time for wearing the new gardening clogs:

and daffodils:

We're worried about one of our rhododendrons (rhododendra?). Here is the healthy one:

and the not so healthy one:

We might need to take it down. :-(

Last harvest!

2010-10-17T09:02:00.000-04:00

Our last harvest includes peppers, tomatoes, string beans, and potatoes...

Happy Autumn!

Chill in the air...

2010-09-26T17:59:00.001-04:00

Yesterday it was 85 degrees, but now I can feel a chill in the air.

Here's what I picked in the garden this morning. Before:

After (in my new bowl!):

Sedum is blooming. Can you see the two little creatures in this shot? (Click through to Flickr if you want to see where/what they are)

I hope this little sedum survives this winter, I do love it so.

Late summer rose is stunning.

Hydrangea with fall colors.

And September strawberries!

Color, but not flowers

2010-09-11T14:29:00.002-04:00

Beautiful day out today, did some "harvesting" in our garden:

Steve dug the onions a couple of weeks ago:

Happy weekend!

I wonder...

2010-08-21T15:47:00.002-04:00

if around town we are known as the crazy house with all the sunflowers?

Well hello there, oxalis! I didn't plant you there!

So, Forget-Me-Not is usually a spring plant, right? Well, not when you get the seeds in the ground really late. :-)

The canna is blooming! The canna is blooming! I'm hoping for a few more...

I love how the alyssum flowers are different colors. I never noticed that before.

I guess our "everbearing" strawberries really are!

I can't think of a witty title...

2010-08-08T21:51:00.002-04:00

Look at the squirrel on the tree, looking right at me! I think that might be Peanut... Steve's friend that he HAND FEEDS! Oh, and the picture is of the "false sunflowers" (at least, I think that's what my Grandma used to call them, I need to double check with my Mom) that came from Mom's yard.

The Resurrection Lily is phenomenol this year - it has four shoots!

We are getting a second round of blooms on two of our rosebushes. I wish my Great Grandma's Roses would bloom more than once a season.

After what seemed like forever, our ivy geraniums on the fence are looking very happy!

It's August?!

2010-08-01T17:15:00.005-04:00

It seems to be a good year for peppers! This is a combination of our peppers and peppers from Common Ground Farm. I sauteed them and they are in the freezer now. We'll break them out later in the year to have with some onions and sausage.

I bought this coreopsis at the Master Gardener Plant Sale back in May, along with a catmint. The catmint didn't do so well, but the coreopsis seems happy!

This Mexican Petunia came from the same Plant Sale, and is finally blooming!

Steve's prayer plant has the most delicate flowers, so lovely!

It's quiet in the garden

2010-07-29T19:14:00.002-04:00

Not much new going on. Sunflowers continue to go a little crazy in the front of the house, which is fun. I wonder if our neighbors think we're crazy.

Who knew chamomile was so pretty?

Tonight's harvest!

Sunday morning, brings the dawn in...

2010-07-18T07:46:00.003-04:00

Ah, Lou Reed. But he doesn't really have much to do with our garden. Anyway...

Saturday morning harvest! We pick about 3 or 4 cucumbers every day, so yesterday I made 8 pints of refrigerator pickles. Today I might need to make dilly beans!

Silver Dollar Plant is ready, and this pink flower (another one that I can never remember its name) is doing well, looks nice with the hygrangea.

I brought these Brown Eyed Susans from Cold Spring when we moved. I seriously cannot believe those pansies are hanging in there, it's been so hot!

My beloved white Phlox, being totally crowded out by the wild, invasive purple phlox I bought at a Stony Kill plant sale a couple of years ago. Hmpf.

Magic beans!

2010-07-07T19:44:00.000-04:00

Before:

After!

YUM!

It's hot, and dry. Very dry.

2010-07-05T14:36:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's hot and dry. The grass is crunchy. Not good.

Here are some updates:

I told you there were canna in there! I'm crossing my fingers they will bloom.

Our house is being taken over by sunflowers, all volunteers!

The hydrangea from Oma is just beautiful. I'm hoping for even more blooms next year.

These lilies smell so sweet, we can smell them from inside the house sometimes.

This lovely daylily was a new addition last year (with the daisies seen in the background).

Smoke Bush looks good! To the right is Bee Balm from Mom's yard.

First bean harvest of the season!

We picked this up in Iowa, and Steve assembled it yesterday - too cute!

What we saw on our summer vacation

2010-06-30T21:54:00.003-04:00

While we were in Lincoln, NE last week visiting my sister, we went to the Sunken Gardens and the Hamann Rose Garden. Here are a few of the things we saw.

Red Velvet Yarrow - I would love, love, love to get some of this.

Variegated iris:

Bee Balm:

Lady's Mantle (I planted this a couple of years ago in our gardens, and it didn't come back):

Some seriously happy Coral Bells, and a bumblebee doing it's thing on them:

Blooming Hens and Chicks!

Turtle baby statue:

I love old fashioned, white hydrangea:

And, hail - eek!

Rainy, humid update

2010-06-14T10:44:00.002-04:00

Blech. Humid and grey. Not the best day to be in the garden for me, but the bugs sure seem to be enjoying it. Some new things blooming:

Rudbeckia - I planted these a few years ago, the second year they were gone, I thought oh, well but no, now they come back each year, in different spots, so I guess they are reseeding themselves.

White Astilbe is looking good. The pink is hidden under the hydrangea and daylilies, I need to mark it somehow so I can move it come fall.

These pink lilies are doing their thing quite nicely:

And here's a colorful wide shot of hydrangea, daylilies, yarrow and rose campion:

Our visitor of late

2010-06-09T17:19:00.001-04:00

Weird, right? More white than black. Hmm.

On the verge of blooming

2010-06-03T20:25:00.002-04:00

Walking around the gardens tonight I realized that sometimes things on the verge of blooming can be just as beautiful as the full bloom.

Bellflower:

Daisy:

Yarrow:

The one I can never remember the name of, and I need to move because the daylilies are shading and crowding it:

Hydrangea:

Hydrangea from Steve's Oma (finally, it will bloom!):

Astilbe:

Rudbeckia:

And, of course, the rose:

Pretty white blooms

2010-06-03T20:17:00.002-04:00

Happy Anniversary to Lisa and Guy! 15 (or 14?) years ago today they got married and gave this Silky Dogwood as wedding favors:

The Snow on the Mountain that we brought with us from Cold Spring is also in bloom (yes, that is Chocolate Mint mixed in there):

Busy day in the garden!

2010-05-31T16:17:00.003-04:00

Good morning!

One big project I tackled today - the weeds and mint that have taken over the azalea bed on the East side of the house.

Before:

During:

After - there is canna planted in there, and the delphiniums our godson brought us on Saturday:

(The transplanted volunteer sunflowers don't look so good now, but they'll bounce back.)

This coral bell planted itself in a crack of our sidewalk last year, earlier this spring I moved it back into one of our beds, and it is doing great! (Sweet William and Geum in the background)

I put some annuals in pots for out front:

We bought these at a new-to-us garden center, Sabellico, yesterday. That place is *huge!* We will need to go back, they had so many irises! Here is the millet and Toothache Plant:

and the Toothache Plant up close (the tag says you can chew the leaves to numb your gums, yikes.):

Dirty feet are a good sign of a long, exhausting and fulfilling day of gardening. :-)

Nothing sweeter...

2010-05-26T20:27:00.004-04:00

Seriously. You haven't smelled sweet until you have smelled the intoxicating aroma of my great-grandmother's roses, some of which now reside in our yard.

The Steve irises are doing great, as usual:

Mom was here a couple of weeks ago, and as we pulled in the driveway she said "Look at them all smiling at us!"

Uh, yeah, the volunteer sunflowers are *everywhere!* In the ground, in the pots (apparently I used soil from last year that had seeds in it...) We really need to thin these so some will get big and strong and flourish.

I think this rose is called Peppermint:

The peonies are in full swing!

And, yum - fresh bok choy from the garden with dinner:

The outdoors is dangerous!

2010-05-16T10:55:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, the high winds brought down part of one of our big trees. Luckily it fell between the new blueberries and the asparagus bed, and not right on top of one of them.

And then I caught poison ivy, and two days later I pulled a tick out of my side! I may never go outdoors again!

But, this may convince me to - my score from the Dutchess County Master Gardener Plant Sale:

The rhododendrons are still going strong, and I'm trying to notice details more, so a close up is in order as well.

The columbine I planted last year is looking well. So deep and dark! If only I could remember the name...

Pink! and, I wish the Internet had Smell-o-Vision

2010-05-05T19:46:00.004-04:00

The pink azaleas out front always bloom after the ones on the side of the house. They are going full force now!

These little guys planted themselves!

Yup, Cilantro!

The Highbush Cranberry from Lisa and Guy's wedding is blooming, and very tall! I would say almost 7 feet.

And this is why I wish the Internet had smell-o-vision - the garden smells so good right now! And, that scent means it's almost Christa's birthday! :-)

It's all in the details

2010-04-25T08:26:00.002-04:00

Red tulips are not all the same, at least not from the outside.

This shows you how (un)observant I am. Just yesterday I realized that Mrs. Pampalone's tulips:

are different on the inside from the tulips I planted:

I wonder what else I am missing?!

Does this mean...

2010-04-20T19:34:00.003-04:00

we will have blueberries this year?! I certainly hope so!

Every day we come home from work, pull in our driveway, and this is what greets me.

These little guys are on the west side of our front yard, where everything is always a little behind, I think due to lack of sun.

This color combo is my favorite right now, it's hard to capture all of it in a photo, though.

We're rich!

2010-04-18T14:35:00.003-04:00

Hah! But look at all the money plant / silver dollar plant. These are mixed in throughout almost all our beds, and they all started from one lone plant that must have reseeded itself from Mrs. Pampalone's gardening days.

The azaleas are starting to join the color show.

Look at all the volunteer sunflowers along the bricks! There are more throughout the front and side beds, yay!

Mrs. Pampalone's primroses are starting to bloom.

This was all seen on our way to harvest part of breakfast from our backyard.

Asparagus and eggs. A heavenly combination we learned of last spring...

Thank you, neighbors!

2010-04-17T13:12:00.003-04:00

For growing the lilacs, and for not chopping them down. Last year our neighbors chopped down a mulberry that was next to their lilac, because the squirrels were jumping off the mulberry onto their roof, and apparently got in their attic. Thank goodness they didn't hold that against the lilac, too!

So colorful

2010-04-14T19:46:00.002-04:00

I'm loving the color in our beds right about now.

Tulips from Carrie, therefore I will forever call these Carrie Tulips!

Mom says this is Spirea. I don't care what it's called, I love it. I love the teeny, tiny, perfect little flowers.

Spring has sprung!

2010-04-12T21:35:00.003-04:00

I'm tired after a weekend in D.C. with Mom and Christa, but really need to get going with spring photos. So here are a few!

Plumeria, first thing that was blooming this year. This was a "tag along" in a pot of phlox I bought a couple of years ago.

We are 99.9% sure that in that glass block, with the pink flourescent plastic flowers, is St. Joseph.

Love the vibrant blue!

Our pear trees are blooming, yay!

Some new primrose I added this year, with very big flowers. (Along with Mrs. Pampelone's primrose, a columbine and two bleeding hearts I planted last year)

I spent four years trying to rip this out of the bed. Last year I didn't get out there early enough, and it bloomed, it is a Flowering Quince! So, I let it grow...

It's right around the corner...

2010-03-14T12:08:00.001-04:00

November

2009-11-16T18:59:00.004-05:00

Today I dug up the voodoo bulbs - some of them are HUGE! And there are lots of babies, so our voodoo bulb stink fest next spring should be fantastic. :-)

I also pulled the canna from the big pots so they could come inside for the winter. They didn't bloom this year. I need to figure out why so I can try to avoid whatever it was that I did wrong for next year.

Things are looking very fall-like in our yard. Miscanthus:

Asparagus:

Hydrangea:

Last rose bloom:

Rudbeckia, still plugging along:

Don't hate me!

2009-09-28T19:58:00.002-04:00

Okay, here's what September brought...now that it's almost October.

The woodchuck got the zucchini:

The sunflowers were falling over (still are):

Really BIG potatoes!

Corn, peppers, and wax beans into the freezer:

And sauce:

Steve isn't blogging...

2009-08-27T19:51:00.003-04:00

So I will post some veggie photos!

Tomatoes, 8/23/09

The paprika peppers are delicious!

Our green beans have anthracnose:

The delicata squash vine looks like it has wilt, but we're not 100% sure. Just in case it's a borer, we have harvested the squash, hopefully not too early!

Apparently this cucumber was hidden...1 lb. 7.5 oz

And here's what I picked tonight: eggplant, zucchini, peppers and a variety of tomatoes:

Mmmm...zucchini bread

2009-08-14T21:27:00.004-04:00

Okay, so it's not pretty, but it tastes good:

Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Wheat-Zucchini-Bread/Detail.aspx

Out in the gardens, the phlox is still going strong. And the white is hiding behind the purple again this year:

Here's a Coral Bell, and a lot of weeds, in front of the phlox:

The Rudbeckia planted themselves a little more in front of the pear tree this year:

The Resurrection Lily has two stalks this year!

This week we picked quite a few tomatoes (and zucchini). I froze all these tomatoes today, then went outside and picked more:

A rainy morning outside = a busy morning inside

2009-08-02T20:50:00.004-04:00

So it was raining today. Again. So I spent the morning in the kitchen!

Sungolds ready to slow roast:

If you've never had a slow roasted cherry or grape tomato, you really must try them. They are like candy, I swear! These probably could have stayed in the oven a little longer, but I was ready to get out of the kitchen. Spray your roasting pan with olive oil, slice your tomatoes, put them in the pan skin side down, add fresh ground pepper and some kosher salt, spray with more olive oil and give them a couple of hours in the oven at 300 degrees. Watch them, you don't want them to burn!

While the tomatoes roasted, I steamed and blanched some green beans to go in the freezer.

When the beans were done, I steamed the little tiny beets we got in our farm share. Even though they're small, it's still a bit of work, but so worth it!

And I made German Coleslaw with cabbage and kohlrabi from the farm share.

And when the tomatoes were done, I chopped and roasted patty pan squash, zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower and white peppers.

All that made me hungry, so for lunch we had Fried Green Tomatoes.

And, this cracked me up. We have something like 14 windows in our house, and Wally and Finn have to sit in the window together!

Sad news from the vegetable garden...

2009-07-30T21:03:00.008-04:00

We had to pull out, cut down and bag two of the tomato plants showing signs of late blight. :-( This is scary stuff. If you have tomatoes and/or potatoes in your garden, beware.

So, on to other things. The zucchini are still coming in strong. (The yellow squash is from our CSA, Common Ground Farm)

I don't know why I didn't take an after photo!

Silver Dollar Plant, aka money plant, is drying okay. Some other ones are moldy. Too much rain!

I told you the sunflowers were bigger now! These are ALL volunteers, planted themselves from seeds that fell from last year's sunflowers.

This one planted itself right next to the front steps. And amazingly, I was able to overwinter the canna!

These pretty "red" ones are on the west side of the front beds.

Voodoo bulbs, still going strong!

Lots of phlox. I really don't want this much phlox here. It's crowding out the echinacea.

Rose of sharon:

Russian sage, yeah, I need more of this, too:

Normal size cucumber and crazy big cucumber we obviously didn't see and pick till it was HUGE! And some zucchini and eggplant in there, too.

Just for fun, because I love them so. Finn:

Wally. Naughtiest cat in the whole world. I would prefer he *not* hang out right there on the counter!

Wow, I am a seriously bad blogger!

2009-07-22T22:08:00.003-04:00

It's been like 2 months since I last posted. Oops. Here are some shots of what's been going on in the gardens, and in the kitchen.

First strawberries:

Peonies, Sweet Willieam and Geum:

New Nicotiana under the pear tree, with aster on the right:

Silver Dollar Plant (aka Money Plant), post bloom:

Sunflowers, but I need to post a newer one, they are big and blooming now:

Steve Irises, and sunflowers that planted themselves:

More berries...after the darn skunk dug up the strawberry bed we didn't get too many more:

Lamb's Ear and Astilbe:

Smoke bush made it through the winter:

Silky Dogwood came back, and bloomed! after being accidentally cut down by the "tree guys" last year:

Voodoo Bulbs!

Miniature rose that was dead when we got back from Italy, a little rain (more like a LOT of rain) during June, and it bounced right back:

New perennial daisies and daylilies:

Monster lilies, taller than me:

Yucca:

Hydrangea and daylilies:

Stuff from Mom on the left, and Snow on the Mountain on the right. Steve has been mowing this for the past few years, I finally weeded this area and the Snow on the Mountain bounced right back:

First attempt at Dilly Beans refrigerator pickles, yum!

Zucchini pickles and dilly beans:

Azaleas and Herbs

2009-05-08T09:58:00.002-04:00

Our azaleas along the east side of the house are blooming, the ones out front are not. I hope we don't miss them completely! We are going to Italy for the next 2 1/2 weeks, and I'm hoping to see some wonderful spring gardents while we are there.

We have a lot of sunflowers growing...we'll thin these out and move the biggest ones to the spots where we really want them to grow.

They've even reseeded along the edge of the sidewalk in front of the azaleas!

This azalea didn't do so well this winter. After it's done blooming we'll cut it back.

This is one of our Hardy Mums from last fall. I finally stopped being lazy and actually put four of them in the ground!

I potted up the herbs: parsley, basil, thyme and cilantro.

This strawberry crawled out of the strawberry pot last summer...

See you in a couple of weeks!

Thanks, Mom! and Tulips

2009-05-03T15:04:00.002-04:00

Mom helped me identify that shrub with the red flowers down below - we are pretty sure it is a Flowering Quince. I think it is either a Japanese Dwarf variety or "Texas Scarlet." I will try and take better care of it, and stop trying to rip it out. :-)

We have tulips!

I planted tulips and daffodils and hyacinths around the east side of our house a couple of years ago, and finally evened things out last Fall by adding bulbs around the west side of our front bed. I loved the color this spring! The pictures don't really do it justice, but I think you'll get the picture.

Lots Going On

2009-04-29T20:05:00.003-04:00

Voodoo bulb #2 bloomed the other day. It had started to crack, so we moved it outside before the stench got too powerful!

We have lots of little sunflowers growing where the seeds fell from last year's crop.

The first of the tulips opened mid last week (I am a belated blogger...) and I was so excited to see them! Then the heat hit, and some of them are kind of wilty now. I'll admit, I'm glad the weather is back to normal today!

These are new grape hyacinths I planted along the east side of the house. I like the blue and white together!

Put this in the "what the heck is this?!" category. These little red flowers, which almost look like tulip blooms were blooming over the weekend. They are on the stems of this little shrub that I have been trying to rip out for the five years we have lived here. I have never seen it bloom before! I wonder if it was the insane heat. I don't think I'm usually out working in the beds this early, so maybe it's always bloomed, but I've never seen it. Weird!

Our beloved strawberry patch. Sigh. I weeded and composted, and now I will patiently wait for June. Sigh.

Mrs. Pampalone's Primrose are blooming, and looking great.

And, we have tons of wonderful blooms on the Bleeding Heart I planted last year! I was worried they might be in too sunny of a spot, but I guess not. :-)

Today was the day...

2009-04-19T16:33:00.002-04:00

that we woke up to the "funk" of the voodoo bulb!

I moved it out to the patio, and we can still smell it out there!

Daffodils and hyacinths are blooming nicely now:

And...I found my vegetable peeler that disappeared last year! Right where Mom said it would be, in the composter. :-)

They are just getting more and more funky!

2009-04-15T20:52:00.001-04:00

Voodoo bulbs are so much fun! They are just getting bigger and bigger. Very soon they will bloom!

Very soon....

2009-04-09T19:35:00.000-04:00

we will have icky, stinky like garbage flowers on these! :-)

It's April, 65 and sunny!

2009-04-02T17:48:00.003-04:00

Ah, spring is in the air.

I don't know what this purple flowering thing is. I think it came along with a Phlox I bought at a local plant sale last year. Any ideas?

First blooming hyacinth:

Crocus in the lawn:

And, do you know what these are? When they flower, they will smell like garbage!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-15T17:51:00.003-04:00

A little early... but bulbs are starting to poke through! Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths all seem to be making their way out of their winter slumber. Even the hardy mums I put in the ground last Fall have some new growth, so yay!

Backyard Wildlife

2009-02-16T15:21:00.003-05:00

A juvenile sharp-shinned hawk has been visiting our backyard recently:

First snow of the winter

2008-12-23T13:35:00.002-05:00

We have probably 15 inches of snow at our house now, as a result of two storms last weekend. Here are some shots:

In just a few months, this area will be filled with tulips, hyacinths and daffodils!

And soon spring crops will be growing here, spinach, lettuce, etc.

This will be home to tomatoes, zucchini, etc.

Next year we'll see daffodils, hyacinths, day lilies, yarrow, creeping phlox and hydrangeas here:

And come summer we'll have pots of basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme here along with hanging baskets overflowing with bright, sun-loving flowers!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2009!

Pumpkin pie and apple butter

2008-11-23T21:47:00.003-05:00

We still have plenty of apples in the downstairs fridge, even after making this, apple butter:

And my first pumpkin pie, from roasted local pumpkin! It was delish, and I hope will be just as good when I make one for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.

Mmm...apples

2008-11-09T19:12:00.002-05:00

Today I made my first apple pie completely from scratch. It's not too pretty to look at, but it certainly smelled good while it was baking. We haven't eaten any yet, but I will be eating a slice later tonight!

Heart shaped produce is fun!

I picked red cabbage, lettuce, brussel sprouts and some more carrots from the vegetable garden today. I'm not sure Steve will blog these or not, so I'll put them here, just in case!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

2008-11-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

It's election day!

2008-11-04T08:03:00.003-05:00

I'm putting up two posts today, so there is one new one below this one in case you didn't catch that. :-)

We've had frost, but I don't think we've had a hard freeze yet. This past weekend I finally did some work in the gardens. I cleaned things up, cut things back, and planted mums, asters and bulbs. Hopefully the mums and asters will make it through the winter to next year.

I added bulbs on the west, front side of the house to try and balance things out. Hopefully next Spring I'll have a shot of tulips, grape hyacinths and daffodils here!

Some things on the patio have not been hit by frost - one impatiens, a firecracker fuscia, and the eucalyptus.

The Japanese maple out back looks nice!

And this is that bush that has great little white flowers in the spring.

And the miscanthus looks pretty good, too! I should move these out from behind the Rose of Sharon.

The herbs are still doing okay, and it's going to be in the 60's the next few days, so I haven't done anything with them yet.

The Tabasco peppers were just ripening when it got cold, but we still got a few red ones! When Caleb and Ethan were here, Caleb ate one! He suffered for it, and ate another one two days later, the crazy kid.

October Update

2008-11-04T08:00:00.005-05:00

Apples and carrots were in full force in October. Steve peeled, sliced, blanched and froze a few bags of carrots so we'll have them for soups and stews and side dishes this winter.

And I made applesauce. We have 20 more lbs of apples in the fridge downstairs, I'm going to make pie and hopefully apple butter next weekend.

Oops...bad blogger

2008-10-05T20:11:00.005-04:00

Has it really been (more than) a month?! Sorry about that... Things were pretty status quo in the gardens in September, and now things are fading, dying back, going dormant. No real frost or freeze yet, but I'm sure it will come soon. Steve and I were talking in the car today on the way to pick apples (yum - cider donuts!) and I realized that I probably spent more time this summer in the kitchen then in the garden. In the past I would spend plenty of weekend afternoons outside, but this summer we bought a chest freezer and committed to freezing as much local, fresh produce as we could to try and get us through winter. Many a weekend afternoon this summerI spent blanching, quick cooling, freezing and foodsavering! I should have blogged everything we froze... hmmm. Maybe I'll blog it as we eat it!

On September 20th we had "Brunch in the Fields" at our CSA, it was absolutely a beautiful morning and a wonderful event! Here is the set up before we all sat down to a delicious homemade from local stuff brunch!

Tomatoes kept both of us busy in the kitchen one weekend in September. We bought 50 lbs. from one of our favorite farmers, froze some and Steve also made sauce. After ruining a few t-shirts this summer I finally started wearing an apron while processing stuff!

The roses were blooming again late in the month.

The firecracker fuscia that Mom brought us is still going strong.

The aster is blooming, and looking good!

And this little guy (or one that looks just like this one) was in our green beans earlier in the summer, and here it is on our neighbor's house.

It's September already?

2008-09-01T20:14:00.005-04:00

This summer is flying (has flown?) by. I can't believe it's Labor Day. Things happening in the garden include...

A woodpecker on the sunflower out front! (Sorry this photo isn't so great, I stood out on the porch in my towel after getting out of the shower to try and get a shot, so was in a bit of a rush!)

The pear trees are full of pears, and we have started picking - yum!

The sunflowers are still doing really great!

The peppermint rose is blooming again.

We learned a few years ago how absolutely beautiful cotton flowers are, so each year we grow a few - not only because it's kind of neat to pick cotton in our backyard, but for the flowers as well.

And, we had the most delicious, colorful, local dinner the other night. Everything is local, even the sausage is from the northeast. Green beans, cremini mushrooms, purple potatoes, red and green peppes, onions, tomatoes...yum!

A few new things blooming

2008-08-16T10:21:00.003-04:00

The sunflowers in the back have started blooming, I can't tell you how much I love this one. The photo doesn't do the color justice, it's called Lemon something, and it is a very accurate name for it! The bumblebees also love it!

The hollyhock Lisa brought me on Memorial Day weeknd is blooming, but it is short! The ones Mom brought us have not really grown either. I'm hoping they'll all flourish next year.

Canna!

2008-08-10T08:18:00.001-04:00

The canna out front have started blooming. This morning there was this neat looking creature on one. I think I'll do more canna out front next year, I really like the way they look.

Remember this?

2008-08-07T19:07:00.003-04:00

Do you remember this from waaaaaaay back earlier in the Spring? (Is anyone really reading this, or am I talking to myself?) From April 12th, to be exact:

I promised you it wasn't daffodils, and it's not. It's a Resurrection Lily, and here it is today!

Neat, huh? :-)

It's August, where is the summer going?

2008-08-06T10:52:00.005-04:00

Time is flying by... things in the garden are good, things are flowering, we are picking green beans, cukes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and onions from the veggie garden. Here's a shot of Steve with the other winners of the Beacon Garden Contest. I'm so proud of him. He works so hard on our vegetables, he started 99% of them from seed, and has devoted a lot of love and attention to them, and they are delicious!

I love this! The Green Teens had these signs in front of their salsa booth this past weekend (follow the link to Flickr to see the full size photo if you can't read these):

These two Rose of Sharon planted themselves here a couple of years ago, but I'm going to need to take them out, because they are shading the hydrangea which is not doing so well this year.

Our mums are blooming, oops, a little early!

The white phlox is hidden behind the pink! Maybe I'll have to thin out the pink and move some of it this fall. I like the white.

One of the voodoo bulbs has sent up a second shoot!

We had a full rainbow the other day!

Ah, refreshing

2008-07-24T19:14:00.005-04:00

It rained the past two days, and we needed it, so I won't complain. Now there is a beautiful breeze and things in the gardens are perking up as the sun shines. Here's what's going on:

The "real" daylilies are blooming. I think I will dig up some of the "wild" orange ones that bloomed earlier and replace them with some Stella D'Oro ones this fall when they go on sale over at Adams.

Cool rooster in the background, right? Uncle Bruce gave us that for our wedding. It's a bummer the paint is wearing off.

Near the daylilies, the Rose of Sharon is also blooming, and has been for a couple of weeks.

In the back corner, it's more purple phlox!

And, brown eyed susans I brought with us from Cold Spring that came back for a couple of years, then didn't last year, and are now back again, but in a slightly different spot. Hmmm.

The only problem with all the phlox doing so well is it's shading the thistle, which is not nearly as big this year as it was last year.

The sunflowers out front are still flourishing:

And the basket on the fence has filled out nicely. Here is is when we planted it, and then the next shot is now. The black eyed pearl peppers did not do well, they needed more sun, so I added coleus which seems pretty happy!

And I cut a couple of huge bunches of silver dollar plant last weekend. This weekend I'll sit there and peel them and harvest the seeds to sprinkle around in the beds and on the hills.

Speaking of seeds, Steve and I are going to a Hudson Valley Seed Library seed-saving workshop on Saturday, should be fun!

It's freakin' hot

2008-07-20T16:52:00.004-04:00

Man, it's hot out. Steve is happy, the grass is "dying" so he won't need to mow as often. We water the vegetable and flower beds just about every day. I can't remember the last time we had a good, soaking rain. Supposedly we'll get showers tomorrow morning, but we'll see...

We joined Common Ground Farm this year and one of the nice perks is they grow flowers for cut bouquets and we get to pick one for ourselves each week. Here is what I picked this week, along with some mint that we got in our share.

And, they're not from the farm, but from one of our favorite local vendors at the farmers market. We puffy heart her and her produce. :-)

Hmpf.

2008-07-16T20:05:00.001-04:00

This:

this:

this:

and this:

have led to this:

We have two of them, and seriously, in like 3 days, they are full! Blech!

Catching up!

2008-07-14T19:22:00.005-04:00

It's been a while! Things have been busy the past couple of weeks - 4th of July weekend, then my husband's family came for a visit and we went to see the Yankees and the Mets, and had a really enjoyable visit! So now I'm trying to catch up a bit with the blog, here goes.

Remember that strange looking thing I showed you last time? Here is what it is - a voodoo bulb! Have you ever seen one bloom? Or smelled one. It's nasty. Next year I'll take a picture of it blooming. We have two of these that Mom brought us, one one each side of the fireplace. I like the tropical look they give the beds!

Okay, so these are from the end of June, but thought you'd like to see all the basil we had then, and the result - yum, pesto!

Back to flowers!

We planted spider flowers from seed, but they haven't taken off like I had hoped. They are blooming, though.

The hosta are blooming and look great in front of the shed.

The phlox and echinacea are blooming. I'm still waiting for that big patch of phlox in the middle to bloom, I can't decide if it's the white one I planted when we first got the house, or one I picked up at a plant sale last year.

The sunflowers out front are blooming. These are all the result of seeds that fell from the sunflowers we planted last year. There are tomato plants there, too. Yes, tomato plants in the front of the house. We planted a random, leftover cherry tomato plant there last year and on one day I picked 167 tomatoes! Yes, 167! Apparently they like this spot, because there are 4 or 5 plants that grew from tomatoes that dropped last year, plus we planted a couple of new ones.

I love the pollen on the leaf:

Weeding, weeding, weeding

2008-07-05T21:02:00.005-04:00

I hate weeding. But it must be done. Here is my garden sled. Neat, right? It was Mom's idea! It's easier than a wheel barrow sometimes.

This is neat, too, right? I'm wondering how many of you know what it is? (Besides my Mom, of course).

And this incredibly weird, slightly gross mushroom (?) appeared yesterday. The flies were all over it. I did NOT lean close enough to it to see if it smelled bad. The weirdest thing, is that the next day, it was gone.

Mom told me what this was last time she was here, but I've forgotten already...hopefully she can remind me! I used to think it was some weird hybrid growth off the Rose of Sharon, which is right above it. It kind of looks like a Rose of Sharon, but it's definitely not. I don't think I planted this, so either it was there all along, or it came in with something else that I planted in that area.

Another shot of the yucca and rudbeckia, I'm loving this part of the yard right now.

Well, it was unintentional, but the cilantro flowers are pretty!

Reason #3 (after peonies and great Grandma's roses) why the Internet should be scratch and sniff:

They are *quite* tall, too!

Things are looking good!

2008-06-30T21:08:00.005-04:00

Did I post about the impatiens my friend Beth sent me? She grew them from seeds, that her friend has harvested and grown for 20 years! She sent me 4 plants in the mail, 2 didn't survive, but the two that did are doing pretty well, and blooming! Thanks, Beth!

The edelweiss has been blooming for a while now, so here's a pic. It lives under our rose bushes.

Here's an interesting comparison, March 30th:

and June 30th:

I planted this bunny tail grass last year, and didn't think it was a perennial, but it came back!

Bellflower and astilbe:

More of the pink lilies:

Um, yeah. I planted these rudbeckia two years ago, and they did not come back last year, but this year, is a different story!

The yucca and speedwell are blooming, too.

And another comparison, May 24th:

And June 30th:

What I saw on Vacation

2008-06-29T16:38:00.005-04:00

Hi! We spent the past week in Old Saybrook, CT and I should have taken more pictures, but here are a few things I saw that I liked. We really liked the smoke bushes we saw, one darker and one lighter, but I didn't have the camera with me when we saw them, so we didn't get a picture, but - we've already ordered one for home, so we'll take a picture of our own smoke bush someday!

These are everywhere, and make a nice splash of color - I need to figure out what they are so I can plant some:

Gotta love the old fashioned, white hydrangea:

Thought this was neat, I love the way it looks like it's flowing over the edge. These people had no lawn, Steve thought that was a great idea!

Nice hydrangea and tiger grass combo, I covet this grass. It's tall, I would need to think hard about where to put it.

Clematis, right? Quite a few folks had these, they seem to do well there.

I love this bed, so much color timed just right:

Okay, these are just weird.

2008-06-20T22:18:00.002-04:00

Was picking strawberries tonight in our strawberry patch (best thing we ever planted, by the way!) and picked these:

*How* did this happen?! Freaky, right? There were also a few double berries. We ate those. I'm kind of afraid to eat these Chernobyl berries...

It's been a while!

2008-06-18T21:09:00.006-04:00

I was at a seminar all last week that prevented me from doing a lot of things, one of them being blogging. So here goes!

I couldn't resist how beautiful this rose looked after the rain.

Here is some cinquefoil (and some impatiens, etc.) that I moved from the big long bed by the fence, to here under the pear tree. I don't have very good luck with perennials under the pear tree - except for the aster, the aster is happy there. Anyway, we'll see how this does here. The original cinquefoil is over in the big bed and reseeds itself each year. It was here when we bought the house.

Yarrow is starting to bloom.

Here's the original cinquefoil in the front, by the rooster, and the pretty white flowers with the dark burgundy stems in the background - I can't remember what they are called. Mom told me this weekend, and I have already forgotten.

Here's a close up:

The white astilbe is doing well. The pink is hidden. :-(

If we ever get married again, this will be my bouquet. Okay, not really, but it was so pretty and smelled so good, I had to share. It's now in our freezer in the form of pesto. :-)

The pink lilies have started, these are nice, but wait until you see the giant white ones later in the summer!

The dahlia on the right doesn't look so good. Not sure why... Mom brought us the black hollyhocks, the verigated basil and the firecracker fuscia, thanks Mom!

I thought I'd show a progress pic of the pots out front, they are filling out really nicely!

Whew! Okay, I think we are pretty much caught up for now!

Roses, heirloom roses

2008-06-08T11:02:00.004-04:00

The iris and roses were looking nice towards the end of this past week:

This is a rose called Peppermint, or something like that.

I love a rosebud about to open.

And this weekend the roses really opened up. I think the sun and HEAT are loved by the gardens, not so much by the people.

This one below is so special to me. This rose my Mom brought to us from her house, and it's from a rosebush that she brought from my grandparents' farm to her house. The original rosebush - still on the farm which is lived on and maintained by my uncle - was planted by my great-grandmother.

My grandmother carried these roses in her wedding bouquet, and my Dad's ashes are under the original rosebush on the farm. This rose produces the sweetest smell on earth.

If only the Internet were scratch 'n sniff

2008-06-04T20:08:00.002-04:00

Our peonies started blooming yesterday, and it's been raining ever since. I'm sure they'll be all beaten down to the ground after tonight's storms, but we'll see...

I wish you could smell these. They smell so. sweet. They smell very similar to my great-grandmother's roses, which hopefully I will be showing you soon!

And the Steve irises on the west side of the front beds are looking great, too!

Happy June!

2008-06-01T17:05:00.003-04:00

Ah, it's June, sunny and 80 degrees. It has been a beautiful day! Here's what's happening in the beds this weekend:

Follow this shot all the way to Flickr and you can see the notes identifying everything in it. There is Bachelor's Button, Lady's Mantle, Echinacea, Geum, Sweet William and Coral Bells. Not everything is blooming just yet. Some things will come along later.

Here's another of Mrs. Pampalone's irises, this one all alone out under the rhododendron and next to the lilies. Hmm, maybe I should move it to a sunnier spot?

This columbine is under the pear tree.

The poppy bloomed! Here it is next to the Bleeding Heart.

And here's an "oops!" Our baby bok choi bolted. Oops! But it's pretty. Steve is going to let it keep going and see if he can save some of the seeds for next year. (Side note: I had a huge sandwich for lunch today of that delectable lettuce you see there to the left of the bok choi. Yum!)

I didn't realize until tonight...

2008-05-29T19:45:00.003-04:00

...that the sweet "something" I was smelling recently were the light blue irises! I didn't know irises smelled so good!

The yellow don't really smell good at all, but they are stunning to look at!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-28T21:10:00.002-04:00

We spent a LOT of time gardening this past weekend. We ended up getting more New Guinea Impatiens for out front. We were debating whether or not to get them, and decided we probably wouldn't like it if we just left it plain. So we picked up a bunch of different ones and put them out there between the tulips like we usually do. They usually do well out there, so we hope they'll be big and healthy soon!

The "Steve" iris has started blooming! Thanks, Mom!

Bachelor button is blooming, too.

And even the new bleeding heart is getting in on the action! Lisa told me this weekend that she planted three bleeding hearts in a small space, and that they pushed everything out. Hmmm, I may need to move one of these to a different spot.

We decided to go with red dahlias and blue angelonia on either side of the fireplace again this year.

And who says money doesn't grow on trees? (Well, plants anyway.)

Annuals

2008-05-24T16:46:00.003-04:00

I planted a bunch of annuals today. I think we're a little behind where we usually are this time of year. Usually we buy and plant annuals on Mother's Day weekend, but I think it rained that weekend this year? Anyway, I'm trying something new with pots out front. For the past two years we've just had the biggest pot on the whiskey barrel, but I thought I'd try something a little more interesting this year. Hopefully I've got a good balance of plants and good mixed heights in each pot!

In this hanging basket on either end are Black Pearl Peppers (kind of hard to see since they blend in with the soil), sweet potato vine and blue angelonia.

I forget what these are in the two hanging baskets in front of the fireplace. You can see the herbs (basil, sage, parsley, etc.) in the background.

We did some geraniums in the window box on the shed. I love the purple ones!

And these aren't annuals, but the light blue irises behind the yellow ones are blooming now. I'm pleased because I see four stalks with blooms on them that will be light blue, and last year we only had ONE blue bloom.

And the bleeding hearts are coming along nicely now, they're not white anymore! :-)

A woman the next street over from us has beautiful poppies, that every time we drove by I say to Steve "look at those poppies!" so we picked up a couple for ourselves today. They're not really doing anything right now, but when the bloom, I'll take a picture.

Lots of purple

2008-05-19T18:29:00.004-04:00

The money plant / silver dollar plant is still going strong, and the rhododendrons are blooming, I'm amazed at how they are practically the same exact color!

And I am *so* excited that the irises are *finally* blooming! These blue and white ones we brought with us from Cold Spring. I did our landlord a favor and thinned her iris beds. :-)

These yellow ones were here when we bought the house. Mrs. Pampalone stopped by one day soon after we moved in and told us these were award winning irises, I should have asked her if *she* won the awards, or if just the plants did before she acquired them.

I wanted to show you the lily of the valley "patch" that came to us from my Mom's friend Barb. This is where I took the shots for Christa's birthday post.

This is something growing on the hill that was here when we moved in. Is this some kind of honeysuckle? It does smell sweet.

And again I'm thrilled with the silky dogwood growth. :-)

Happy Birthday to Christa!

2008-05-17T00:00:00.002-04:00

Lily of the Valley always make me think of my sister - they are her birthday flower, and today is her birthday! Yay! :-)

Looking ahead

2008-05-14T19:39:00.002-04:00

Soon we will have peonies, I can't wait! These were here when we bought the house. I really need to thin them out, maybe move a bunch out to the backyard where we can see them more easily.

This hydrangea is from Steve's Aunt Marilyn, who originally got it from Steves' Oma. I love that we have plants from family and friends. I'm not sure I could ever move, since we have so many meaningful things in our gardens now.

We have compost!

2008-05-11T19:08:00.005-04:00

We started composting maybe three years ago, and last year we got a little bit, but this year we hit the compost jackpot! Well, okay, not a jackpot, but that big ole' pot is filled with compost we made. I spread it around some select plants in the perennial beds that I thought could use a little umpf. It's a good thing Steve isn't afraid of the critters that tend to hang out in the composter. Twice I have opened the top to find a snake curled up all cozy on top of the compost. Now I bang on the sides a bit and give whatever is in there a minute to get lost before I open the top.

It doesn't look like much now, but I decided to go with Bleeding Hearts and Columbine in that empty spot where we took out the allspice. How strange that the bleeding hearts are white! I'm assuming that's from being in a box too long while shipping? Steve asked me if I was sure that wasn't the root. Um, yeah, I'm sure! There's a little primrose in front, too, that has been there all along but never blooms. I'm hoping next year it will bloom and spread a bit like the others have now that it has sun.

I was VERY excited to see all this new growth on the silky dogwood! Yay! It might take 10 years, but I'm hopefuly it will grow big and strong again.

The azaleas out front have started blooming. It's pretty cool how we can see how much sun our yard gets. Everything on the west side of the front steps is just a little bit behind everything on the east side of the steps, because the east side gets more sun.

Wysteria Envy

2008-05-08T19:03:00.003-04:00

Isn't this beautiful? It's our neighbor's. I wish it were ours, but at least we get to enjoy it by living right next door.

The chocolate peppermint is back in full force.

Driving home today I noticed that not 10 miles south of here there are rhododendrons and irises blooming, but ours aren't! Our irises do have some big buds on them, though, and I'm thinking maybe this weekend they'll open.

It's May!

2008-05-04T19:21:00.006-04:00

This weekend, Sooz asked me what was blooming, so here's an update for you. There's not too, too much that's new in the past few days, but...

the creeping phlox is in bloom. I wish this would spread more.

The primrose are really looking great now. And looking back at the last post, I think they were a little droopy then from the frost/freeze, too.

We bought these chives, oh I don't know, three years ago? Each winter I leave them outside, and each spring they come back.

I didn't think I had bought hardy mums last fall, but it looks like two made it through the winter! I wish I knew what color they were...it doesn't say on the tags. In the background is sage I left out all winter, it looks like it may bounce back.

The azaleas on the east side of the house are in full bloom! Still waiting for the ones in front. (Yes, I need to deadhead the daffodils)

Brrrrrrrrrr!

2008-05-01T08:45:00.005-04:00

Apparently the tulips in the back yard do not like 29 degrees at night:

The Japanese Maple leaves also look a little droopy, but other than that, I think everything fared okay in the freeze. Steve did cover the veggie beds with newspaper, and those look good, too.

Steve planted these adorable little tulips for us in the back. They are so absolutely lovely. I hope you can see the petals in the close up.

The rosebushes have new growth, yay! And there below them our Edelweiss is coming back, too. Steve picked that out a few years ago. :-)

The money plant (a.k.a. silver dollar plant) has started blooming out front. I'm going to be sure to sprinkle the seeds all behind the azaleas this year and see if we can really fill in out there with this.

Here is the primrose we planted, and there alongside of it you can see the Lily of the Valley that has spread to this area - it's May, so it should be blooming soon.

I know I posted a picture of this shrub before, but up close I love it. It's like standing in a cloud.

Finally!

2008-04-30T12:14:00.002-04:00

It's finally rained some this week. We needed it. I hope it helps those roots grow deep and strong so come summer they can get down in there and find the water. :-)

It's sunny today, so I'll try to take some new pictures after work.

It was supposed to rain today, but it hasn't...

2008-04-26T16:50:00.004-04:00

yet. Now they're saying it will rain overnight and clear out by midday tomorrow. I hope so!

Our backyard smells like heaven for two reasons:

The pear trees are blooming.

and what's that behind that pear tree? Lilacs........

Soon we will have a profusion of money blant blooms! There were a few of these in the yard our first summer in the house, I'm assuming Mrs. Pampalone started them. They are biennials, and bloom the second year. (That's what biennial means, right?) They reseed like mad, and we have them in all sorts of places, in the beds, on the hill, it's all good.

So we have this empty spot where we used to have a Carolina Allspice. Mom doesn't think we should have taken it out, but it creeps into everything and we just didn't love it, so out it went. This lone tulip came up there this year, it must have needed the sun.

Here is what is left of the Silky Dogwood from Lisa and Guy's wedding that the tree guy accidentally cut down this winter. I'm still a little mad about that, but look - new growth! I have hope that it will someday come back and be as big and beautiful as it was before.

It's April, and dry

2008-04-24T19:36:00.006-04:00

I had to water the beds earlier this week, we have had 12 straight days now with no rain. Steve surprised me, so I have a funny look on my face, but here I am! It is way to early in the season to be watering...and of course it's supposed to rain this weekend when our book group is coming to hike Dennings Point...grumble, grumble.

Finally - the grape hyacinths out front are catching up with the daffodils. :-) I am an impatient gardener, I tell ya.

I love the front beds right about now. So colorful! I need to add more tulips to fill in where we took out the holly bushes (trees!) last year, and to fill in on the west front corner, it doesn't look nearly as good as the eastern front corner:

This is one of my favorite spots in the backyard right now. I planted the one batch of red tulips two years ago, then added the daffodils and grape hyacinths last fall. That is our second "little white flower" shrub that is just starting to bloom there, too.

And....the azaleas are starting! Yippee!

It's too nice out to blog

2008-04-20T16:40:00.020-04:00

The grape hyacinths on the east side of the house are in full bloom now. Still waiting for the ones in the front beds to bloom. They'll look great with the new daffodils I planted if they ever catch up!

The hosta and Steve irises are significantly bigger now!

The myrtle is blooming really well this year. I think it's because we lost a big piece of the rhododendron that used to shade this area.

I love this flowering shrub with it's petite white flowers. We actually have two of these - I don't know what they are, they were here when we bought the house. One is in full bloom now, and the other hasn't even started! I don't know why they're not blooming at the same time, but it's nice that they'll be staggered and we'll get to enjoy them even longer.

I'm so excited there are buds on the rhododendron. It had a terrible fungus last year (we saw many others in the neighborhood with the same problem), and we had to cut out big sections and spray, but it seems like it's bouncing back this year.

I am (im)patiently waiting for the azaleas to bloom! We aggressively pruned them last year, and I'm hoping they'll be phenomenol this year! I'll have to do a post when they are in full bloom and show you the before and afters.

What a difference a week or so can make!

2008-04-13T19:27:00.018-04:00

Daffodils are blooming, as are some hyacinths.

The grape hyacinths I planted along the east side of the house last fall are starting to peek through!

These daffodils were planted by the original (and only) owner of our house, Mrs. Pampalone.

She was definitely a gardener, and when we first bought the house she stopped by one day and told Steve that these were not weeds, but primrose she had planted.

The "Steve" irises that Mom gave us last year are just starting to come up.

The hosta from Lisa and Guy's house are poking through, too.

I bet you think these are daffodil foliage, but they're not. Come back in August and I'll show you what they are!

It was so beautiful out yesterday, we sat outside last night after dinner just looking and listening, and one of our cardinal friends stopped by for a snack.

Getting started

2008-03-30T20:11:00.005-04:00

Bulbs are starting to come up: daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, and the crocuses are blooming