Rain Lilies

This picture of my Rain Lily is especially appropriate for today. We had a thunderstorm roll through around lunchtime and it poured. Since it was raining I parked next to the building that I worked in which has crepe myrtles around it. By the time I left to go home the truck looked like a parade float from all of the flowers that had fallen on it. I got this plant from Bennett's Nursery last year. It didn't bloom last year but has several times this year. The blooms are very short-lived so I was lucky to get a shot of it.

Joe Pye Weed

A few years ago I was reading a magazine article about rain gardens. I was interested in the idea because our yard in North Carolina became a lake everytime a hurricane went through. I read up on the different sorts of plants, and one of them that caught my eye was the Joe Pye Weed. I don't have a drainage problem here, but I did want some for their tall, architectural presence. I planted it in the front flower beds last year, and the blooms were underwhelming. This year I have moved it to the beginnings of my nature garden. It has obviously done better here, as witnessed in the picture above. As I was moving in to take a picture of it, there was an explosion of little butterflies that came off of it. Looks like it's a hit. :)

Black Stemmed Elephant Ear

I have had elephant ears in most of the places that I have lived. There is something very appealing to me about them. They have the architectural structure of the leaves and stems, and they look very tropical. I saw these in Lowe's and was intrigued by their black stems, so I decided to get them. I planted them out last year and they grew. Around this time last year I noticed an odd looking leaf coming out, and on further investigation I saw a flower on them. Now in all of my years of elephant ear keeping I never got a single flower out of them. I didn't expect much out of them this year because I forgot and left the bulb in the ground over the winter and I thought it died. They came back slowly this year, and now again I have a flower on it. It's definately a very odd flower, but it's another one for my gardening record books. :)

Green Thumb Sunday

Venturing Into the Backyard

Yesterday, after carefully peering through all of the windows that face the back yard, I went outside. I made sure to check everywhere before I started to see what was blooming and to make sure that there were no more skunks out there. Thankfully it seems to be an isolated incident. We are still going to have to figure out what we're going to do to keep them from getting back in again. But in the meantime, here are some more of my babies that are blooming. Up above is my 'Arabian Nights' dahlia.

This is my Black-Eyed Susan.



This is my Coneflower plant.

And finally, my water lily is still putting out blooms.

Front Yard Happenings 8/2/08

Why just the front yard you might ask? Yesterday Maw was looking out the back window and he said "What the heck is that"? That was a.....skunk. Somehow it must have squeezed under the back fence where it crosses the run-off ditch. So I find myself not that curious about what's going on in the back yard, although I did go and check to make sure that it was clear this morning. You never can tell what might be lurking around the corner after all. Actually I went out front to get some pictures and intended to see what was going on in the back, but Quickbeam had enough of her mama wandering around outside and made it clear that she was tired of waiting. So I figured the back yard would be for tomorrow.


These are some of my Gingersnap roses. They are very vibrant orange when they first bloom, but as they start aging they fade into beautiful peach and cream colors.



This is the Rozanne Cranesbill geranium blooming out in my "shade" garden area.

This is a bloom getting ready to come out on my black-stemmed elephant ears. I was very surprised to see it bloom last year, and moreso this year. I thought they hadn't survived the winter, but they came back from runners. I didn't think that it would bloom again this year because of the challenging start, but apparently it got over it. :)

And finally, although it isn't blooming, here is my Japanese Painted Fern, dappled in sunlight. It seems to be much happier now that I transplanted it from the container.

Open

I came home from work early today and caught the waterlily open.

Water Lily

Maw called me at work yesterday, very excited because he saw blooms on the water lily in the pond. Unfortunately, the blooms start closing up later in the day, so by the time I got home it was already closed. I went outside today when I got home and was able to see a little more of it this time. I guess it's going to have to wait until this weekend and I'll hope there's still some blooms then.

Guests

When I got home from work today, Quickbeam and I went outside with our camera to see what we could find. We took some pictures of a new mushroom that looked like a doppler radar tower that appeared in the backyard.



We snapped a couple of pictures of my rain lily that *finally* started blooming.

We also got a picture of the Betty Corning clematis that is blooming.

Then I decided to go over to the crepe myrtle tree and get a picture of its new blooms.

When I got close to it, this is what I found:

There was a bird there that took off as soon as I got close. I didn't see any eggs inside, so I'm hoping I didn't scare it off. It makes me happy to know that it has made a home in our tree. I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

Bugs

This has to be one of the buggiest summers that I have experienced in a long time. There are dead june bugs littering the walkways around the house. There are spiders with webs all over the bushes. There's a huge thing that is slightly smaller than a rhinocerous beetle that is on my front rose bush. There are japanese beetles all over the rose bushes. There's a dead katydid on my back porch. Work is a similar graveyard for insects. They get under the front glass double doors and wander through the building. One of the rhinocerous beetle thingies got in and was walking IN FRONT OF MY OFFICE. I am feeling very creepy crawly now.

Scaredey Fish

The picture above is a scene from a feeding frenzy in my pond in North Carolina. In that pond, within a couple of days of being added the fish would swarm all over and practically jump out of the water to be fed. Contrast that with this, a picture of my pond in Alabama.

These fish have been in the pond for several months now and I barely ever see them. Once in a while I will catch a glimpse of a flash of white or orange but for the most part I may as well have an empty tub. I have pondered why this difference in behavior might be. The pond in NC was 180 gallons and probably was overpopulated. This pond is only 35 gallons and I have 4 goldfish in it.

I first got interested in ponds from a friend of mine at work. He talked about when he was setting up his, and how so many of his early fish died. So when I set mine up I expected waves of fish casualties. Fortunately for me, since I'd done my homework before I set it up, I had maybe one or two fish die. And then I think I was a bit too overenthusiastic and kept adding one or two here and there before I finally stopped. So I ended up with way too many fish in my pond.

When we set up the new pond I greatly scaled down my scope. I didn't want a big pond (yet), just something to scratch the itch. So we did a pond that is big enough for a few fish, a waterlily and a plant or two. I don't have the time or energy to take care of a big pond right now (yet!). What I didn't take into consideration was that I wouldn't get to see my fish very often, because they aren't in that competitive of an environment. Boo. Ahh well, maybe when I have time to sit out there more they'll get more used to me. :)

Reprieve...of Sorts

I started classes on Tuesday and got a call my my academic counselor on Wednesday saying that they had to drop my class. There has been a problem with the financial aid year and an overlap or something and I won't be able to start back to class until October. On one side I am actually relieved by this, because it will give me more time to do other things that I like to do. On the other side, the money from the GI Bill was very useful for a single income family and it's going to hurt some while we wait for October. We'll still be okay of course, just might have to cut back on the several times a week Starbucks runs.

In gardening news, we still have quite a bit blooming including this succulent blooming on my bird feeder.

We got a massive rain last night which was greatly needed, even though it made the drive home from work very, very slow. Ah well, time to go curl up with a good book, since I don't have to worry about studying. :)

When in the course of human events...

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Declaration of Independence"

I am thankful for those brave men and women who cast their lot against the strongest nation in the world at their time and risked everything for Liberty. I pray that those amongst us today stop taking their Liberty for granted and cherish this prize that was won for us by our forefathers. It is maintained by us today for our children tomorrow. Teach your children about how their country was founded and what those ideals set down by our forefathers have done to bring Liberty to the rest of the world. Happy Independence Day America!!

What's Blooming 7/3/08

Here is Gingersnap, still plugging away.

A battered but still cheerful Black Eyed Susan

Sweet Alyssum in the gravel pathway

Thankfully the holiday weekend is here and I am glad for it. When I got home from work, Quickbeam and I went for a quick tour around the backyard to see what was blooming. My whole purpose with most of my plantings has been to find those that do well without a lot of water or attention and that seems to be paying off. Anything that needs a lot of pampering will die out quickly in my garden. :)

I have some plans to do gardening stuff this weekend, we'll see how far I get. I want to get some hoop supports for my floppy dahlias. I want to plant the items from the shade container at the back side of the flowerbed under my rose and camellia. I need to weed all around, and the filter in the pond needs to be changed out. I need to get some more bird seed in the feeder and get some mulch. So it is going to be a busy weekend if we get it all done. :)

Almost There

I can almost see the chorus of angels breaking out in song, and the fanfare of trumpets. This week is almost over, huzzah for holiday weeks. :) My boss has been out on vacation this week, so I've been doing her work, my work, and my second assignment work. It's getting crowded in my head wearing three hats. I am really over the whole thing. I am hoping that tomorrow goes better or I'll end up under my desk sucking my thumb. As enchanting as that sounds I don't think it would present a professional image. :) On the plus side, I stole a little time outside in the garden today, pulling grass out of the gravel in the pathways. Such a small thing, but an act of normalcy in this hectic week was dearly welcomed.

One for Book Lovers

I found this online over at Stray Thoughts.

1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading? The first time that I specifically remember reading was when I was in grade school. The first books I remember reading were The Runaway Bunny and Ping the Duck.
2. What are some books you read as a child? The above mentioned books, as well as Alice in Wonderland, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Charlotte's Web.
3. What is your favorite genre? Fantasy and Science Fiction
4. Do you have a favorite novel? Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter.
5. Where do you usually read? The bathtub used to be my #1 place to read, but now that I have an infant probably the most uninterrupted time I get is when I'm pumping out breastmilk at work. My #2 place is in my reading chair in the living room. It's big, and you sink into it. From it you can see out in the back yard and it's close to the fireplace.
6. When do you usually read? Most of the time I read later in the evening or on my lunchbreaks, as well as the aforementioned pumping breaks. :)
7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time? Yes, I usually have several.
8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction? Not really, when a book gets me it gets me. Otherwise I'll make it about 1/3 of the way through and then I'll quit.
9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library? I mostly buy them. Amazon Prime keeps UPS at my door. :)
10. Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them? I keep most of the books that I buy, mostly because I'm very lazy about taking them and trading them in.
11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child? I bought several Eric Carle books - The Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She's still too little to pay much attention to when I read.
12. What are you reading now? The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee and Einstein Never Used Flashcards by Golinkoff, Hirsh-Pasek and Eyer.
13. Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list? If you want to call the pile of unread books in my library chest a list then yes. :)
14. What’s next? Those two will probably take me until the end of the year. ;)
15. What books would you like to reread? Walden by Thoreau, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (annual event for me, or used to be)
16. Who are your favorite authors? Sharon Shinn, Mercedes Lackey (earlier works, about to the Owl-Knight series), JRR Tolkein, JK Rowling

Swimming

I have always hated almost every kind of organized exercise from the time I was very young. I always despised team sports, probably because I was almost always chosen last. In my very small school the only sports available were basketball and baseball/softball, so there wasn’t much available. When I moved to Minnesota when I was in high school a whole new world opened up to me because there was a swim team.

I have always loved to swim since I was little. I remember taking swimming lessons on cold Minnesota mornings. They wouldn’t open the pool until the water temperature was 55 degrees or some other insanely low number. We would hang on the sides of the pool shivering. When we were in Arkansas the only place to swim was over at the lake, and it wasn’t that often. Sometimes my mom would take us to a swimming pool at a hotel in the next town over. Swimming is the only sport/exercise that I have ever truly enjoyed.

It’s been 15 years or so since I swam very often. But now I have the opportunity to go on my lunch break and swim some laps. There is a pool within 5 minutes driving distance, and the facility is wonderful. We took Quickbeam swimming there this morning and she loved it. I’m hoping to instill a love of swimming in her too. This was the first time I did a lap since high school and I loved it, falling back into the rhythm like I just did it last week. The smell of the chlorine, the sight of the sunbeams on the water and watching the bubbles follow the wake of my hands in the water brought back good memories. My body felt light and buoyant and *right*. I’m hoping now that I have gone it will keep me from putting off going back again.

So.....

I haven't updated in a while, mostly because I am:

a. Very busy keeping Ms. Quickbeam happy
b. I have a new assignment at work that is sucking out my energy
c. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do

So here's to hoping that I can settle down soon. I spent the last weekend working on getting the computer room closet de-junked. It was the last rat hole that I had left to do, and I'm happy to say that I got it mostly done. I have a few more items that I need to deal with, and basically it's a whole lot better. Most of what I had to do was go through all of the old paperwork that I had left to file from when we moved from North Carolina.

On the gardening front, I am not doing a whole lot. There's a lot of weeding, spraying and propping up that needs to be done. I never have had plants flop as bad as these are...as in leaning to the side not as in failing. My roses, my dahlias, my peruvian daffodils, everything and its brother is falling over. So this weekend I'll be picking up some plant support hoops and maybe we'll restore some order. :)

Gingersnap

Here is Quickbeam's rose, finally opened up. :)

What's Blooming This Week 5/28/08

This is my Arabian Nights dahlia, planted just this spring. That's why I love bulbs, they're so easy that just about anyone can grow them.
This is my Pentestemon, planted last year and relocated to the back yard this year. It is covered in white blooms.
My mountain laurel has buds on it! I'm very excited because I haven't ever grown one of these before. They remind me of summer in Northern Virginia, because I used to see them all the time when I went running.

Elle is still blooming away. It's one of the most photogenic roses that I have ever grown. :)

The Peppermint clematis blooms are still there, believe it or not. Some are a little worse for the wear but are otherwise okay.

I Made It!!

I'm happy to report that the family visit is over and I've survived. We went up to Arkansas to visit my mother and sister. We got some nursery visits done and lots of baby snorgling. We had a family cookout and it went pretty well. We had an awesome hotel room with super comfy furniture, high speed internet, a hotel pool and fitness room and a huge shopping center next door. I am not saying that the visit was perfect, but there was no blood loss and no one was harmed in the filming of this vacation. I also got some material for my book, so I'm happy. :) Now for the long trip home tomorrow, I hope it goes as well as the trip out here did. See you on the other side!

The Watched Pot

Seed starting has never been a strong point of mine, but I saw the packet above in Target the other day and knew that it had to be mine. I like it because of its decorative value, but also because I have always wanted a passionflower vine. So I got them and a little peat pellet greenhouse and planted them. And started waiting. And waiting.....still waiting every day and checking them. I think it's a bad sign that mold is starting to pop up on top of the peat pellets, but I still hold out some hope. The package says germination can take up to 28 days and it's been...um who knows, like I wrote down the day I planted them *snort*. We'll see if my faith will get rewarded.

What's Blooming This Week 5/16/08

Angel Face is still plugging away, in spite of a bad case of black spot. If you look carefully at the 3 o' clock petal you'll notice a small white spider that is peeking out. Unfortunately I think I got it when I was spraying it down with fungicide.

The Peppermint clematis is still blooming away. I'm waiting for the pompom in the center to open up, but the petals have unfurled and it looks more like a clematis bloom now.

This is my new Little Duckling clematis that I got for Mother's Day. Isn't she a beaut?

This is the Butter and Sugar siberian iris that I got last summer. I've had a devil of a time getting a good picture, because the white reflects back so much on the pictures that you can hardly see the yellow.

Oddities

Sometimes I am attracted to plants because they are just odd. One of the first plants that I got when we got our new house was the Peppermint clematis pictured above. It had a green center and whitish petals, and looked very different. We put it in the first flower bed that we built. Then we moved that bed the next spring. It started to grow and even got a few flowers, but then it died back. I thought it was dead so I dug it up and replaced it with a jasmine plant. But rather than throwing it out I put it in a pot and left it on the patio over the winter. Lo and behold this spring it started growing like mad, so when we rearranged the beds in the backyard I planted it by a shephard's hook with a windchime on it. It put on lot of flower buds, one of which you see above. This brings me to my quandry. The flowers are fairly small and they aren't brightly colored. I bought another clematis, Little Duckling, thinking to replace it, but I haven't. There is something that still appeals to me about Peppermint, and so it lives on in my garden. I think I'll plant my Little Duckling clematis under my other shepherd's hook with the hummingbird feeder.

Veteran's Honor

Is that not the most absolutely perfect rose blossom that you've ever seen? Strategically captured with droplets of water from a passing rain storm? :) Thank you dear One Truth for the lovely present. It looks lighter in the picture than it actually does, in person it seems to be darker.

The Joseph's Coat rose is still going gangbusters. I can't believe the variety of different colors on the plant. We're going to get a trellis for it this weekend because it's starting to flop over now.

There was a line of powerful storms that tore through Mississippi and Alabama today. Thanks be to God that it wasn't worse than it was. Tornados were sighted right south of the airport, which is right across the street from where I work. So things could have gone much differently today.

Maintenance

Now that we have our beds set up and plants planted for the spring it is time to maintain it all. So when I got home from work tonight I strapped my trusty sidekick to my chest (Quickbeam in her Baby Bjorn carrier), took my pruners and headed out to the garden. I trimmed all of the old blooms off of my roses and cut them back some. They have some black spot issues so Mawavi treated them. We also cut the dead wood off of our poor crepe myrtle trees. For those not in the know, when we bought the house we had them trade out the old dead trees for some crepe myrtles. But a late spring freeze killed the tops of them. I thought they were gone, but they came back in the bottom part of the tree. Now they are looking like they were butchered while we are waiting for them to recover. We puttered around for a while and enjoyed being outside. It was perfect weather today and I want to soak it all in before the hot humid weather gets here. Here's my Veteran's Honor rose bush, getting ready to bloom.

What's Blooming This Week 5/3/08

Welcome Home Rose

Neptune Rose Elle Rose Joseph's Coat Rose Acadian Miss Louisiana Iris