I Should Know Better

Typically I stop buying plants in May and don't start again until late September at the earliest. Almost everything that I have ever tried to plant in the dead of summer ends up...well...dead. We were walking around Lowe's this last weekend, and I saw these Blanket Flowers. I was immediately in love with their bright cheerful colors and somehow one ended up in my shopping cart. The Gnomeslayer and I planted it yesterday and gave it a good watering. I'm hoping that it will make it through and survive, I guess we'll see. :)

New Blooms!

I was very happy to see yesterday when I went in the back yard that the butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) that I planted this spring has started blooming. They are such a deep vibrant orange color, and they seem to be an ant magnet (you can see them if you look close). The stems don't seem to be very sturdy, I hope that they get better next year because they are flopping around and I stepped on a few. Last night was the first time in a while that I've been able to get any weeding done. The poke salad and ironweed have been taking over the bed back there, and I pulled out a bunch. Johnson grass has been taking seed in the mulch and I had to pull that out too. The plants in the rain garden seem to be holding their own, not knocking anything out but then it's their first year so I'm just glad they are still alive. Of course the weather has been so hot to work in, but when it's cooler outside there are too many mosquitos. You can't win no matter what you do it seems.

Home Again

I'm finally home again after spending a good part of the last few months traveling. We have been to Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Minnesota. I hope that I can rest here for a bit before traveling some more. The picture above is from the Canal Park in Duluth, MN. It's Wildcat Dreaming, a part of the Fountain of the Winds and it's always been a favorite feature of mine. I thought that the Gnomeslayer especially would get a kick out of it, since you can walk along the stepping stones in the fountain. Although I love traveling and seeing family I am so glad to get home to my garden.

Chawan Basu

My lotus has been an ongoing project since last year. I bought it in the spring of 2008, and planted it in a tub in the back yard. The first year, it put up a few leaves, and then died back. The next year it put out more leaves, but it dried out in August of last year while we were out of town, and barely limped through the year. This year I bought it a new bowl, and took extra care in fertilizing it and making sure it had plenty of water. We were out of town last weekend, and the dang thing dried out again. The leaves got wilted all around the edges and I thought it was a bust again. But I noticed that there was a flower bud coming up on it, and made sure to keep up with the water again. I have been like a bird waiting for its egg to hatch. The bud stayed the same all week, but I thought yesterday that it looked like it was starting to swell up. I looked out the window this morning and this is what I saw:

'Prarie Fire' Silene

Here's a new bloom for the back yard rain garden. This is the new 'Prarie Fire' Silene plant that I got earlier this year. It's mature size will be around 3 feet tall, but it's only about knee high right now. It was a beautiful evening to get in some sorely needed weeding. It was overcast and cool, and the bugs were gone since it had just rained earlier. I had to severely prune back the roses....unfortunately I think they are all going to end up diseased. We'll see how they do.

And my 'Arabian Nights' dahlia finaly bloomed. I was worried that it wasn't going to come back this year since the winter was so cold.

Done

Back in 2000 I started piecing together a kaleidoscope quilt. I have been working on it on and off since then, with years going in between sessions where I worked on it. For the last three years or so it has been sitting in the top of the entryway closet with only one row left to quilt on it. I recently started going through closets and decluttering. One of the tasks was to take uncompleted projects and finally get them done. Stop adding to the fabric/yarn stash and actually make things with what I have. And since an unfinished quilt takes up a lot of room, it was a high priority. I finished the last block last week and only needed to bind it off. So since we were driving to Arkansas over Memorial Day I decided to take it along and finish binding it. Monday evening I spent the night getting the strips ready and pressed out. I got one side done on the way up, and the other done on the way back. I can finally say that it is finished. And what to do with it now? The Gnomeslayer has already laid claim to it, so it is going into her bedroom. Now on to the next project! I took the picture above while we were driving and the sun was bright. I tried to get a picture of the whole thing tonight but it's too dim. I plan to get some more tomorrow, but I had to crow about it tonight. :)

ETA - Here is the whole quilt and a close up on one of the stars. It's about a twin size, perfect for the Gnomeslayer's bed.

Who Are You And What Did You Do With My Plant?

Last year I ordered a Fulva Louisiana Water Iris from Bonnie's plants. It was a little slip of a plant when it came in, and it didn't bloom last year. This year it was going gangbusters, and started sending out a flower stalk. I was anxiously waiting for the bloom, because the pictures of the vibrant copper colored iris plant were so beautiful. Then as the bud started developing more, I thought that it looked a little dark, and sort of purplish. But I held out hope that maybe those were outer petals and it would still bloom. But alas, it was in full bloom yesterday, and it isn't the Fulva water iris. It looks to me like it is the Black Gamecock Louisiana Water Iris. I'm not terribly upset because I did like this iris too, but I liked the other one better. I even saw the black gamecock iris at Lowe's and thought about buying it, good thing I didn't. It really is a beautiful iris, the photo is close to the real color, but it still looks more purple. The flower really does look black from a distance. Hey, as long as it's blooming, I'm happy. :)

Home Again

We finally made it home, finally. We spent the weekend up at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We had a great visit with hubby's parents, and The Gnomeslayer got to spend lots of time with her new playmates. I think Grandma and Papa were ready for a rest by the time we left. :) We hit the heavy storms in Nashville and made our way through carefully. It was one of the most nerve-wracking drives that we've been through in a while. So when we got home we had to do an inventory and see how everything made it through the storms. The picture above is the Guardian Larkspur in the rain garden. The colors on it are beautiful, almost like mother-of-pearl.

My 'Angel Face' rose finally bloomed. I love this rose, but it looks like part of the bush may be dead, so we'll see if it makes it. I love how delicate the blossoms look.
The siberian irises are in full bloom. Have I mentioned that I love siberian irises? I bought a bulk package of them a while ago, and they have been reproducing profusely. I have them everywhere now, but who wouldn't want to? :)

Time to go rest and decompress before work tomorrrow. I need a vacation from my vacation!

Blue?

It seems like 95% of the plants that I have brought home this spring are blue or bluish-lavender. It used to be such a novel color, but now it is everywhere. I think that I might be overdoing it a bit, but I can't resist them. The picture above is 'Desante Blue' Delphinium. It was one of the first choices for the fountain garden because of its upright habit. I also was fascinated by the almost metallic sheen of the petals.

Roses!

My roses started blooming last weekend but I'm just now getting some pictures posted. I am a few roses short this spring, because 'Neptune' and 'Laura Bush' didn't make it through the winter. 'Welcome Home' looks like it is getting diseased also. We'll see how the rest of them fare this year. First up, shown above is my trusty 'Elle'. She is planted outside of my front door, and her fragrance greets me every time I walk out and she is in bloom.

The second runner up for first to bloom this spring is 'Gingersnap'. This rose is a small one, with exceptionally bright yellow-orange flowers. I planted it for my Gnomeslayer when I brought her home from the hospital.

And also in bloom this week is my azalea...whose name I can't remember. It's still about the same size that it was when I planted it, though I'm hoping now that I have it in a different spot it will start to do better.

The Final Puzzle Piece

This weekend we got the final corner of the garden finished. I used some of the rocks that we had, and the old small pond liner, and made a water fountain in the corner. There is no pond anymore, just the fountain. When the last fish died, we decided to put off putting another pond in for a few years and take a break from pond maintenance. I do like having the sound of running water in the garden, and this is a pretty easy way to do it. No more cleaning out pond scum and fish poop for a few years. Of course then no water lily either, but I can always get another one later. Of course, I could still use one more bag of gravel to finish filling the tub. And then I can spend the summer looking through nurseries to finish off the plantings around the fountain.

Some Bunny is in my Garden

My husband was out mowing this afternoon and I was in the kitchen cooking. I heard him turn off the mower and he came in the back door. He told me to get Rowan and bring the camera. He had flushed out a couple of bunnies while he was mowing and needed me to come and move them. One hid in the same pocket in the fencepost that the bullfrog hid in (a very popular spot apparently). The other was crouched in the higher grass, still. So I approached quietly.

Taking pictures as I got closer because I wasn't sure how close I could get before it bolted.

Apparently pretty close, because I was able to pick it up, and the Gnomeslayer and I held it while he finished, then let it go along the back fenceline.

Spongebobs in my Garden

Last year I had a perfectly respectable metal professional garden trowel. Somewhere along the way it got lost, and I have no idea where it is. In the meantime I started making do with the Gnomeslayer's Spongebob trowel. Summer turned into fall, fall into winter, and now winter into spring and I am still using the Spongebob trowel. *hangs head* And sometimes the hand rake too. I broke the bucket last year using it lol. :) When did I get reduced to using toy garden implements?

The Zen Has Returned

Finally, after all of the hard work we can rest. I went out in the back garden today and watered some of the new plants, since there is no rain in sight. And that was all. :) The Gnomeslayer and I played around for a bit and then we went inside before it got too buggy. I do have a few small tasks that I'd like to get around to, but overall I am feeling pretty unambitious. :)

Done...Sort Of

I have to say that I am almost embarassed to post these pictures. The garden in the backyard was in a total disarray at the end of last year. I moved all of the plants from the beds on the back fenceline into the front and tore them out. The weeds had overtaken the garden, the pond was a wreck, and it was disheartening to even go in the back yard. So this spring, we knew that the one thing we had to do was to get the back into some kind of order.

All of the stones, bricks and rock were piled up on the corner of the patio, waiting to be used again. It was of course like catnip to the Gnomeslayer, who liked to climb all over them, standing on wobbly stones and stomping on the bugs that came out of them. I wanted my back porch again.

So here is the after, which still isn't totally finished, but is as close as it is getting this weekend. For the last few weekends we have been hauling out the weeds, gravel and dirt to clean the spot back out. The middle part is a rain garden now, there is no longer a pond. The fish died when we took them out to clean and move the pond, so we're taking the opportunity to get rid of the extra maintenance that a pond adds. Maybe in a couple of years when we are both finished with school, GS is bigger and not into everything, we will put in a bigger pond by the dining room window so that we can see it while we eat.

The rain garden is an idea that I have had for that area for a while now. It is a natural low spot and catches runoff from the downspout on the house and the front yards of both our house and our neighbors. We dug out around the area the pond had been in and filled it in with gravel on the bottom, and planted some deep-rooted plants that could stand both drought and rain.

The back fenceline garden has similar plants, those that are low maintenance and look pretty. Normally I would spend weeks perusing catalogs and websites, trying to pick out the perfect plants to go in there. But now, after about a month of working on this in the weekends, I was over the novelty of spring and planting. Every trip to Lowe's has resulted in a few more plants being grabbed here and there. I think we have had five or six Lowe's trips in the last two weeks. Have I said that I'm done yet?

The sort of part comes in with the waterfall fountain that we are going to do. In the left side of the picture you can see where it is going to be because there is pond liner hanging over the side of the stone wall. I figure that we can tinker around with that next weekend, because the remainder of this weekend is going to be cleaning up the last of the stones from the back patio and picking up all of the stray flower pots and mulch bags that are in the back. I think someone already has a use for the flower pots though.

An Annual?

Annuals are not something that I typically buy. After all, you only get to see them for one year and then they are gone. I mean, it's almost like throwing your money away! But while we were at Lowe's last weekend, I saw these beautiful snapdragons and knew that they had to be mine. We're in the middle of a huge overhaul of the backyard garden right now, and I am so tired. It has been heavy lifting and digging for the last few weekends, to get out the old weedy gravel and dirt, pulling up the endless horsetail runners and runners from the sod in the front yard that crept in unannounced and avoiding the fire ants and hornets that are not very happy with us. All the while keeping the Gnomeslayer from drinking pondwater, pulling up my lotus tuber (again and again), squashing earthworms, whacking me in the head with bamboo and eating dirt. I need a vacation from my pasttime!

Western Wood Lily

I came home to this beautiful surprise today. :)

Happy Easter!

An Unwanted Guest

The Gnomeslayer and I had to take care of an unwanted guest in the pond. We had a bullfrog again and I wanted to get him out before he ate anybody in there. We are finally getting the back garden spot cleaned up and redone, and we had to drain the pond anyway. This time he got taken across the field in a bucket and dumped along the back treeline. If he tries to come back at least he'll have a longer way to go. And with a creek along the back there, maybe he'll stay over there.

Rowan and I went to Across the Pond and got a couple of shubunkins to replace the fish that got eaten last year. It was a beautiful day outside, but it got hot, up to 82 degrees. Spring doesn't last too long around here. ;)

There are lots of things blooming, even this surprise tulip. I hadn't expected to see them since I planted them a couple of years ago, but here it is.

Blue Moon

I took the Gnomeslayer out for a playdate this morning, and when we were done we stopped by Lowe's. We were going to put in the new plants and needed to get some new mulch and some manure. While I was looking around I noticed this beauty, 'Blue Moon' Phlox. Looks like these and it smelled nice too. :) It was sunny and around 50, but the wind was blowing hard. We got all of the plants in, and the first mowing of the season done. Have I said yet that I'm glad spring is here?

Welcome Home

I was very happy to find that my delivery from High Country Gardens made it in today. It is *pouring* outside, so no planting this evening or tomorrow. I had to throw on my raincoat to go take the pictures. I can't say enough about how well they package their plants, they all showed up in good shape. And now they are getting a drink before they get planted. :)

New Beginning

We have been getting beautiful sunny weather. I've been busy doing lots of tidying up and evaluating last years plants. Unfortunately it looks like there are going to be a couple of casualties. Neptune is diseased, and looks like its going to have to go. Also, one of my other roses is dead too. I do love me some roses, but I have decided that I'm not replacing any that I lose. I definately don't need anything high maintenance right now. Maybe when I have more time on my hands I will try some more. I've also made the decision that The Mum That Ate Alabama is going to visit the garden in the sky. It is so huge and sprawling that it looks messy and it takes up way too much room. So with those two plants gone it opens up a very large spot in the front yard garden. Since I'm wanting low maintenance, I had to look through the new High Country Gardens catalog that I got in the mail today. Here's what I've decided to get to fill in the spot.

Purple Ozark Beardtongue
Western Wood Lily
Bluebell of Scotland
Sunset Foxglove
Wildflower Salmon Gladiolus

So I lose two plants, and get five in return. While I'll miss Neptune, I get some neat things to fill the hole. :)

An Acquisition, and a Maintenance Task

The Gnomeslayer and I took a field day trip to Across the Pond a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get her outside. She likes to see the big fish there. Not to get diverted, more on that in a later post. While we were there I found a really cool pot for my bowl lotus. It has been growing in a plain black tub (see below) for the last few years, and I wanted something a little more decorative.

This is actually the first time that I have ever divided one so I was a little nervous. Lotus tubers are very delicate, and if you break off their growing tip they are worthless.

Lotus roots/tubers have to be planted in round containers because if they are in square containers the growing end can get stuck in a corner and break off, killing the plant.

I was able to get eight divisions from the tub, not a bad return on investment. :)

Fun With Photoshop - Part II

My second Photoshop challenge was my sister's baby picture. My mom is not known for taking care of pictures, and this one had a rough time. It used to be framed, then stuck to the glass. Somewhere along the way the glass got broken, and fell off of the top part that wasn't stuck. Then:

• Algae grew along the crack lines
• The colors bled from humdity
• My mom's dogs chewed on the corner
• There were torn spots missing
• It was dirty
• There were specks and spots of undetermined origin on it
• There were spots of mold growing on it

I finally got her to give me some of the pictures so that I could get them scanned before they got totally destroyed. I'm still working on her for the rest, but I was stumped at how to fix this one. I had to lay it on the scanner, broken glass and all to get it scanned in. I think that it turned out good overall, but the problem is that the cracks ran over her nose, eye and mouth. I patched up the eye and mouth by cloning parts of the opposite side, but I'm still not that happy with how the nose turned out. Since the light was coming in from the side, the shadow was off, but you can only spend so much time on these things. I had to do a lot of cloning and blurring to cover up the many problem areas, so it lost a lot of the original detail. I'll be interested to see if I can fix it better after I have my graphics editing class. Did I say yet that I love my Photoshop now? :)

Fun With Photoshop

I have been busy lately, as you can see since I stopped posting. I have changed degree majors from business to IT, focusing on website development. So I haven't had a whole lot of free time. One of the benefits is that I got to buy the Adobe Creative Suite at student prices. I have lusted after Photoshop for years. It took a couple of weeks before I got to play with it, and here was the first trial. I have a picture of my grandparents (seen on the left), passed on to me to get scanned into the computer. If you magnify it, you can see that it is in pretty bad shape. The big black mark, countless scratches and gouges, and it was really dirty to boot. So I tried to clean it up, which took a couple of hours. Did I say that I love Photoshop? I can't wait to see what I can do when I actually learn to use it. ;)

Snow!

We finally got a decent amount (for here) of snow today. I think it was between one and two inches, depending on where you were. I left work early because they were starting to close some of the roads over the mountains and I didn't want to have to take back roads to get home. The main roads weren't too bad, but the back roads really sucked. So we took the Gnomeslayer out to play in the snow for a while. The snow was too dry and wouldn't stay together, so we gave up on the idea of making a whole snowman - not from a lack of total quantity but because it just wouldn't stay together. So we made a snowman head instead. GS did *not* want to go back inside, but she was starting to look like Rudolph so we all came in and warmed up. Definately a good time to be in the house with a full pantry and a fireplace. :)

Chattanooga

During our long holiday vacation, one of our objectives was to go to the aquarium in Chattanooga. We have meant to go for a long time but never actually followed through. But having a week off and the Gnomeslayer's new fascination with Finding Nemo, we thought it would be a good time to try again. It is an hour and a half drive from here so it is perfect for a daytrip.

The trip went well, and we visited the Seahorse Gallery and the Ocean exhibit. We didn't want to do too much in one day. I got a family membership for the rest of the year, so we'll have plenty of time to go back for the fresh water exhibit. She loved the clownfish and the reef display, and seeing the penguins.

They really do have a very nice range of exhibits there. They have a beautiful butterfly house and tropical garden on the top story, and you work your way down to the bottom. There were sharks and stingrays, and a fascinating jellyfish exhibit. Visiting during a school break probably wasn't the best time to go because older kids were everywhere and it made it harder for GS to get a good view of some of the exhibits.

After we finished with the aquarium it was time to eat. I had picked out a place to eat, the Blue Plate. Unfortunately I didn't notice that they were closed on Mondays, and of course we went on a Monday. So instead we went to one of the restaurants in front of the aquarium, the Big River Grill, for a completely overpriced and forgettable meal. It was worsened by the fact that there was a guy at the table next to us with a kid that sounded like she had the plague. We really should have asked to get reseated, but instead we hurried to finish our food and left.

All in all it was a fun trip and I look forward to going back when it is warmer outside.