Green Thumb Sunday

This is the only new item I've been able to plant so far. This was the variegated iris in my trunk last week. It's called Iris Aureo-variegata or Variegated Sweet Iris. The appeal here was the foliage. The flowers are nice, too. ;-)

I've been knee-deep in working with a couple of major projects, these past two weeks, that have pretty much kept me from working outdoors in the yard. But then, my heavy clay soil has been too wet to dig and amend yet, anyway. It rained a lot last night. Hopefully things will dry out in the next few days before we leave for our son's home. If not, I'll have to sink some pots somewhere for a few days.

I have more rocks to haul, beds to enlarge and a nice pickup load of composted soil to purchase and tote around to the enlarged beds! Of course, just digging holes for these new plants means soil amendment. I must also get to the bottom of my compost pile, sifting the gold for planting holes and returning the platinum to the pile! :-)

I might also mention that it's beginning to get a little shadier around here! (The trees are beginning to grow their leaves... isn't it great?) That means I'd also better get with it and set my Sun Calculator out tomorrow morning!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

SS Gardener (Semi-Shady, at this point)

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Happy Mother's Day!

(Spring Beauty, Tiarella, Brunera, Lily of the Valley, and a squished violet blossom)
But not in a grubby hand.

Happy Mother's Day
to my
Mom!

Those early memories of creeping alongside the east fence to sneak a stalk of rhubarb,
and engaging you in a game of Chase and Catch, all in the name of "good health"
(the-once-and-for-all, dreaded spoonful of cod liver oil! Yuck!).
The times I tried your patience, (did I sing too loud when babies were sleeping?)
as well as the times that I hoped I'd made you proud.
You afforded opportunity to exercise my childish wonder and imagination;
to learn about the world around me;
and to imagine great attainable, and maybe unattainable, pursuits.

I thank you Mom for your calm demeanor,
your steady presence,
and for your selfless attention.

You grew the original organic garden
baked the best pies and cookies around (as well as homemade rolls),
and provided the most healthful diet.

We never heard a complaint.
No discontent.
Not a disparaging comment.
We were taught truthfulness, kindness and caring.
Even when comments and actions of others weren't.

I love you, Mom.
Happy Day!
:-)


Now... for the humorous!
We always made Mother's Day cards in my second-grade classroom.
We often enclosed the following poem...
Just for Fun!


The Worm
by Ralph Bergengren

When the earth is turned in Spring
the worms are fat as anything.

And birds come flying all around
to eat the worms right off the ground.

They like worms just as much as I
like bread and milk and apple pie.

And once, when I was very young,
I put a worm right on my tongue.

I didn't like the taste a bit,
And so I didn't swallow it.

But oh, it makes my mother squirm
because she thinks I ate that worm!


Happy Mother's Day - to All the Moms "out there!"
:-)

Barbie's Tree

Barbie's Sargent Crab is experiencing its first Spring. It was planted last June 19 (2007) in her memory. It's exploding in bloom! It's wonderful and I'm glad I had it planted!

Enjoy your Spring!

The act of planting creates memories.

Reliving those memories is happens every time you step outdoors and take notice.

Our First Plant Foray!

Hooray!

Plants for pots, plants for sunnyish spaces, plants for shady spots.
Wasn't that fun?
:-)

Going Buggy

It's time for me to do a little Bug ID.

Do you know who this fellow is? He's sitting on one of my Salome daffodils. :-)

I sent 5 tiny black tadpoles home with one of my second grade friends today.
He was thrilled! We've been doing a "frog study."
In fact, he's recording facts and drawing pictures.
He'll soon present his booklet to his classmates.

I'll post an update.

May 7, 2008
I visited Bugguide (see right sidebar) this evening.
I uploaded the above photo and received a response within a couple of hours.
Not always are people so quick to provide an identification.
Guess this was easy for someone out there.
It was identified as a Chironomidae (midge).
So, there you go!
:-)

Burkwood Viburnum "Mohawk"

As mentioned in my previous post,

I located the original landscaping blueprint.
This is a Burkwood Viburnum "Mohawk."
Read about it here.

Its aroma is heady!

The flowers are gorgeous!

And the birds love it!
They also love it in the Winter as it's a "hideaway"
and roost for those visiting the birdfeeders. :-)
(That's where I can get great photos,
right through the front door!)

And I can't just end this post...
I should, but I won't.

This is what happened
around here this morning!

With my 3x magnification, this
is the best I could do... I've had
two Baltimore Orioles here these
past two days!
AND this morning, there was also an Indigo Bunting picking through the fallen seeds with the other ground birds. Yea!

Now, you'll have to suffer through my "blow-by-blow" description, as I was taking this video while on the telephone with my dad. This is the Yankee "Flipper" feeder our daughter and son-in-law gave us for Christmas. It's also the closest we've gotten, so far, to see how it deals with squirrels. I hope to post an update before too long! (But, that means I have to catch a squirrel in action!) ;-)

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day!

Doesn't this photograph look as though it came from a May Basket?

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose
I would always greet it in a garden.
- Ruth Stout

This is the first blossom I've had on my PM Rhododendron!

Spring is God's way of saying,
"One more time!"
- Robert Orben

Brunnera Macrophylla "Heartleaf Brunnera"
The flowers are the size of "Forget-Me-Nots"
(Very Tiny!)

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.
Oh, I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;
For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?
- Sara Teasdale, May Day

Vinca Minor

Vinca Minor, a close-up!

Spring - An experience in immortality.
- Henry D. Thoreau

These are the flowers of my Serviceberry.
(Last Fall's "Mystery Bush." I finally located
the landscaping blueprint!)

Emerging leaves of the serviceberry.

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
- Emily Dickinson, #1333

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.
The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.
- Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman's Luck, 1899

Here's where we need the Top Hat and Tails!
Mr. White-on-White, I think he's "Mt. Hood."

Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment.
- Ellis Peters

Tiarella (Foam Flower) "Black Snowflake"

"Black Snowflake" cameo shot!
Pulmonaria, Lungwort, "Diana Clare"
with the nodding approval of an "Ice Follies" Daffodil.

Tiarella (Foam Flower) "Iron Butterfly"

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become,
I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can
resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from
participating in nature's rebirth?
- Edward Giobbi

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