Last day of April 2015

I spent most of the day weeding and clearing out some the jumble just outside the front door. I wanted to take a picture of a tree I grew from seed collected at the Norfolk Botanical Garden twenty-five or thirty years ago. I am so happy I kept this one. I did initially have two, but lost one when they were small. I am sharing pictures of the tree and a couple of the flowers close up.

Tim’s handiwork saves the day!

I have wanted and needed something to hold onto when entering the house for a long, long time. I hated to ask Tim to make me something as I know he is always busy doing other stuff and they live  quite a way down the road from us. However, a couple of weeks ago, I did ask him if he could make me a hand railing for the front steps. Well, he installed it today and I love, love it! I had to share.  Every time I look out the door and see it there I have to smile. Thanks Son! You don’t know how much I appreciate this.

 

Spring Again and here I go, dreaming my dreams

April 3, 2015- I walked in my yard today and took a few pictures. Some are things that are blooming, some up and growing, some just barely emerging. In my mind, I can already see them, growing and thriving. How I wish my reality was closer to my dreams.

I so love to see “old friends” to greet me! I didn’t post all the pictures I took, lots of them look like a gardener’s trash pile, but they may contain surprises once the earth warms a bit more and the sun works it’s magic calling the plants awake and telling them “It’s time”. I already see things that have returned in pots that need their own spot prepared to receive them. Always lots of pots to move and sort, trimming back the old stalks and clearing the brush and leaves off the beds. I know I have to continue to downsize, but have to decide who can survive without my continued attention. Mike tells me he saw two white-tails in Marie’s yard this morning. Drat! I wish they didn’t like my stuff so much. Time to spray. It’s rainy and warm, but it sure feels good to me.

My end of summer jungle

It makes me so happy to see how well some of the plants have survived this year. For the first time I am seeing cone-flowers in bloom and after waiting several years for the "chigger-weed" aka Queen Ann's Lace to bloom, I have both in quantity. The beneficials especially love the Queen Ann's Lace. The Mountain Mint is another favorite and it has really spread. This is also the first year for a long time that I have been able to have the Tithonia grow and bloom. Not all of them survived the deer browsing, but a few did and I think they are lovely. I saw a Monarch this morning on the red zinnias out front and felt happy to see at least one here. None of the tropical milkweed self-sowed this year, but I still have lots of the common milkweed and a few other varieties. The spider plants are self-sown from last year. I hope to always have them now. The Peruvian Four O'Clocks are so large they block the back steps but every year I forget to move some of them. All in all, I just wanted to share my bounty, such as it is. It gives me so much pleasure to watch the insects enjoying something I helped provide for them and even if it's not all neat and pretty, it's my garden and I love it, morning glories, weeds and all!

self sown cleome

Peruvian Four O'Clocks

Tithonia

Queen Anne's Lace

Using Angie's advice

I listen and learn. Some. Angie takes such great pictures of her flowers and especially insects and I so did want to capture some of my own. Not having the camera she does and not knowing how really to use Mike's camera correctly, I
listened to her and managed to come up with a couple of pretty decent pictures.

Sunflower

Zinnia

Inula

I still haven't figured out how to put my words where I want but I'm getting better.

Vacation in the mountains

Still new to all of this but wanted to share some of the pictures from our vacation this year. Here goes.

Us!

Fontana Dam

Next day, we took a ride on the Great 

Smoky Mountain Railroad.

Our entertainment on the ride

That's my sweetie!

Me

The final pictures I wanted to share were from the Little Bit of Heaven cabin where we stayed.

Fire in the rain from the front porch

View from the right side of the porch

View from front porch

View from the left side of the porch

The cabin was really nice but we were disappointed by the "view" we expected and did not get. It was secluded and quiet but unless you visit during the winter, you won't see the mountains and I would never want to drive up or down that one lane driveway to the cabin myself in any weather but especially when it might be icy or snow covered.

September treasures

The year has flown by so quickly. Fall is here already. The deer are in the front yard, almost at the front door now and seem to be trying to add on all the weight they can to sustain them throughout the winter. I have almost accepted that I will have few plants left to enjoy but, fortunately for me, there are still a few thing they haven’t eaten. Mike sprayed the liquid fence for me today in the area they have been turning into Morticia’s garden. I found a few beauties in bloom that I wasn’t expecting and took pictures. I have a goldenrod at the shed I almost pulled out this spring thinking it looked like a weed but I was delighted to see it blooming a couple of weeks ago. The beneficials love it and so do I. The berries on the dogwood have turned red and the squirrel has been bouncing the limbs up and down trying to eat every last one. I just now saw a cardinal on the tree eating berries. I guess there is enough for all. Life is good!