Springy

I love when Spring hits the street!  Every year our pear trees look so pretty.  I missed the peak by a couple of days this year, but here is my traditional street-in-bloom photo!

I'm very excited about how filled out my weeping cherry is getting. 

So pretty!

Isn't that adorable?

I added a new star magnolia this year.

One last cluster of cherry blossoms..

We'll see them again next year!

Love,

Mama

Springtime!

Doesn't Spring always feel like a miracle?  Getting outside, seeing the plants and flowers begin to turn green and bloom, the freshness in the air....

I love Spring!  I love you kids!

Mama

The July Garden

Well! It has been a tough year for gardening!! I was late (very late!) on all my spring planting because we had a very wet/cool spring this year. Then in July we had a horrible heat wave which really took a toll. Not to mention that the babies I babysat last year turned into little monster toddlers this year, and there went my reliable nap time that I used to get out and do chores in the garden! So I'm afraid my flowers have been very unspectacular this year. Believe me, no one is more disappointed than me!

But, here are some pictures of the garden in its peak, just so I can say I had a little bit of success.

That big fluffy green plant? Is actually a weed. I started off the year thinking it was a perennial of some sort. As soon as I realized it was actually a weed, it had buds on it. So I kept it around to see if it ended up being anything "pretty." The flowers are actually tiny and white. But since it's about the healthiest thing in my garden, I let it live.

Thank goodness for good old reliable day lilies!

Things will be better next year for sure!! For one thing, I've got a new job now. Instead of babysitting 50 hours a week, I got a job working 3 evenings a week at a hospital down the road. I hope it makes things a little easier here at home. We will see!

Love,

Mama

The October Garden - Bidding a Fond Farewell Until Spring

Well, last night the frost finally hit us and did away with quite a few of my plants. It's always a mixed feeling I get this time of year when that happens. A part of me is pretty sick of all the work it takes to keep a garden looking halfway tended. Then another part of me hates to see it all end! Like these Heavenly Blue morning glories - they just started blooming in the front a couple of weeks ago!

(While I was out taking these pictures, Claire was fighting with the little girl across the street for the scooter!)

The dahlias had started to bounce back from the hail storm last month and were looking very good, too. See the yellow one? Those blooms are monstrous. Just look at the size of it in relation to the window! HUGE!

Here is a close-up. A real stunner.

Here's a little harlequin dahlia that didn't do a thing all summer! Finally - one bloom!

Of course the pansies will still be troopers until the freeze.

This pineapple sage didn't do much all summer, but started really showing off when the weather got cooler!

The marigolds survived the frost. It's good that we can take baby steps into this!

This cosmos also didn't do much during the summer, but look at it go now!

But without a doubt, the Heavenly Blue morning glories were the hit of October. They are so breathtakingly beautiful! And unlike most morning glories, they stay open most of the day - all day if it's cool enough. Sad to say, they got hit pretty hard last night. We may have seen the very last of our Heavenly Blues.......until next fall.

Here paired with a pink zinnia -

WOW!

See you again next year!

The September Garden

So if you've done everything right, or mostly right, throughout the season, September should turn out to be one of the prettiest months of the garden (tied with June, when your annuals should be growing readily and your perennials just starting to bloom.)

Here are a yellow dahlia, orange butterfly weed and purple ageratum.

The crepe myrtle looks spectacular.

The dahlias should be peaking....sadly, last weekend we had a massive hail storm that fairly decimated my dahlias - just when they were starting to be pretty!! That's the thing about gardening - no matter what you do, some times things are truly out of your hands. But, there are still some buds left that weren't knocked off and hopefully there will still be time for blooms before we get the frost!

The front of the house this month - this is the time for morning glories, impatiens and marigolds. Tomorrow the portulaca and marigolds will be gone to make room for my favorite - pansies!!

Snapdragons LOVE the cooler weather as well.

More of the picotee blue morning glory. Some of the blooms are doubles, like this one.

Nothing beats a mass of heavenly blue morning glories this time of year though!

Here is a super-sized dahlia from my front bed.

Check out the size of this guy! One flower is the same size as a whole bouquet. Now that is some real bang for the buck!