Woolly Mutts

The Amaryllis that refused to die. (And I gave it my best effort.)

Behold the hearty Amaryllis, purchased in November at Target for glorious holiday season blooming.  Except it would not bloom....or die.  We purchased another one for my mother and it did exactly as advertised, though we did take in to account that my mother kept her apartment at a temperature somewhere between a hot house and a sauna.  Our amaryllis came up out of its loam, looked all green and lovely and then that was it.  All kinds of green and no glorious red.  Amazing Husband put it in a sunny window, lay a heating pad beneath (which the cats thought was solely for their benefit) and checked on it frequently.  All winter and spring it kept up the green, continued to refuse to die, and still did not give us the blooms.  Summer came and AH decided to put it outside with the rest of the outdoor plants, in partial sun on the deck.  Yesterday we awoke to the above picture.  Two big, glorious blooms.  A little lower on the plant than we were accustomed to, but no one here is complaining.  We are going to have to do some research as to what we do with it now, since it seems determined to be a regular part of our plantage.  Guess it just goes to show that you should never give up on anything.

 

Sweet Pea sweater is completed and blocking.  I am a new, HUGE fan of the mattress stitch for seaming.  The seams on this thing are perfection.  I am not, however, thrilled with the way the collar lays, which is why I decided to block it.  For one thing I twisted one of the garter stitches right at the front collar edge, so it's right out there in front really easy to see (for me).  I'm going to wait until it dries and then maybe knit another collar.  Or not.  I'm also not happy with the way the whole collar lays around the neck, but it does look exactly like the one in the picture so I'm probably just being picky.  I'll keep you posted.  Now on to the hat! 

Today's blog post is brought to you by the color purple.

*those of you that read these posts via facebook might want to head over here since I'm pretty sure fb is gonna reject the size of this one.

There is a storm coming.  The dogs are restless and the birds have changed their song from happy to slightly alarmed.  It's nicely overcast so I decided to head out into the gardens and see what was blooming before the wind and rain blow things around.  Lots and lots of purple.

This amazing delphinium is blooming near the back door fence.  It's poker straight, though it probably won't stay that way after the storm blows through.  Only nature could get that mixture of blue and purple so divinely perfect.

Near the old pond is this tiny forest of Veronica.  It's getting a bit lost among the bee balm so after it finishes blooming I might need to move it someplace where it can be the star of its own show.

The very last of the purple iris.  This one looks like it got munched by someone.  The iris were especially wonderful this year.

Spiderwort.  These are volunteers to the center garden that I don't have the heart to pull out.  They stand so tall above the lilies with those burst of purple blooms. 

Purple petunias in a pot on the deck.  Who does not love a petunia?  Happily blooming away all summer long.

My fingers after holding the spiderwort still to get an unmoving shot.

Looking forward to that first clap of thunder!!!

A garden is a lovesome thing.

We are having a Spring like none I can recall for years.  Glorious green is everywhere we look.  It is at this time of the year that I am especially pleased to living in a home for as many years as we have been. (30...I think.) The gardens have matured and changed, plants re-arranged like furniture in a favorite room.  We spent most of the weekend outdoors mowing, raking, making wintered gardens smile again.  We have almost two acres.  The back of the property is against a wooded creek bed and the west side is a large field.  All the land gives us so many opportunities to create different gardens and areas to enjoy.

I am particularly pleased with this garden and the space beneath the bench. 

The Sweet Woodruff, Lungwort, Catmint, and Hostas have grown together in a carpet of loveliness that makes me feel very "old English garden".  It's such a joy to sit on the bench and be surrounded by beauty.

Cooper especially enjoys the days spent outdoors when the whole "pack" is together.  He is growing a bit gray on the muzzle of late.  I guess gray hair happens to the best of us.

Over near the house in a shady area beneath a bush the Jack-in-the-pulpits are having a good year.  This is one of five and each one is a little different than the others. 

In yet another garden is a large Lady's Mantle.  I am always captivated by their ruffled leaves that draw the rain and dew down to the center creating small drinking fountains for insects and birds.  How perfectly nature takes care of itself.

I spent some time this morning trying to get a shot of the play of the light on Buddha's face. 

He resides on a pedestal among the artemisia and fern beneath the crab apple tree.  The lady's mantle pictured above is right at the base of his pedestal.  He adds to the general atmosphere of peace. Remember that you can click on any of the pics to see them larger.

Speaking of gardening, if you are on facebook, have you discovered the wonders of Farm Town?  Warning: it's a little addictive.  In a good way. :-) 

Spring to Summer in 2.5 days.

It's been a rather tough week here in Muttville.  I'm so dysfunctional that it's tough for me to admit that things have been tough.  A dear friend is near the end of a long battle with cancer, some family health issues, a little of this and a little of that.  Nothing earth shattering, but enough to keep my brain working on other things than blog posts.  Thanks for being patient.

As the title suggests, the weather here went from rainy and chilly to warm and sunny (high of 78 yesterday) in a very short period of time.  I am no fan of summer, so this does not bode well for me, but the warmth  has jump started the garden and Amazing Husband has been making some great progress toward our garden goals.  We even have a few little blooming faces to cheer us. 

The big project for this year is enlarging the pond.  Our first pond was a beginner pond, just to see if it was really something we would enjoy enough to make worth all the work.  We found that we did and then some.  The wildlife that it draws is so entertaining.  We can spend hours watching the fish and toads interact with each other.  (Go ahead and say it; we're a little loopy.)  Some  sad mishaps over the winter months brought about the death of several of the fish and the survivor is now residing in it's own fish tank on our back deck.  A new, larger, more exciting pond is in it's future.  Excavation has begun.  The dream is to build a deck on the northwest side that protrudes a couple of feet over the pond so we will have prime observation.  That might not happen until next year, though. Time will tell.

In other garden news, the veggie garden is being revamped to be a cutting garden and nursery area for plants that need to be moved during the pond expansion.  Since we won't need to keep the hungry Peter Rabbits away, the chicken wire fence came down and the soil is almost ready to be planted.  Amazing Husband has some seeds started in our little basement greenhouse, which really are flower seedlings and not a home based illegal money maker.  (Weed, baby.)  This has been a long standing family joke every since AH began starting plants in the basement under the grow lights.  Come to think of it, we could use the extra money.  (just kidding)

   My favorite spot in the yard is the hammock.  Late yesterday afternoon AH went out to put it up and came back in a little sooner than I expected.  Evidently (and I really wish I had been there for this.  GREAT photo op.) he hung the hammock on the existing ropes, got on to try it out, and ended up flat on his back on the ground after the old ropes gave way.  He walked away unharmed and new ropes have been installed.  The view from the hammock up into the pine boughs could not be more perfect.

  So, on to a new week.  Earth Day is tomorrow.  Get out there and love her.  You'll never regret it.

A Garden Visitor.

The other night AH and I were down by the pond visiting the fish when he saw movement in the cat-mint.  On closer inspection we discovered that little Miss Mouse was visiting and dining on the seeds inside the spent blooms. It was just adorable to watch her move from leaf to leaf nibbling the seed pods.  AH went quietly in to get the camera, but by the time he returned he could only get this picture of her hiding.  Considering the resident dog population, I'm always happily surprised to see little visitors to the garden.  The running water in the stream attracts lots of birds and insects.  The dragonflies have returned, which pleases us greatly.  We're pretty happy that the holocaust of 17 year cycled cicadas did not reach us, however just 6 miles north they are thick on the trees.

You may remember that I posted earlier this year about our latest fish addition, Sushi.  Sushi is the only koi in a pond of comet goldfish and he was very small when first introduced.  For many weeks he has remained hidden among the plants in the shallow end, I imagine for fear that he would be eaten by the larger fish.  This weekend we were thrilled to see that Sushi is now large enough, and brave enough to be swimming with the rest of the fish.

In the scheme of great inventions it may seem humble, but even so I'd like to give a shout out to the person who came up with the water sprinkler.  We have been having record heat with almost no rain for the last two weeks.  Without the sprinkler, the gardens would be suffering greatly. I have no problem letting the grass go dormant, but the flowers and veggies are another story.  We try to water responsibly using timers and only watering in the early morning or evening hours.   Oh yes, and the drip soaker hoses that leak water directly into the ground.  Another great idea!

And finally, this has been making the rounds of the internet, but just in case you haven't seen it, Paul singing opera.  What a lovely way to begin a week.

twilight garden

As expected, taking photos at twilight does not produce great results, but I still took a few.  This one gives you a better idea of how large the dragonfly is.  We have predictions of 70 mph winds today, so we decided to take it down rather than have it fly away.  (we have got to get rid of that awful green shed!)   I forgot to turn the flash off, so the effect isn't quite as clean as I would like, but the mushrooms in the woodland/shade garden looked lovely in the early dark.  You can see that the hostas are just beginning to bloom.  We recently rescued this foxglove from a poorly maintained bunch of pots at our local Home Depot.  There is something really magical about foxglove.

It was family dinner here last night.  After dinner we decided to go out to the field and walk the labyrinth.  We even got Mother out there with her walker.  When we started we had quite a lot of daylight left, but as you can tell by the final picture, it was near dark when we left.  Night comes so quickly. The labyrinth is really nothing more than a huge spiral with a mowed pathway.  We have left the unmowed areas as natural prairie and are always amazed at what comes up on it's own.  On the far side is a volunteer hawthorne tree.  I get a lot of pleasure from walking this labyrinth especially in the evening.  Some nights the bats come out and circle the area in search of insects.  They don't seem to mind us at all and sometimes swoop down really close.

Each winter I get frustrated with our old, ranch style, home and all it's aging problems.  Then spring arrives, I  can get back out into the yard and I am reminded of how blessed by land and beauty we are.  Right in the middle of the most average subdivision we have our own little park.   

Morning in the garden.

There are two times of day that I like to spend in the garden, morning and twilight.  This morning has dawned bright and unusually cool, considering the high temps and humidity that we have been suffering so early in the season.  Morning is not the best time to take pictures, since the morning sun casts strong shadows, but I went out and got a few.  Tonight, I'll go back and take more at twilight.

Morning is almost the only time to get any sort of pictures of the fish.  During the day the generally hide under the shade of the water lily leaves.  It's so early that the lily buds haven't even opened for the day.  Our fish are comet goldfish and are a little on the shy side.  We have one baby koi who keeps himself hidden away so that the bigger fish can't pick on him.  We see him only rarely.  The other fish have no idea that some day he will get MUCH bigger and give them all a run for their money.

A couple of weeks ago a friend from work offered to give me some of her plants that needed to be divided.  I gratefully agreed and ended up going home with the entire back of my car FULL of plants. (honestly, I had ferns hanging over my shoulder as I drove.) Her garden is almost completely woodland shade, so I have many new plant treasure to enjoy.  This little Jack-in-the-pulpit was one of them.  Thanks, EJ! 

This garden is the upper level of the same garden where the pond is located.  I love the way the sun casts the shadow across the spent iris.  We had lovely purple iris this year.  They were all transplants last year and I didn't think they would bloom.  The purple catmint is it's usual vigorous self.  I spend lots of time cutting it back, but it adds such nice year round color and fragrance that it's worth it.                   

This guy is the newest addition to our garden.  The picture does not give any idea of how big he is.  I'll try and take a better one tonight.  He hovers about 7 feet over the garden near the pond and really add a dramatic effect.  The fish probably think their days are numbered. :-) 

Amazing Husband managed to get the veggie garden planted last weekend.  Nothing to show for it, picture wise, yet.  In this heat, things will grow quickly, though.

Tonight, twilight pictures.   

Charcoal to Petunias

For over fifteen years it served us well as a grill.  When we finally replaced it, I hated to just dump it, so I gave it new life as a planter.  Recycled and reused.  I think it's happier now. :-)

Late summer garden

The entrance to the vegetable garden is always beautiful this time of year.  The morning glories have grown up to cover the entire arch and as the sun rises they open their purples faces to create an amazing display.  The summer has turned out to be busier than usual and still the garden looks wonderful despite our neglect.  (If you don't look too close at the occasional weed.)  We have given up trying to make the grass look like anything other than a fire waiting to happen. The veg garden gets a daily water and the flower gardens get a drink several times a week.  All hail the trailing sprinkler!  We set it up on one side of the garden and it walks all the way around to the other side.  Next year we are investing in soaker hoses for all the gardens, which I understand is a much more affective way to water.  Even though there are still many lovely things blooming in the gardens I have to admit that I am counting the days until Fall.  Cooler days will be much appreciated. 

Amazing Husband has spent the last two Sunday afternoons (and from the looks of the garden, many more to come) preparing tomato sauce to put in the freezer.  Using our own tomatos in the dead of winter is such a joy.  Actually, there is very little about gardening that isn't a joy.  Every day there is something new to see and appreciate.  Can you see the little bee legs inside this foxglove blossom?  The bees are such good garden buddies.  I love watching them buzz from flower to flower.  Sometimes their legs are so heavy with pollen that I'm surprised they can stay airborne. 

Hope today begins a good week for each one of you.  I saw a school bus drive by a little while ago.  I think the driver was learning her new route.  Busy days ahead as we bid goodbye to summer. 

Snakes in the lily patch.

Let me begin by stating that I am not a girly girl.  The things that normally send women rushing for masculine aid are not a problem for me.  Spiders, mice, snakes....no sweat.  Ok, I'm not real crazy about crickets because they jump at you, but I can respect their place in nature and smack them with a shoe when necessary.  Last night I learned that maybe I'm not the brave chick I thought I was. 

We were walking down to the pond to feed the fish and as I stepped onto the path I noticed something moving in the lily patch.  We have often watched a little shrew come up from her hole, run madly through the lilies to the base of the bird feeder, grab some seeds and then dash back to her home.  My first thought was that it was her.  Then it moved again and I realized that it was a garter snake.  I called for Tom to come and see, but it had moved into the relative safety of the tansys before he could get there.  It was fairly large for a garter snake and it occurred to me that he might have been laying in wait for the shrew.  We are an equal opportunity garden patch and do not discourage the inhabitants from living there unless they are feasting on our bounty.  (No bunnies in the veggie garden.)  I understand the food chain, but I really didn't want to think about that little shrew becoming a fashionably late dinner for Mr. Snake.  Fish feeding was accomplished and as we walked back to the house I realized that I was taking the long way home to avoid the place that the snake was. 

I must be getting soft in my old age because this is completely out of character for me.  I'm the first one to step up when a snake is offered for holding.  I really hate when they are portrayed the bad guys in movies and tv.  Snakes have a place just like every other creature.  Still, when I went out there this morning I watched carefully where I stepped and avoided the area of the yard where the snake was last seen.  Yikes!  I've become a wimp!  A scaredy cat!  A GIRL!  Hope I don't see any spiders today.