My little sideyard rosebud is just about to open!!
We have peaches!
I bought this beauty yesterday along with the Mona Lisa lilies... her name is Rosa and she's a Double Knockout Rose!! :)
And believe it or not, with absolutely no covering or support over the harsh Michigan winter, we have...
... two hibiscus coming up!! WOOHOO!!
Welcome, Beverly Sills!
Circus World just takes my breath away.
Princesse Caroline isn't playing around.
Las Vegas is still blooming.
And yes, to complement the Lily Garden...
... we now have the Iris Garden!
Look at my little double pinks!
Since my poor Mona Lisas from previous years got TRAMPLED in the excitement of the new porch, I comforted myself by buying TWO new ones!
These are the secret sideyard roses. I can't wait until they open!!
Look at all of them!
Ginger, either being shy or taking a bath.
And Elphie alternately looks frightened...
... and checks out the garden.
Thanks to Christmas and birthday gift cards, these four beautiful irises were free!
An artsy shot.
This is a stock photo of Batik, which was finished blooming by the time I bought it.
And here's a stock photo of Beverly Sills, which hasn't as yet graced us with her presence.
This is what she looks like now, making us wait!
This magnificent specimen is Stairway to Heaven.
And this breathtaking beauty is Circus World.
I got all excited because Las Vegas bloomed!
And so did Princesse Caroline de Monaco. I'm hoping that's Trop Jaloux next to it. (I had to dig everyone up early this year and either replant them further away from the porch or put them in pots. These two are in a pot.)
My new bleeding heart isn't in the ground yet, but isn't it purty?
It doesn't look like much right now, but this baby is a Josée Reblooming Lilac. Wow!
I'm getting dianthus blooms!
Just a few on these.
This double is new and, once again, isn't in the ground yet.
These violets are going CRAZY!
Another shot of the double dianthus with a different viola. :)
I put Circus World and Stairway to Heaven in the ground today, along with replanting some of my Expatriated (And Much Abused) Las Vegas Irises.
The lily of the valley is in bloom and smelling delicious!
So adorable!
Comte de Chambourd has TEN BUDS! I'm so excited! And I didn't get pictures of them, but the Secret Sideyard Roses have, between the three of them, 15, 21, and 27 buds! Woohoo!
My sweet little clematis is growing like crazy up these strings I tied for it!
Look at those fuzzy white buds!
In this one you can see the fuzz better, and how it's just starting to wrap around the string. So cute! Isn't nature amazing?
Look at the curling and all the buds!
Sorry it's been so long. That's apparently my theme now. But here comes our game of catch-up...!
Dan took a jackhammer to the cement slab of the porch (since the sledgehammer didn't do anything) and divided it into 13 huge pieces that were (just barely) moveable.
There was sand underneath the cement.
Elphaba supervised.
There was a lot of debris.
But don't worry! I rescued most of the plants!
Um, our entryway didn't have any support. Yikes! (Don't worry! Handyman Dan fixed it.)
Gasp! Wonder of wonders, there was an old stone staircase underneath all the cement, cinderblocks, and sand! How cool!
Isn't that spiffy? It was like finding a fossil in the front yard.
Dan and his dad reinforced the living room bay window bump-out. (The metal post that "supported" it before was just stuck into the ground. No concrete, nothing. REEEAL safe.)
Fast forward through many days and weeks of abysmal weather to yesterday: Dan and Garrett put down the flooring of the new deck!
Great picture.
And when they finished, they enjoyed their hard-earned relaxation.
Success!
On the garden front, I had wee small daffodils this year!
I love the burgundy layer when the hostas are coming up.
Dan trimmed the heck out of our newly discovered forsythia and threw the discarded branches on the burn pile, where I took this artsy picture of them.
As always, our magnolia was breathtaking!
Sweet little tulip-looking blooms!
Here are some of my Expatriated Irises.
It turns out there are THREE secret rosebushes in the side yard!
My lone tulip of the year.
My helleborus blew me away this year!
I thought my clematis might have died, but it's exceeding all expectations! Look at the fuzzy white new growth!
And even through all the hardship, I have TWO iris buds! I didn't think I'd get any this year since I was mean enough to move them and thus save their lives.
Actually, I got several tulips this year. But creepily enough, these bloomed without even making it out of the ground. *shudder* Super eerie.
I didn't think the peony tuber that I planted last year was going to do anything, and then this year it knocked my socks off by coming up and thriving! Let's keep going, Sarah Bernhardt!
I think this number is a columbine, but I can't be sure. It's on the other side of the fence, by the Secret Side Yard roses.
Isn't that what it looks like?
Some little violets that haven't made it into the ground yet.
Magnolia blossoms with leaves!
I just love the artsy shots.
My Comte de Chambourd rose, which I bought as a stem with a root last year at Home Depot. Looks good!
It even has a few buds!
Our pretty hedges are blooming. Too bad we'd rather tear them out than deal with them.
My sis with the newest pup in the family, alternately named Uno and Bandit. ;)
Isn't he sweet?!
We wore him OUT.
BLACKTHORN SANG ME HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! And I even got my picture with Fred, the keyboardist/percussionist/flutist. My sis and I have a crush on him.
Clearly, Uncle Dan is the best.
The fam!
Would a post be complete without D?! No, I say!
Daddy's girl.
Also Mama's girl. And sister's girl. haha
My new camera lets me take high-ISO pictures with no flash without taking forever to expose and thus producing huge blurs. I love it because now all my pictures of the girls don't make them look demonic.
Long cat! Look at her cute back paws.
A little bath.
