How does your garden grow?

Daff!

2010-06-05T00:34:00.007-04:00

I think it's a double daffodil! YAY!

It was raining; the deck isn't lacquered or anything. But we have RAILINGS! And a HANDSOME HUSBAND! :)

And a small, hilarious, stretching kitty!

Garrett, being the amazing man that he is, donated a Common Roadside lily from his garden to mine! YAY! (It isn't in the ground yet, obviously.)

I'm sorry.

I really just can't seem to stop...

...photographing these sweet little roses!

And I really can't get over my Little Duckling! :)

Look how TALL it's getting!

I really can't tell you how excited I am that my two hibiscus(es?) are coming back up!

Woopee!

The others were my secret sideyard roses. This is Comte de Chambourd. :) I clipped this baby and took it inside and put it in water. It smells so delicious. :)

Lupine!

I was trying for an artsy picture of the buds on my common roadside lily. Did it work?

Before the Storm

2010-06-02T15:28:00.006-04:00

Before the Storm has opened up!

And I have some very...

...pretty...

...little...

...roses!

Aren't they precious??

Look at them! HOLY COW!

It's crazy.

You can almost feel how soft it is. :)

Dripping petals.

And sneaky little rosebuds.

Rosa!

My little African violet.

My fantastic Little Duckling clematis has stepped into the spotlight!

I just LOVE it!

Look at all the climbing and buds at the top!

Just finishing opening up! :)

Pinks! My Telstar Picotee dianthus.

I don't know the name of this one, but it's great. :)

And in case anyone was getting bored, Garrett found a BATHTUB buried in his back yard!

Yup, it's a bathtub. And it's full of ash. And it's solid steel, so it's going to be oh-so-fun to get it out of there.

An iris bed?, cont.

2010-05-26T22:45:00.003-04:00

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!!

An iris bed?

2010-05-26T10:09:00.006-04:00

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.

The Repopulation of the Porchyard

2010-05-23T11:23:00.006-04:00

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!

The Epic Saga of the Porch

2010-05-11T22:21:00.014-04:00

Peach blossom!

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.

We're waiting, Spring!

2010-03-28T23:12:00.005-04:00

But in the meantime, we're renovating inside! Or at least redecorating. This is my adorable new escritoire!

I love love love it!

Just as Elphie love love loves wearing Dan's wifebeaters!

See how happy she is?

In other news, we had a trip to the Lone Star State to visit family! :) I miss you guys so much already!

Tante A and Mar Mar!

We got some souvenirs...

... for both of us!

We saw A, J, and future J, Jr.!

Sorry, A! But you're just so cute!

Maw Maw's magnolia was blooming!!

My two favorite boys in the entire world replaced Maw Maw's mailbox. My heroes!

It's a little sad that A's 7.5 years YOUNGER than me and so much TALLER than me! I was even wearing cowboy boots!!

Sister love!

My parents' three kids! :)

I love this picture.

So bittersweet... it's so cliché, but "parting is such sweet sorrow"!!

And once again in other news, our cedar bushes went bye-bye.

My big strong man!

THIS is the cinder blocks that were behind that first bush. Yikes!

We put the old quad to work pulling them out.

Success!

Lopsided! OCD!!!

Ahh, that's better.

Bring on the snow!

2010-02-23T00:16:00.005-05:00

Sorry it's been so long! We're having a lot of fun up here in the Great White North, but it's not exactly garden material.

Untle Dan and D in the snow!

D was a big help. Here he is rolling the snowball that became the snowman's (dubbed Frosty, shockingly) head.

Cheeeeeese!

"I get by with a little help from my friends..."

Snow angels!

The finished product! (I looove this one.)

Giving Frosty some arms.

Dan and me at C & E's house after a wine and cheese club meeting.

And in case you were wondering how the girls are doing... Here's Ginger with her favorite toys.

And Elphie, being tormented.

And Ginger, using my slippers as a pillow while she dozes in front of the heater. :)

K's wedding pictures!

2009-10-13T19:53:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know it was in May. But I'm only now seeing the professional photographer's pictures. I kind of copied them to the computer to show you. Shhh!

5x7

Phone Pix Extravaganza!

2009-10-09T13:39:00.008-04:00

You wouldn't believe what happened to me on the way home from breakfast with a friend this morning. I was driving along a main road, and had to stop to let some turkeys cross the road!! Sounds like a joke, right? Well, here's the evidence:

Seven of them, just chilling. They are soooo ugly they're almost cute.

Since I was getting that picture from my phone, I went crazy and put them all on the computer. Here are a lot of other random ones that are all from the past year or so.

This is Abby, the dog who lives at my work. She's taken to sleeping on this couch, so sit on it at your own risk!

This guy belongs to a friend's roommate. I don't know his name, but we got well acquainted enough for him to feel comfortable nipping me through the bars of his cage.

A "The Dog"-esque picture of Abby.

Dan and me at a baseball game. :) Go Tigers!

Abby is very sophisticated. She sits with her paws crossed.

She also runs headlong all over the place for about 4 hours a day. This is how she looks afterward. :)

A picture I stole from Mom's phone of Anna and me, about a year ago. I can't believe Elphie was being nice!

We'll throw in a random baby. Her name is Addison.

Abby looking way too cute.

Ginger also looking way too cute.

This is Dan with St. Martin the Horseman. He lives in Chicago and was painted by El Greco.

I didn't stand a chance against this Chicago French toast!

Elphie was so small here!

And Ginger had less-substantial hips here than she does now. :)

Elphie hanging out in the window.

And the sink.

I love it when she sits up like this.

Ginger looks kind of shell-shocked here. I wonder what had just happened??

This dahlia is amazing!

Elphie loves the dishwasher. Sorry, Dad. :)

Tongue!

This is actually a really cool picture! :)

It's D!

Laughing his little head off while he grabs my face. :)

I think we caught Elphie in the middle of taking a bath. But it's a hilarious picture. :)

This is Elphie's twin brother, Synyster!

And their sister, Slash! (They're both named after rock guitarists. Too bad I had to go and name Elphie after the Wicked Witch of the West!)

Elphie in the snow!

This is poor, sweet Stella, who passed away from tumors from eating too much human food!

Look at this goof! (Ginger)

Elphie's a basket case.

Dan and me at Cabo, a delicious Mexican restaurant.

This is a prickly pear margarita. You want one. I know I do.

Blurry but hilarious. Elphie LOVES riding in the car. Poor Ginger has a panic attack and gets carsick. :(

Chilling on the washing machine.

Our nephew the surgeon. ;)

Chickies!! We didn't bring one home this year.

He's a space alien!

There was probably a squirrel or something.

But by gum, she wanted to get out there!

Another shot of our incredibly lazy older child.

These bleeding hearts are at a friend's house. Can you believe them??

This is Trooper. His eyes are the same color as his fur, and yes, his left ear is always cocked that way. :)

Elphie checking something out. Look at that Aquiline nose!

My Bordeaux petunias exploded!

This is the little bird that Dan hit with a fishing pole! It wasn't intentional, but the bird took offense and would squalk and scream whenever Dan came near. He liked me, though.

Common roadsider!

Sweet Abby! Doesn't she look like a puppy? She's 8 years old!

Look at her tail. We think she's part beagle. She's super short, too.

These baby birds were so pissed that I bothered them for a photo-op. Their nest is in Dan's hunting blind.

Which is shown here.

Partners in crime!

D looks like he's about to do something that he knows he isn't supposed to. hahaha

This little guy was probably only hours old when we stumbled across him. Isn't he precious???? He got up and scampered off just a few minutes after I took this picture!

Alright! Lastly we have Autumn, the cutest wee (huge) setter pup in the world!

She was getting awfully big even when I held her like a baby for this picture. Look at her paw on my shoulder!

But she was even bigger when Dan picked her up a few months later!!

And here are Dan and Autumn with her FIRST BIRD!! Good girl, Autumn!

Wedding Craze

2009-09-20T22:25:00.003-04:00

Yes, yet another wedding. Love it! This time it was our friends K & L. Yay for them!

Dan did a reading and I was a bridesmaid. Yay!

The Maid of Honor, Steph, and me.

You can see our dresses and shoes in this one.

(Dan went a little camera crazy.)

I look flat as a board in this picture! hahaha But aren't the flowers amazing?

Fighting with the sun.

"And I dip you dip we dip!"

I know you can't really see everyone individually, but this was so much fun. The kids on the playground were so mad. hahahaha

Bud crazy!

2009-09-17T12:31:00.003-04:00

I went out to take a picture of the buds on Turn of the Century, and this little guy posed for me.

Look to the left, at the pink peeking through that huge bud! I counted FIFTY-TWO (that's 52) buds on this plant!! Holy cow!

She's really just fantastic!

It's the Turn of the Century!

2009-09-16T13:41:00.005-04:00

This is my new hibiscus, which SHOULD survive the winter here. It's called Turn of the Century. Isn't it fabulous??

Kitty smooches!

Who, us? We weren't smoochin'.

This picture is so loaded. First of all, Uncle Dan is teaching D how to hold Uncle Mary's recurve bow. Second, "George of the Jungle" is on TV (it was a big hit!). Third, you can see Ginger sprawled out in the background.

I think they saw a bug or something. It was probably imaginary.

But that doesn't stop them.

My cute new dress. I bought it to wear to "Phantom," which was amazing.

Do you like-a dis hair? It is neeeew!

Look at this adorable little girl, sitting in the window, peeking out of the curtain. She'll watch us in the back yard and then peek at us when we come in the back door. So cute!

Lily season is winding down.

2009-08-02T14:46:00.004-04:00

This is the last Little Italy bloom of 2009. :(

My Siloam Reds are also nearing their last buds.

You can see You Are My Sunshine's last bud on the left here.

Strutter's Ball is still going strong, for the moment. It bloomed like crazy!

In other news, I have several glads gearing up for their turn! This one is being climbed by those petunias on steroids.

And here's one next to the dahlias in the side garden.

Eenie Allegro!

2009-08-02T05:59:00.004-04:00

Yes, that's this baby's name: Eenie Allegro. Isn't it cute? I didn't think it was going to bloom this year.

I think Strutter's Ball has been the most prolific bloomer this year.

With You Are My Sunshine in a close second.

My sweet little Siloam Reds are doing beautifully too.

This reblooming lupine was a nice surprise. :)

These are the Las Vegas irises, which are finished blooming, of course, but look at the drying-out foliage. It looks almost variegated.

The peaches are getting to be almost peach-sized!

And look at my poor bleeding hearts! They're drying up and wilting, too. :(

The hostas are still pretty.

Look at the shoots on my Twist and Twirl! Its leaves are fading a little bit, but it's been uncommonly sunny lately, so maybe that's why.

Don't let the cat out of the box!

2009-07-26T19:59:00.012-04:00

... I mean bag!

Elphie is hilarious.

And here's Ginger, also up to no good. She enticed Nikki into giving her a spoonful of what was left of Nikki's mint chocolate chip ice cream. What a spoiled brat!

And now outside. Here's my latest Red Rum, all dewy from today's rain.

These Wave Petunias are OUT OF CONTROL.

Look! They're climbing a tree!!

And who knew my little lupine was going to make a comeback? I certainly didn't. I would have pruned it down if I'd known.

Look at that little thing. So cute.

Little Italy, with a branch of Russian sage in the foreground.

Siloam Reds.

I took this picture to show how tall the dahlias are getting. They're just to the right of the lilies, and right behind the lysimachia. (You can also see how tall the glads are getting, on the right.)

As requested, here's the entire lily garden, but as I said, they're not all in bloom at the same time. Wouldn't it be great if they were??

Strutter's Ball is fantastic. I love it!

Get a load of that color! Mmm!

YAMS! You Are My Sunshine is one of my faves now.

And get a load of these peaches!!

There are so many of them.

This one's probably the biggest of the group, but they're all pretty good size!

This is my new winter hardy hibiscus, Luna Pink Swirl. Unfortunately, she's the same color as the grass.

Here's my little rosebush, Comte de Chambord.

I couldn't get it to focus right, but isn't it cute?

Dan wreaked all this destruction the other day with his new hedge clippers. :)

My purty hostas. I just love the little lavender bells.

So nice!

Look at this wee small cat, dozing off! :)

You Are My Sunshine!

2009-07-17T19:00:00.007-04:00

Welcome, pretty lily! Isn't it gorgeous?

And here's another Siloam Double Classic bloom.

And heeeeere's Strutter's Ball! Sorry it was so dark -- obviously it was nighttime.

Little Italy was going crazy.

So purty.

The Russian Sage and Gaillardia are looking good.

Red Rum!

Siloam Red in the light.

Mona Lisa!

Bordeaux, looking gorgeous and branching out very far.

The little Lemon Zest petunias are just so happy!

Our neighbor brought over her new kitten for us to meet. Her name is Sable, and she's adorable. She's kind of like a Weeble... her balance and equilibrium are all messed up because she was born backwards, according to our neighbor.

She's squirmy!

But she sure is cute.

She's sniffin' my toes.

Here are Dan and me at a restaurant today, having lunch with some friends. :)

I couldn't believe the size of these hanging baskets. Wild!

And speaking of hanging, as in hanging out, here's Elphie in a bucket. She just loves being inside things.

Terribly sorry!

2009-07-13T23:14:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry I've been gone so long!

But as you can see, I was held hostage by malicious kitties!

Elphie LOVES these recycled shopping bags.

Oh, who am I kidding? She loves anything she can climb into.

D was quite fond of Ginger when he came over, but I'm afraid the feeling is not mutual.

SURPRISE!! Next to the secret rosebushes are some SECRET STRAWBERRIES! Sssshhh, little mouse, don't tell the big hungry bear!

Elphie, devising her Grand Escape...

... and playing it cool.

My Mona Lisa Stargazers! They started peeking open just before we left for Chicago.

Don't they look shy?

A random statue in Chicago, and me impersonating them.

Look at all those lilies!!

Gorgeous! (Not me. The flowers.)

These are all Chicago lilies, not out of my garden.

This one kind of looks like a spider lily.

Love it.

This one's for Anna. "Real Pirates"!

And these bird ones are for Mom. :)

Canada geese!

A speckled seagull.

Such a STRANGE statue/fountain outside of the Shedd Aquarium.

We love illusions.

Another birdie.

My new buddy at the Shedd.

Modeling the sweater I bought. (They didn't have any mirrors, so I had to see how they looked via the camera.)

These fishies have totally huge foreheads.

The skyline.

THIS THING IS A TOTAL FOSSIL! I'm pretty sure he's been around since he crawled out of the primordial ooze just moments before what turned out to be humans. Look at that tail!!

And that totally creepy mouth!! He's a snapping turtle of some kind.

Cute little chameleon.

Yaaaay Art Institute!

Sad Indian. Dan has bookends that are (definitely smaller) copies of this.

I love the lion. When it comes time for Christmas gifts, please remind Dan that I would love the figurine of the lion that was at the gift shop. ;)

The Bean!!

Gotta love the wacky reflection shots.

Beautiful weather for our trip to Millenium Park.

I'm pretty sure there would have been trouble if the uptight people inside the Cultural Center had seen this.

Gooorgeous.

Beautiful!

And now back to our garden!

Happy Returns. :)

And THIS is Siloam Double Classic! Yay for her!

Isn't she purty? She's my first double!

And here are my Mona Lisa Stargazers open!

CSI: Cat

2009-06-24T22:25:00.012-04:00

I can't believe Ginger laid down on the desk. She hasn't ever been one to do that. Number Three was, certainly, but she would have been on the keyboard, obscuring my view of Mack Taylor and his New York crew.

The portulaca is finally starting to fill in the window box.

Merlin's Magic didn't seem to like the conditions on my porch, unfortunately. :( But Twist & Twirl is thriving just like it did last year!

Petunias just love it at our house!

Bordeaux and the tuberous begonias, all going nuts.

Here's Vince again, along with my first lilies (other than Stella) to bloom!

The Wave Petunia looks like it's trying to stand up.

The mystery of the strange seedling has been resolved! It was a CALLA LILY!! Yay! Isn't it purty? I just love the leaves. I might even go through with digging up the bulbs and overwintering them inside to keep them coming back. And that's saying something.

Lysimachia Alexander is thriving. It looks so much bigger and fuller and better than last year.

And these babies also opened up! They ran a close second to the orange ones. I just love how soft the pink is.

Look at them with that excellent Telstar Picotee dianthus at their feet. That's the only dianthus that's still consistently blooming. It's just fantastic.

And look at my babies! My little Stellas, all in a row!

Oh, they're fabulous!

Look at those sweet little faces!

And we have a bud coming up on either You Are My Sunshine or Strutter's Ball. I think it's YAMS. (Haha, yams.)

And I'm pretty sure this one is my Siloam Double Classic... which has me so excited!! I can't wait to see my new little double lily! I've never had one before. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen one in person.

Sorry about the dizzying tilted pictures in this post. In the foreground is all the buds on my only unblooming Stella, and beyond that is all the buds on Happy Returns, which is Stella's cousin.

Speaking of tilted, here's another one of the Stellas.

This is my baptisia. It looks like it's growing peapods!

Astilbe Deutchland looks ready to wait it out until next year.

This is the Secret Sideyard Rose.

And last but not least, we have some fruit!

Aren't they adorable?

Up North, Take 1

2009-06-19T22:20:00.013-04:00

We went up to the hunting camp for our "weekend" and Dan made a new friend. He picked this guy up in the middle of the road and brought him back to camp to meet me.

Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy to meet me.

And we got home in time to take some garden pictures. I had given up this cyclamen, but it's doing better with a little TLN (tender loving neglect).

They look droopy because it rained all day, but look how far up out of the windowbox these petunias are coming!

Dan's little crabapple trees look like they're doing well.

My Bordeaux petunias and tuberous begonias.

My precious little highlighter dahlias!

Mom, you asked for a picture of the flowers on my exotic geranium, so here you have it!

That's Vince, my birthday garden gnome, behind some lilies that look ready to bloom.

I think this is a lily. But it's weird-looking.

Kerry sedum, violas, peony, and lemon zest petunias.

Serrated sedum.

I was so surprised and excited to see that my Lysimachia is blooming!

I really don't know what this is.

This is either my Siloam Reds or my Little Italy sending up buds!

This is what I think are my dahlias. Though I don't remember planting any.

My Secret Rose, with a little new bloom and a bud in the foreground.

My Stellas are going to town!

This one is ready to roll.

Another Stella.

This is Happy Returns, getting ready to bloom.

That's Happy Returns in the front, and all three of my dianthus behind. :) Left to right, we have the Unnamed Picotee, Telstar Picotee, and Apple Spice.

My pink Oriental lilies.

My orange common roadside lilies (hemerocallis fulva).

We're making another bed in the corner, and I got three shade-tolerant plants.

Baptisia, called False Indigo.

Helleborus, called Blue Lady.

And my first Astilbe, called Deutschland.

And poor little Ginger couldn't decide what to be more afraid of, the thunder overhead or the meat slicer Dan was using.

STELLA!

2009-06-15T22:11:00.000-04:00

My FIRST Stella d'Oro!!! I got up to go to work this morning and saw it blooming and did a little Happy Dance on the porch, but didn't have time to go back in for my camera. So I took a picture when I got home tonight, flash and all, even though it was pitch black outside. YAY!

A Wild Day at the Nursery

2009-06-11T16:19:00.006-04:00

I finally found my gift cards to the nursery!! I received them for Christmas and promptly misplaced them. So today Dan and I went crazy. It was a blast. But first, look what I found...

Cat in the dishwasher!

She's just fascinated! She gets in there anytime it's open.

These babies followed me home the other day, before I found my gift cards. The lily is called You Are My Sunshine (so of course I had to get it!) and the dianthus is called Apple Spice.

I just love the colors!

And speaking of dianthus... mine are looking gorgeous!

Yay!

That thing coming up under the windchimes is a huge hosta-looking leafy thing. Hmmm.

Did I tell you about the surprise roses on the side yard? They're growing out from underneath a cement retaining wall... and the first one bloomed today! Isn't it gorgeous?? (And it smells heavenly.)

One of my most exciting purchases with the gift card was a clematis, Little Duckling. Isn't it fantastic?

I love the ruffles.

And part of the gift cards went toward a new apple tree for Dan to take Up North. It's an Empire...

... and it already has wee small apples! Unfortunately, they'll only be enjoyed by the deer, the elk, and the pet black bear.

And here's my little Comte de Chambord over by the woodshed.

With a little just-opening, also-fragrant bloom. :)

Oink oink

2009-06-11T00:03:00.002-04:00

Some new babies!

2009-06-06T13:52:00.012-04:00

And by babies I of course mean flowers. I'm still so sad that gerbera daisies are annuals. I just love them. These are the "festival" variety -- red and apricot.

These Ultra Rose petunias are definitely filling in the windowbox.

I think it's time to give up the ghost on this poor cyclamen. I just couldn't make it happy. :(

Elphaba has been up on this shelf a lot lately. She's such a little demon.

These guys are crabapple seedlings from Dan's uncle. We're hoping they get big and strong.

I really really like these begonias. They're so pretty!

I think this is a lily, but the stalk looks so dark. I've got my fingers crossed that I didn't let a weed get huge and take over.

In other news, we finally figured out where to put the windchime! Merry Christmas to me! :) Thanks, Mom and Dad!

This little guy is a new addition: a Japanese iris named Imperial Magic. Isn't he beautiful?

I also got one named Pink Lady (I didn't have any pink irises!), but she isn't blooming right now.

This sprout is coming up back in the corner by the windchime, columbine, gaillardia, etc. Not entirely sure what it's going to be.

Speaking of!

The Russian sage is really pretty too.

I love the texture of the sedums so much, so I thought I'd try for some close-ups. This is the serrated variety.

And here's the Kerry sedum.

They're just little paddles. I love them. :)

And the close-ups just kind of continued. Here are my precious little violas. :)

Wee yellow trumpets.

This one came out really well. My little Sarah Bernhardt peony.

I'm pretty sure this dianthus is just called Pink Picotee.

And my Granny dianthus. On both of these dianthus pictures you can see sooo many buds!

And speaking of buds, look at Stella!

I tried several close-ups, but bleeding hearts are so hard to get focused. This one of the white turned out pretty well. :)

My creeping phlox.

The very happy Shastas.

Mrow

2009-06-04T13:26:00.011-04:00

Look at my sweet girls. Remember when we had to guard little tiny Elphie from big mean Ginger?

Awwww.

Elphaba did some exploring on top of the shoe shelves.

And got caught black-handed.

We decided to get some action shots of me in my garden.

The weeds like to hide in the irises, because they know I don't get in there very often.

Dan got a little artistic.

An awkward sitting position, and Princesse Caroline is on my head.

I didn't count them, but get a load of this patch of irises.

Another view.

We went to a new nursery and they had these kind of pitiful-looking creeping phlox half off. I kind of cut it in half and stuck it in two different spots.

The grape hyancinth has these little pods on it.

I love these lemon zest petunias!

My Kerry sedums are so happy.

Princesse Caroline de Monaco has three blooms!

Look at my dianthus!

Neither is covered like the creeping phlox is, but they're so purty.

I planted that Portland rose, Comte de Chambord, and look at this...

...A BUD! It likes me!!

Here's what I usually refer to as the "other" side of the porch. From front to back, you can see the hostas, the very happy and bloomingful bleeding hearts, creeping phlox, coralbells, and Las Vegas irises.

Crazy intermittent showers

2009-05-30T11:59:00.010-04:00

They're kind of wet from being watered, but you can see how much my Ultra Rose petunias have filled in the windowbox. :)

There are several different pictures, each from a different angle, of this bunch of Las Vegas irises, but it's because every one of them turned out well.

The Jacob's Ladder to the left and the hostas to the upper right look almost like mirror images of one another in this picture.

So many of them!

Look at all the Shastas!

Princesse Caroline is just too beautiful...

...not to be featured often and from every angle.

This little baby that's coming up behind the irises is a glad!

And about a foot away is what looks like a dahlia or two coming up? I don't remember planting any there, but they're definitely not weeds, and they look like dahlia foliage.

Three other glad shoots coming up through Firebreather's roots.

Look at Sarah Bernhardt!

Granny's dianthus. It's growing straight up a lot more than last year. The other dianthus, which is less than a foot away, grows out more than up.

I think I counted seven or eight simultaneous blooms on this baby. :)

The whole caboodle.

It's really blurry, but you can kind of see the buds coming up from the Stella d'Oro.

Again, kind of blurry, but the exotic geranium's shoot is starting to show some color!

Princesse Caroline makes her bow

2009-05-28T12:03:00.002-04:00

There she is, Miss America! It's an icky, rainy day outside, but I had to leap outside with my camera when I saw that she had opened up!

Look at all my irises! And there are four or five Las Vegas blooming on the other side of the porch. (In this bed we have, front to back, Princesse Caroline de Monaco, Before the Storm which isn't blooming, Las Vegas, lupine, Seaside Daisy, serrated sedum, Firebreather, Trop Jaloux, Lysimachia, two lilies, Gaillardia, and columbine.)

Iris Explosion

2009-05-26T11:39:00.007-04:00

Shastas!

My rebel irises (the ones on the other side of the porch) have started opening! Like I told Mom on the phone a few days ago, I think I counted about 37 buds on this patch.

See?

My bleeding hearts are soo happy!

Last year's Ginger Ale coralbell is coming up with flowers!

Sweet little violas.

Look at all those Las Vegas!

Princesse Caroline, thinking really really hard about opening.

Trop Jaloux! (Pronounced Troe Jah-LOO, with the "j" sounding like Zsa Zsa Gabor.) Look at those five purty blooms!

They look like little dollops of vanilla icing or something.

So beautiful.

I just think it's so cute when they haven't uncurled yet.

Anna's favorite, Gaillardia.

And Seaside Daisies. Considering that when I bought both of the previous two plants they were completely without blooms, they're looking spectacular.

MY NEW HOSE CADDY!! Isn't Dan wonderful? I worked a double yesterday and he sent me a picture message on my phone of this, saying he was late to see me because "of your new present." So cute!

Anyone know what would cause our little peach tree's leaves to look like this? I told Dan he needs to pinch off a leaf and take it to a nursery and ask. I don't have any idea. :(

The Return of the Indestructible Wisteria!

And this is a little Portland Rose named Comte de Chambord. It's not really much to look at right now, but hopefully I'll have some pretty roses someday. :)

Dan made this woodshed-type thing in the corner of the yard for our firepit.

It IS lily of the valley!

I even got down there and smelled it. It's so precious!

So cute!

My Granny dianthus is blooming!

Tiny Hope is belying its name by having five flowers open at the same time.

My Stellas are thinking about opening. Can you see the buds?

Look at my sweet Ginger! (With Trop Jaloux in the background.)

Trop Jaloux!

2009-05-24T12:37:00.013-04:00

Isn't she lovely?

I got up this morning and there were three open...

... and one wasn't even all the way! Isn't that cute?

I just love them.

And now, for some more comparison pictures...

Bordeaux yesterday, and...

... Bordeaux today. I didn't think it could get any crazier!

I think I snapped this picture on accident, but I actually really like it. That's the nemesia that's blurry in the foreground, and the exotic geranium in the background.

My Shastas are looking beautiful!

I might have to add some more creeping phlox next year, because this is unbelievable.

And you had to know there would be pictures of my bleeding hearts. :)

At the bottom left you can see some little white buds.

I don't think I've featured the hostas in a while, but they're filling out nicely.

Firebreather, False Bluebonnet, and Las Vegas!

I thought this picture was kind of cool. (And I can't get over the color of Firebreather...!)

My pink oriental lilies are still growing.

Las Vegas is really very pretty despite being brown. And look at all the buds in the background!

I love it!

Only a little bit longer until it's completely blooming.

What a beauty! (You can see the hair clip very well in this one. hehe)

I can't believe that I didn't think I liked irises when we first moved in.

Lysimachia is going crazy! (And that little albino stalk is still at the bottom!)

Gaillardia and Russian sage from yesterday.

Look at all those little faces!

These are all the Las Vegas buds on the other side of the porch. Holy cow!

My little potted plants (and a nice view of the flag bracket.) Dahlia, tuberous begonia, and Bordeaux.

I thought this was really cool. Look at the light shining through the top left flower!

Looks like my exotic geranium is getting ready to bloom.

This is the little seed geranium that Dan bought me at Home Depot the other day as a surprise. :)

My windowbox petunias are flourishing.

Twist & Twirl is doing beautifully, but I don't think Merlin's Magic is very happy. :(

This one's for Anna!

It's yelling at me about having too many labels, so I'm going to have to continue on another post. haha

You know you're out of control when...

Trop continued

2009-05-24T12:00:00.005-04:00

I'm really happy I got these Seaside Daisies! They're so precious!

Firebreather from today... another one opened. :)

Princesse Caroline de Monaco is sooo close to opening! (Before the Storm doesn't even have any buds yet! Wah!)

I was so happy to see the Sarah Bernhardt peony coming back up this year!

Three blooms on Tiny Hope!

My Wave Petunia isn't letting down the rest of them. They're all going crazy!

I like this view of Bordeaux, too. :)

And lastly, this picture actually shows how tall my nemesia is/are. :)

Lilies and irises and cats... oh my!

2009-05-21T15:37:00.010-04:00

Say hello to Firebreather! Isn't he breathtaking? I was this close to renaming him Incorrigible Tease, and then yesterday morning when I left the house at six I saw he had opened. When I came home, there were two blooms!

Isn't it gorgeous?

And there are more buds! (He tried to lay down today, so I had to put a stick in the ground and use a hair clip to attach it, but he seems much better now.)

Look at all the buds on Trop Jaloux! And they're starting to look purple at the top, so it should be blooming in the next few days.

My first Las Vegas also opened today!

These are all the Las Vegas buds on the other side of the porch. Can you believe my camera focused correctly?

This picture is now the background on my computer. Isn't Bordeaux amazing? It was spilling over a few days ago, but it didn't have this many flowers.

My Ultra Rose petunias are adjusting happily to life in the porch box.

As are my Margarita Strawberry portulaca. I can't wait until they spread out and fill up the container!

The Wave Petunia is also flourishing.

Each of my Shasta Daisies has a flower now. :)

Yet more petunias... they made me so happy last year that I kind of went crazy this year. :)

Sarah is sending up another little shoot from the ground.

Everybody's blooming! There are even a few blossoms on the Seaside Daisy.

MY FIRST LILY OF THE SEASON!! Tiny Hope finally opened!

I really like the combination of the two nemesias.

The Raspberry Blast is also looking beautiful.

Dahlia, dahling!

I guess it just tired Ginger out too much to watch me out there in the garden. Poor thing.

Eeek!

2009-05-20T12:56:00.000-04:00

Goin' to the chapel...

2009-05-18T14:05:00.013-04:00

My best friend K got married this weekend, and I got to drive out to her side of the state and be her bridesmaid! Yay!

K is at the bottom right, with her sister sitting between us.

Talk about GOOD TASTE... we carried white tulips! K's bouquet was the pink tulips with lily of the valley.

Doesn't she look purty?

All the bridesmaid dresses, just waiting for us.

K and me!

Kind of an afterthought -- taken in the parking lot after the reception while I still had someone to take the picture. K's mom had a brilliant idea and bought some artificial flowers that matched our dresses so we could put them in our hair.

That's all I have from the wedding... everybody's going to exchange pictures soon, so hopefully I'll have more for you.

These two flats (petunias and portulaca) are going into the 36" window boxes I bought today for the sides of the porch, which we're going to put up tomorrow. :)

I like the portulaca!

My two nemesias, looking happy and perky.

The begonia on the left is a replacement for the one I broke. It looks much better.

My Bordeaux petunia is trying to spill over the edges, on its way to conquering the world!

These highlighter dahlias are very profusely blooming.

This Sarah Bernhardt peony is growing quickly. :)

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart..." Anyway, that's the name of this adorable viola: Blue Moon.

Look at all the Las Vegas buds!

Firebreather is about to burst!

I love the pink of this columbine.

Just take a gander at all those buds on the gaillardia!

The Seaside Daisy is also starting to bloom.

I absolutely love this lupine/false bluebonnet. ;)

Both Shasta Daisies are also starting to open up.

I really really think these are lilies coming up, but I don't remember which one I planted here. I'm so glad I didn't pull them up first thing!

This Jacob's Ladder is called Stairway to Heaven. :)

Again with the anonymous lilies! I'm thinking the daylily on the left is Red Rum.

So many beautiful blooms on the creeping phlox!

I can't believe my luck. Apparently I picked the PERFECT spot for bleeding hearts. They're so happy!

All the whites are in the back, for some reason. But I still spied them!

More whites opening up!

As you have probably figured out, I'm very obsessed with them.

And lastly, Tiny Hope looks like it's just about to open up.

BONUS! I just found K's sister's pictures on Facebook. Here are some extras.

Rehearsal. I'm all the way on the left.

At the hair salon.

In the bride's room at the church. (Chowing down on veggies and dip, as well as cheese and crackers.)

Waiting our turn for portraits after the ceremony.

The Crusader Club! :)

My favorite... the entire wedding party. :)

A little spring cleaning

2009-05-11T11:35:00.016-04:00

Meow!

You can see my newest crochet project next to Ginger. :)

My lemon zest petunia is doing very well!

A bluebonnet has GOT to be a variety of lupine, because look at the detail on this baby. (I was finally successful with a zoom shot!)

I really just can't believe its foliage.

It's a Las Vegas bud!

Can you see Elphaba in the window?

What an evil look! Her left eye is even squinty!

Mom, I know you love columbines, so this one's for you! It's called Spring Magic Rose and White.

And there she is, with a monster hand!

My Lysimachia Alexander has given birth to an albino variety. Isn't that weird?

And there's also a bud on Trop Jaloux! (I've decided that's the name of my purple-and-white iris. I got it from an Edith Piaf song. hehe)

Firebreather is going to go crazy!

I tried putting my Sarah Bernhardt peony against the Kerry sedum for better focus, or at least a better view than against brown soil. What say you?

Tidal Wave petunia is still looking good!

Both of my shastas are trying to open up.

Now get a load of this. Next to the grape hyacinth, it looks like a big daylily is coming up, plus the two orientals coming up by the garden marker. Woohoo! (That's a wilting hyacinth in the background that I bought wilting and planted for next season.)

No, my bleeding hearts are not actually multiplying. I added a white one there on the left, and it's HUGE.

I just love taking close-up pictures of them!

There's the white one!

Eee! My new pink one hasn't really bloomed all that much. Maybe it tired itself out at the nursery.

The hostas are starting to look like hostas.

The creeping phlox is opening up.

I was too late to get a picture of our cherry trees in their prime this year, but the sunlight in the blossoms is pretty.

That might be a good background for my computer. :)

I thought my plethora of tulips was starting to fade, but they're standing back up again.

Granny's dianthus is looking ready to go.

Tiny Hope isn't joking around. Look at all those buds!

Bleeding Heart, literally and figuratively

2009-05-08T13:42:00.013-04:00

My little Elder Bleeding Heart is dropping hearts like crazy!

You can kind of see the new Bleeding Heart's little blossom at the bottom. It's not as dark as the older one.

Yay!

These last two are both from yesterday.

I liked my Twist and Twirl coleus so much last year that I got two this year. Plus, there was a similar one called Merlin's Magic, so I got two of those to complement.

Twist and Twirl bottom left, Merlin's Magic bottom right.

This is the Gallery Blue lupine that I bought. It looks sort of like a bluebonnet -- or close enough. Plus, lupines make me think of our trip to Nova Scotia when I was little. :)

And today it went in the ground.

Its leaves are so cool! It looks like a palm or something.

It's the return of the Sunsatia Mango nemesia! I got two of them, with another nemesia called Opal Innocence to go with them. (I think Opal Innocence is the name of our Lennox china!)

Opal Innocence.

Sunsatia Mango.

Here is the tricolor Exotic Geranium. Forget any flowers it might have -- I wanted it just for the foliage.

A purty purple Supertunia named Bordeaux.

Raspberry Blast Supertunia. :)

What can I say? I'm a sucker for petunias. This one is a Tidal Wave petunia in hot pink.

I'm pretty sure those are oriental lilies coming up next to my poor, mutilated Dirigible Plums marker. (Anna? Wisdom teeth are not required for ceramic painting...! Love you!)

This side of the porch bed is starting to fill up... I'm reluctant to put anything next to the bleeding hearts, because I really really want to either get a golden bleeding heart (with yellower foliage) or one with pure white flowers. I'm crazy about these doggone things.

This little guy is a perennial and is a primrose called Green Lace. Aren't the flowers wild??

My creeping phlox is starting to bloom! It's looking really good this year. I guess it got lots of good rest over the winter.

The hostas are unfurling and looking pretty.

My new tulips are open and happy!

I had to include this one, because you can see my Lucky Strikes. :)

Those four are going to take over the garden.

It's really blurry, but look how much bigger my peony is getting! And I'm pretty sure now that's what it is. Come on, Sarah Bernhardt!

Apparently the dining room is a bathhouse.

And lastly, my sweet girls snuggling with me! They laid on me on their own... no forcing was involved!

PS: Oh yeah, the title of the post. My best friend got dumped yesterday, and it's killing me to see her so sad. :(

Sunny with a high of 75

2009-05-05T14:34:00.007-04:00

That's actually a song by Relient K. I don't know what the forecast is for today. :)

Well, as promised, I got out into the garden today and planted all those goodies. I also picked up a few things at the nursery before work yesterday, so they were waiting too.

Firstly, I got another orchid! It was on clearance, and it's just so pretty!

Dahlia Pinnata (highlighter) and Tuberous Begonia. My first container plants of the season!

They look like little roses.

These are two little Shasta Daisies (Snow Lady) that followed me home from the nursery before work.

On the left is last year's Ginger Ale coralbells, and on the right is this year's Southern Comfort, fresh from the nursery. The leaves are really fuzzy.

Mmmm.

I got a second bleeding heart. If one is good, then two is better, right?

And my original one's buds are starting to look like hearts!

Last year's hibernating creeping phlox.

VIVA! Lemon Zest petunias. (That's the name... not a commentary.) I fell in love with these last year but didn't have room for them, so they were one of my first purchases this year.

Blurry, but look at the colors!

Seaside Daisy. So cute! It'll have little lavender daisies. (Obviously.)

Gaillardia:Arizona Sun. Otherwise known as Indian paintbrushes! Huzzah! (If only I had some bluebonnets to go next to it!)

Soooo pretty.

The two Liberated Easter Lilies, together at last. (And obviously some of our local pedestrians have no respect for people's sidewalks.)

This little guy is called Tiny Hope. It'll have dark red blooms.

I filled in some of the space between the Stellas... Home Depot had this cute little Stella-looking variation called Eenie Allegro. It'll have small blooms with yellow petals AND reddish petals!

And I got a great deal on some more tulips. I'm kind of tulip-crazy this year.

The white ones are called Inzell and the purple ones are called Negrita.

*sigh* What a beautiful birthday garden!

And now some shots to show how much fuller and happier my beds are.

Birthday Garden

2009-05-04T22:58:00.006-04:00

Okay, I have several pairs of pictures -- the first ones are from yesterday or the day before, and the second ones are from today. You wouldn't believe the difference. :)

My red tulips yesterday.

Today they look like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

Don't they?

The flowerbed looks so naked because the cedar is trimmed nicely, and I had just weeded. Don't worry, I'll fill it in. :)

Ditto for this picture. Look at the tiny little coralbells coming back up!

You can kind of see the buds on my bleeding heart. I have some (probably very blurry) closeups too.

This one actually came out remarkably well.

Wow! I guess I'm better than I thought.

Hostas sneaking up, curled up, out of the ground. (Yesterday.)

Today they're uncurling even more!

Isn't nature cool?

Grape hyacinth. So adorable!

Today they're a little taller!

Saturday I transplanted my main Kerry sedum to sit next to the serrated sedum.

Now it lives with its own kind because...

... my newest iris, Firebreather, needed to go next to his own kind.

Here's my new lily bed right after we'd put the rocks in place and planted just a few things...

... and now it has a whole line of Stella d'Oros in front!

Lucky Strike!

Today they're both open!

Yesterday my short little purple tulip was thinking about opening...

... and today it did!

Today I brought all these babies home with me, and tomorrow they'll go in the ground and you'll get a whole 'nother round of pictures. :)

This little guy looks just like an Indian paintbrush!

The return of the highlighter dahlias!

Two slightly different-colored tuberous begonias, to go in a pot together.

I think this is an Asiatic lily coming up. (Along with a not-so-subtle reminder to my sweet sister that my Dirigible Plums garden marker is bye-bye...) Yes, that's a broken robin's egg -- we found it in the middle of the yard and I thought it was so pretty it would be a shame to crush it.

I'm pretty sure this is my Sarah Bernhardt peony peeking out of the soil.

I finally trimmed back the old, dead branches from my Russian sage. I think it's happy I did.

Little columbine buds! The foliage looks so much like a geranium.

There's barely any pink left on my Lysimachia.

I just love these Lucky Strikes!

My pale pink Asiatic lily is multiplying! I can't wait to see all four stalks!

The first of what is now two Liberated Easter Lilies.

In other news, today it was finally warm enough in the house that we needed to open the windows. The cats loved it. Elphie spent a lot of the afternoon kicking Ginger out of this open window whenever Ginger dared to occupy it.

She then had this strange little semi-seizure, which I think must have been inspired by a bug.

Which she then presumably caught. And may or may not have eaten.

And here are the girls snuggling (involuntarily) with Dan.

See how much they love it?

Cute!

It's Magnolia Time!

2009-04-28T13:21:00.013-04:00

I love our magnolia! It's so beautiful.

It's a very unusual shape, and it might be a shrub instead of a tree. I wish it would get bigger.

Look at the little leaves trying to come out!

The man of the house with his new baby! :)

It was a very exciting day in the garden. So I made the rounds with the camera. :) (I just turned over 5,000 pictures taken on my camera... phew!)

I had given up this rosemary for dead. But I'm pretty sure those are buds on the stems.

Happy Returns, making its happy return.

Tulip! I think the leaves look and feel like a sedum. :)

Hemerocallis fulva, the common roadside lily, multiplying like crazy. This is the main clump.

My first dianthus.

Granny's dianthus.

It's so close to opening!

Here's the columbine. Look at the little buds!

This is Russian sage, right? Anyway, it's sneaking up too. It started a little later than the others. I guess I should chop off last year's remains? I wasn't sure earlier, but it seems to be starting over rather than growing off of last year's branches.

My Little Italy and Siloam Red lilies.

I am in love with this Lysimachia now that it's coming back up! It looks much better than when I shoved it into the ground.

This is the white and purple iris, for which I havne't found a name yet.

I've dubbed this my Serrated Sedum. I love that it's just this little mound right now. :)

My other irises and some Kerry sedum. The iris up front, the enormous one, is Princesse Caroline de Monaco. To the right and behind a bit is Before the Storm, and to the left is Las Vegas.

Kerry sedum!

Bleeding Heart is growing really quickly.

The creeping phlox just hibernates and uses the same foliage from last year. (So does the dianthus. I think that's so funny.)

The coral bells are coming back and looking colorful.

A huge plot of Las Vegas irises on the other side of the porch.

This might be my favorite picture that I've taken for a while. It came out so well! My little grape hyacinth.

Tulips!

And these are my two Stella d'Oro lilies that I got on clearance (at the beginning of the season??)! Welcome, me hearties! I started nagging at Dan this morning about a new, extended flowerbed that will be dedicated entirely to lilies -- Stellas will be a prominent feature. A coworker told me that I can come over and clip whatever I want from her extensive garden, so I might not even have to buy all of them! :)

And finally, the nursery set my Stellas in this flat box for the car, and of course Elphaba LOVES it. She immediately set up shop in it. :)

O hai!

2009-04-27T22:35:00.002-04:00

I am pleased to introduce... Orchid Phalaenopsis!

Isn't she beautiful?

Her flowers were among the bigger ones on the plants I had to choose from.

Okay, sorry. I just can't get enough of her. :)

An Ode to Clumping Cat Litter

2009-04-26T14:04:00.006-04:00

No, I didn't really write one. But I should. It deserves way more credit than it gets. We tried to go the thrifty route and got TidyCats litter in a bag for about $5, thinking we were being so smart, until we realized that the critical words "clumping" and "scoopable" were missing from the packaging. Eek!

Anyway, we went to the hunting camp this past "weekend," and had a blast! The weather was perfect!

Dan's rifle blind, which he made himself, is the biggest and (though I'm biased) the best on the property!

It has a chimney...

... because there's a stove inside for warmth!

Someone's old desk chair provides seating, though it's a little squeaky. I guess if you're hunting in earnest you have to be absolutely still.

Two corners have these little shelves, which both have a notch cut in them to rest your rifle in.

He's so proud.

He did some work on his apple trees, which are behind chicken wire so that the deer and elk don't harvest them prematurely.

Dan showing off the remnants of a Monster can, which was exploded by guess who...

Yours truly!! I did some target shooting with a .22. This can was full of water when I made my first shot, which is why it exploded.

On Day 1 it was a Bud Light can.

That baby never stood a chance.

And now onto the more mundane...

Here's what I consider to be an artsy picture. Isn't it beautiful? A brandy glass filled with chocolate milk. Mmmm.

And of course we have the Lazy.

Pitiful!

And out in the yard, my plants are coming up like crazy!! I have determined that this is indeed my Lysimachia. It's funny how it's so red-tinged when it's coming up. It's wearing off as it gets bigger. It really looked like a red sedum a few days ago!

I forgot what all that grass was until today, when I noticed the little flowers! It's my grape hyacinth!

My little tulips are budding! This fact inspired a little jig that I hope the neighbors didn't see, and subsequently an excited call to my mom. :)

That's last year's poor Dusty Miller in the background. I think it's time to tear it out.

My bleeding heart is making a comeback!

And finally, SOMEONE keeps nibbling on my hibiscus!! Can you guess who it might be?

This flower actually lasted longer than most. (Do you like my Aquaglobe? I heartily recommend them, but if you have them in a tropical plant, they definitely don't last the advertized week.)

I wish this would happen to us!

2009-04-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

Meow!

2009-04-19T15:23:00.000-04:00

Thursday Blues

2009-04-16T13:11:00.003-04:00

Well, I was supposed to take a friend to her surgery today so that her normal ride could attend something else. I stopped at CVS to get some cough drops so that I didn't hack up a lung and require some surgery of my own. I was standing at the cash register and all of a sudden I came very very close to blacking out. So in the end my friend had to use her other ride anyway, and my husband had to come rescue me so that I could sleep until 1:15pm. Fun fun.

Here's that cyclamen I keep talking about. Isn't it beautiful? I love the colors.

And here's my beautiful new African violet! It looks like it has two pure white "upper" petals and three "lower petals" with big magenta blotches. I just love it!

In other news, I've been trying out new crocheted afghan blocks, and I met with one whose pattern made no sense to me. So I was left with this little finished circle. Well, naturally, Dan found it.

So now the David has alternately a beret...

...and a rockin' yarmulke. Which we figure is appropriate, since King David was Jewish. :)

Those April Showers...

2009-04-14T23:06:00.008-04:00

Well, at least they should bring flowers, right?

I love Dan's face in this. And how Ginger is completely uninterested in playing.

My first hibiscus bloom of the season. Sorry it's so blurry -- stupid camera!

Dan put a new door on the shed he bought last fall. And we wasted no time in filling it up with stuff!

You can still see the remnants of a temporary tattoo DC gave him on his inner right forearm.

All of my gardening things! He also took out a shelf that divided the entire thing into upper and lower. There were two doors (top and bottom) when we got it, too. Thank goodness for my own personal handyman!

Tulips pushing up through the Dusty Miller, which actually still looks pretty good.

Next time I'll know to bring in my ceramic garden markers for the winter. :( My "Keep Off the Dirigible Plums" HP allusion is ruined! Anna, would you like to make me a replacement? I have a birthday coming up, you know. ;)

Irises and sedum peeking through!

I think this is the lysimachia, but it looks like sedum coming up! I'll have to keep an eye on this.

Two other things coming back up that are looking very interesting. I especially love the second one, which looks almost like a red sedum!

So hilarious!

My third baby blanket!

How do your felines grow?

2009-03-05T11:26:00.002-05:00

Dan and his adoring girls.

Sorry I've been gone so long! It's not really very inspiring to update a gardening blog when it's completely snowy outside and everything is dead. Sorry!

But our Elphaba and Ginger are still doing well!

They love each other.

And bottle caps.

Who, me?

They're still clawing things they shouldn't.

They're still "His and Hers" cats. ;)

In other news, we said goodbye to our trusty free ugly couch.

And replaced it with a gorgeous new find from Art Van.

Elphie approves.

I got some beautiful tulips from My First Valentine. :)

And while we were on vacation in Texas visiting everyone in the world, Mom taught me how to crochet squares for a baby blanket. The end result is a surprise for one of Dan's cousins, who is due in August. :)

Kind of blurry, sorry!

And I'm starting on another one for a friend. It will be checkerboard white and yellow.

Winter wonderland

2008-11-24T23:36:00.004-05:00

This picture was taken this time last year, when Ginger saw her first snow. (From inside, anyway.)

This picture was taken today, when Elphaba witnessed her first snow. Cute!!

She was fascinated.

In other news, Aunt Laurie and Uncle Mark's pup Autumn is getting huge! I met her for the first time since they were in town for the wedding. She's precious!!

And Elph and Ginge are going to want nothing to do with that monkey from now on. (Isn't she beautiful?)

Jenny and me at the rehearsal dinner, happy to be getting another sister-in-law!

D and Dan at the rehearsal. (Needless to say, DC's attention span was stretched to its limits.)

See?

But Dan and Jenny had a blast. Recessional.

Processional.

Day of! DC and the Three Godfathers!

DC was easily the handsomest man at the wedding. No offense, everyone else.

Siblings!

And... the new extended family!

Uncle Ted comes home to roost

2008-11-15T11:04:00.003-05:00

Allow me to introduce... Uncle Ted! He came all the way to us from the wilds of Alaska, just to chill out in our stairwell.

He's named after Ted Nugent, who has a phenomenal show on the Outdoor Channel called "Spirit of the Wild," which, I understand, is a lyric from one of his songs. He's hysterical, and he refers to himself constantly as Uncle Ted. The choice was obvious.

He fits perfectly!

And Dan is thrilled. :)

In related news, I got this chic new scarf.

And, while the girls are not thrilled about the new addition to our family, they really enjoyed the ladder.

Ginger had an unusual interest in the smoke detector. (Good thing it didn't go off in her face!)

Elphie seemed very concerned about having Ginger at the top of that ladder. She sat like this for about five straight minutes, with Dan and me dancing around playing Wii between them.

But when it was her turn at the top of the ladder, Elphie was much more relaxed. Look at that little paw!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2008-11-01T23:50:00.003-04:00

... Election HELL! Can't wait until all this garbage is over with. I hope it doesn't drag out like the 2000 election.

November is officially here, but the weather isn't acting like it. It was perfect for trick-or-treating last night with the Little Man, though! It was Mom, DC, and the Aunts! So fun.

Luigi! 90% of the people we passed were thrilled out of their minds with his outfit.

So sweet.

Aunt Emily helps him down the steps. His pumpkin was enormously heavy, but he wouldn't let anyone else hold it.

Those crazy aunts!

Sisters!

And now on to those felines. Since there won't be many pictures of plants this winter, it'll invariably turn into "How Do Your Felines Grow."

Elphaba really is such a good sport.

Look at her face on this one. Click on the picture to see it bigger. She's doing a Calvin face. It's really priceless.

See how much my girls love to snuggle with me?

*Irish voice* Are you winkin' at meh?

Another Calvin face.

We finally started using some dishes from our wedding registry, and Dan shoved Elphie into a box as a joke, and it turns out it's now her favorite place.

Look at her pupils!

Sleepy-head!

Ginger looks like an angry dragon.

Greetings from the North!

2008-10-25T00:05:00.003-04:00

Here we are in the Great White North, watching as the cold rolls in and the flowers roll out. My garden is in its death throes at the moment, except for the potted hibiscus I brought in (which the cats are infatuated with, much to my frustration) and the cute little pink snapdragons that are still holding on.

Anyway, I feel terrible for not updating more, especially with winter coming on and subsequently fewer and farther-between posts. (Did that make any sense?) However, I'm sure I'll be able to bug the living daylights out of everyone with pictures of the cats and of Dan's indoor projects, so fear not!

We Don't Like Ike

2008-09-11T03:36:00.002-04:00

Here's a more recent picture of my lisianthus. Isn't it pretty with all those purple blooms? I was having second thoughts about it when it started drooping, but its resurrection has impressed me.

My Sarah Bernhardt peony. Should I maybe plant it in the ground if I want it to get a whole lot bigger?

The dianthus that Granny thought she'd killed. It doesn't exactly look like it did, but at least it's got green!

I love it when the sedum start to bloom. The red/pink/fuschia colors all look so good with the pale green foliage. This is the most striking contrast.

Our two goofballs.

Case in point.

And not only does she peek at us out of the sink -- she's HOMICIDAL!!

That would actually be a great punk band name: Homicidal Kitty.

Hurricane Fever

2008-09-01T22:28:00.006-04:00

Boooooooo Gustav!! I tell you, that's one name I'll never give to my children now. That and Katrina. And probably Rita, which is just a shame, since I like the name.

Anyway.

I'm sorry I've been lazy for so long about updating. Like I told Mom tonight, it's been kind of a "bloom lull," so it's been hard for ADD Girl to get excited about posting. Terrible.

However, that hasn't stopped me from taking pictures. Here are some older ones that I just couldn't pass up sharing.

The lisianthus is now blooming again from this new stalk that's grown up and pushed out the old one. I was wondering why it was tipping like that. ;)

The last stalk of my Wine and Roses when it was budding. So pretty!

Kind of blurry, but sooo pretty!

The last of my little Siloam Reds. At least that's what I'll call them since I don't know their real name.

These pansies will definitely make a reappearance next spring. I love the color.

Now we're up-to-date.

This is the succulent that Reba gave me before she left. It's doing this crazy reaching thing. Not sure what to make of it.

My pink African violet is blooming again. They've been taking turns. The white-with-purple-edges is recuperating now.

And the girls. Eating some wet cat food. So funny! Elphie just doesn't seem to be growing too fast anymore. But then, I see her every day.

Kitteh?

2008-08-13T22:38:00.006-04:00

more cat? pictures

Tiny peaches and bulbous cats

2008-08-08T17:20:00.003-04:00

Dan picked this peach today because its branch was about to snap. It smells delish. We're going to plant the pit and see if we can get another little peach tree.

Such a ham. How I love him. :)

Curious little thing!

"Eeeek!" says the fatty.

And lastly, Mom, I'm really sorry, because I know you bought/made this beautiful scarf for me, but it is Elphaba's favorite toy in the world. You should see her dragging it along after her. It's hysterical.

Daddy and his girls

2008-08-06T13:52:00.001-04:00

Okay, so they don't look too happy to be posing for the picture. But it's cute, isn't it?

I love it when he makes this face.

A little bath in the sunny library.

"Whadda you lookin' at?"

Wine and roses, Part II

2008-08-04T23:30:00.002-04:00

Playing around with the manual focus on my camera. Finally you can see a gladiola bud! :) This is one of the taller red ones.

There are my beauties! Aren't they breathtaking?

I just couldn't take enough pictures of them!

My petunias, still going crazy.

While messing with the manual focus I obviously messed up the autofocus. Oops. Well, this is a picture of my last 2008 Little Italy bloom! :'( Till next year, my friend!

Wine and roses

2008-08-03T23:12:00.003-04:00

My Wine and Roses glad is opening! It's a dwarf or something, because it's much, much smaller than my red one. Sorry about the blurriness.

The girls are thoroughly enjoying their 9 Lives wet cat food. :)

Kittehs!

2008-07-30T00:33:00.001-04:00

more cat pictures

The Belching Squirrelcats

2008-07-30T00:22:00.003-04:00

Featuring Ginger and the Other One

That's a band Dan and the girls created. Coming soon to your hometown.

Glads!

Glads!!

My container plants had to embark on a pilgrimage to the yard, because Dan wanted to powerwash the porch.

But now you can get a good look at my Twist and Twirl coleus!

I didn't get a "before" picture, but here are the steps after the powerwasher came through. They look new! They were almost black before.

Basement window #3! (Someone at some point in the past 100 years decided to try the very thing that Dan's doing, and their cement screwed him up, so this window only has room for 2 rows of glass blocks instead of 3. Oh well.)

The garage now has two sides of new siding done! You can see that I've been painting the trim white and I couldn't quite reach the top of the doorframe. I'll work on it later with a stepstool. ;)

GLADS!!!

2008-07-27T13:48:00.003-04:00

I went out today with my camera and made Dan show me how big the peaches are getting (and they're getting some color, too!).

Then I got a picture of my little red lilies. I think they're a siloam variety -- very small blooms.

Then I was looking up onto the porch at my Mona Lisa and I noticed --

MY GLADS ARE BLOOMING!! Just the one so far, but I have a few buds on another plant up in the sedum garden. EEEEK!

I skipped around the garden and screamed at Dan to come look and basically almost hyperventilated. I had given up on them, hoping they only needed another year before they'd bloom. Yay! Oh yeah, and here's the pretty pot with my nemesia (going crazy) and the pink New Guinea impatien.

Four blooms on the Mona Lisa! I just love how I always smell it when I go in or out the front door.

My little clearance Sarah Bernhardt peony is getting bigger. Slowly.

I bought Granny this gorgeous pink picotee dianthus for her birthday, but it didn't do well inside, so she asked me to nurse it back to health.

A distant shot of the glad.

This Twist and Twirl coleus is going nuts.

And this wee small thing got a bath the other day. Then sat like a person in her towel. Barely long enough to get a picture. ;)

The Notorious C.A.T.

2008-07-24T02:33:00.004-04:00

Elphie drinks from the faucet. And occasionally gets a drip on her ear or her nose.

I love the slight tilt of her head in this one.

Presenting... Mona Lisa. She looks a lot like a stargazer.

And *squeaky voice* Red Rum is looking beautiful.

I just noticed today that my Twist and Twirl coleus is sending up coleus-like shoots! I'm so very observant... I wonder how long they've been there.

The indestructible wisteria, leafing out like a plant possessed.

I'm gonna get a lot more portulaca next year and put it in all different size pots.

My phlox is looking more like when I bought it last year!

These bell-like blooms on the hostas are just so pretty. :)

A sincere missive

2008-07-22T12:55:00.001-04:00

The twins!

2008-07-18T21:58:00.003-04:00

Look at these two beauties! Dan was so confused when I came barreling into the house exclaiming, "The twins are blooming!" I'd never called them that until they bloomed at the same time.

This is Red Rum. (You must say it with a squeaky, creepy voice.) I found out that lilies at Home Depot were going for $6 or less, so I had to get it.

Four blooms on the hibiscus! So pretty.

I came home from the grocery store with this little keepsake azalea and Dan didn't even kill me! :)

I was sitting on the couch and Dan came out of the bathroom giggling. Obviously something was happening of which I would not approve. Except I surprised us both by thinking it was hysterical when I saw Elphie with a blob of shaving cream on her head.

It's so light, she didn't even realize it was there.

She just walked around, trying to pounce on Ginger while Ginger was arched up like a Halloween cat and her tail was as big around as a fox's. She was like, "What the hell is on your head???"

"What do you mean? There's nothing on my head."

Since we've had these windows open a little, the girls seem to have realized they're even there. They keep looking out. So cute!

Champagne Supernover

2008-07-13T23:37:00.004-04:00

I believe the name of this lily is "Little Italy," because it resembles the one I saw in a catalog. Anyway, that's its name from now on. Isn't it breathtaking? I love the ruffles and the huge color contrast.

And there are lots of buds!

My snaps are reblooming.

This is called a Lysimachia. The variegated leaves are pretty enough on their own, but it's also starting to bloom with little yellow flowers! (Although it's also getting little brown spots on the leaves on that branch... I need insecticide.)

Millions of peaches, peaches for me.

Hosta blossoms!

Such happy little petunias. I'm definitely getting more of these next year.

Happy Returns. Did I mention it's a close relative of Stella d'Oro?

And right next to Happy Returns is this little guy. Is it a poppy?

I have simply GOT to plant this sedum. I can't stand the idea that it might not come back next year if it's in a pot.

Portulaca. Also going to make a reappearance next year.

So will the New Guinea impatiens.

CAAAT FIIIGHT!!

RAAAWR!

Once again, Dan finds a small place that Elphie will fit into.

He also gave her a treat. (It's empty -- she's just licking the leftovers.)

O hai!

Hey! Hey! Hey. Hey! Whatcha doin'?

Poor, long-suffering Ginger.

Snugglin' with Dad.

July flowers?

2008-07-07T00:04:00.003-04:00

June tornadoes bring July flowers?

My tigerlilies! (Their actual name is hemerocallis fulva, or common roadside lily. I just love them. I need more.)

An artistic shot.

These babies are still going crazy! I've decided I need more orientals in my garden, because they actually stay open and continue to bloom, while the daylilies (as their name suggests) are only open for a day each.

The third branch was going yesterday.

I can't remember if the back plant is my Little Italy or the dark red one, but it's sending up shoots, whatever it is!

This phlox is budding and just about ready to be purty!

Speaking of sending up shoots, my hostas are ready to roll!

The hibiscus is blooming again.

This Outback Paper Flower is just so unusual!

And my portulaca, trying desperately to overgrow its planter.

GOOD NEWS!!

While we were in Maine, I got a text message from Melissa, who found Pevensie outside of work with me. She adopted her!! So now my sweet little thing has a good home and I can hope to see her again!

Melissa said she's really not a cat person, but she couldn't resist this sweet little thing.

She really is just a doll.

And it nearly killed me to take her to the humane society. She was shaking and I was crying and it was really just a big disaster.

Also, our vacation was a blast. Maine is gorgeous.

We snuck around in the bushes by the ocean.

The Owl's Head Lighthouse says NO TRESPASSING!

This is the view from the restaurant we had lunch at one day. Delish.

Chuck spotted this boat, and I had to take a picture. ;)

LOBSTERS! They're nasty little creatures.

Dan made a friend.

...and so did I.

Look at that water!

The rocks at the Pemaquid Point lighthouse were sooo cool.

That's the Pemaquid Point light in the background.

The sound of the waves is so soothing.

This is the Breakwater, another lighthouse. The actual light isn't nearly as impressive as the huge granite stones you walk on to get there. It's like a mile out into the ocean.

This looks like a pirate ship! And the flowers in the foreground are pretty cool.

The "sunset" off of the World War I memorial tower on Mount Battie.

Pevensie

2008-06-25T13:13:00.002-04:00

She doesn't have a middle name, but since we aren't keeping her I guess it's better that she doesn't. I probably shouldn't have named her at all. But she's just so pretty!

Melissa and I found her wandering around outside of work last night, and we thought initially that she was declawed, so we absolutely were not going to leave her out there to fend for herself. It turns out that her claws are just worn down really, really short. I'm trying to find her a nice home, because Dan put the kabosh on the idea of keeping her. He said he absolutely draws the line at two cats.

She's really just gorgeous. I guess she's full grown, but she's very thin and malnourished, and actually she's still pretty young, I think.

We put her in the cage at first.

She probably ate half her weight in cat food.

We moved her to the bathroom so she could have use of a litter box.

I hope we find her a good home!! :(

Lily fever

2008-06-24T10:16:00.005-04:00

They're starting to open! So now I have to control myself every time I walk past a display at any plant store, grocery store, corner market, etc.

This little beauty is called a Pink Echeveria. Tiffany and I each got one at Meijer's. We just couldn't believe it was real. It's so crazy looking!

I also got this, called a Peperomia. I love the foliage.

At Home Depot, this tiny little Sarah Bernhardt peony was on clearance! I couldn't just leave it sitting there, never knowing if it would have a good home, now could I?

My pink oriental lilies have opened up!

Look at all those buds!

Happy Returns was the first lily in my garden to bloom. (The Stella d'Oros were going crazy before that elsewhere, but I don't have any.) Look at those ruffles!

The Indestructible Thyme is blooming.

My petunias seem to love the weather lately.

They're so pretty!

I haven't featured the hostas in a while, so here they are. :)

The peaches are getting bigger!

Big yawn!

She looks kind of evil here.

Dan and I didn't actually see a bug that she might be chasing, but who knows? (She is a little loco.)

We let the girls lick our bowls after having some pasta for lunch, and it was too funny for me to miss taking a picture.

You know they had to check out this old dresser before we could put in the drawers. They're very thorough.

Cornholing?

2008-06-15T12:00:00.004-04:00

No, really! It's not as bad as it sounds!!

Cornhole is actually just a bean bag toss game. And it's totally fun. But you can imagine my surprise when I came into the library and opened up the computer and PlayCornhole.org was up in Firefox. Um, what?

But all cornholing aside, our barbecue was a blast. The shish kabobs were delicious! And the rain didn't even last all night.

My lisianthus is falling over, but it doesn't seem to bother it any.

These Exotic Impatiens are just so pretty!

Grape Crush New Guinea impatiens and nemesia.

Salvia and Dusty Miller are making themselves perfectly at home.

These, I think, are dahlias coming up from the tubers I planted a few months ago in the petunia garden.

And speaking of dahlias, my highlighter dahlias are making a comeback!

The Indestructible Thyme is blooming! (Keep off it.)

There are still a few flowers on my columbine.

But most importantly, yesterday my first lily opened! Say hello to my newest addition, Happy Returns.

Not your every day...

2008-06-14T09:56:00.000-04:00

from www.icanhascheezburger.com!

Summertime Blues

2008-06-13T17:28:00.004-04:00

Well, we haven't really had any summertime blues this year, unless you count the horrific weather we've been having. Dear Mother Nature, screw you. Love, Mary

But on the bright side, if it doesn't rain today (unfortunately, rain looks eminent), we're going to have a barbecue! Every two weeks (give or take a month) we rotate with some friends of ours for who hosts a dinner party. This week/month was our turn, and we decided we needed to take advantage of it being summer, so it's going to be a cookout. We have everything prepared for make-your-own shish kabobs, which should be delicious. We also have garlic bread, ice cream with waffle cones, and a spiked watermelon. (You can't have a gathering of twenty-somethings for a meal without alcohol!)

Home de Pot has a nifty picnic table kit that includes the pre-cut wood and hardware. All you have to do is put it together. Of course, Dan didn't like the design, so he built his own.

We're thinking we might have a campfire tonight, too, once (if) it gets dark (while people are still here). To this end, Dan decided yesterday that it was as good a time as any to trim all the trees and make some firewood. The really cool thingy he's using is a little chainsaw on a long pole. Don't worry, he didn't make it himself. You can buy them like that, with the trigger at the end of the pole.

Your first view of Elphie's new collar! This cat is very unusual. Nikki and her roommate Val gave the kittens baths once a week just to make sure they'd be used to water. So when we put Elphaba in the sink, she's not the least stressed about it. In fact, she'll drink straight from the faucet.

I love how her little tail is draped over the edge of the sink. :)

She's been doing this thing today where as soon as Dan gets up from the table she immediately occupies his chair. She's a little brat.

My petunias are looking purty!

I don't know why there's that patch that has no flowers, but otherwise the dianthus is looking gorgeous.

Here's a (somewhat) better picture of the Before the Storm iris.

I'm really surprised and thrilled that the pansies are still doing so well! I know it's just June, but it's been getting into the eighties and nineties out there.

This petunia is on a mission to steal the show in my garden. And it's succeeding so far.

Outback!

My Gerbera daisies are reblooming! I wasn't sure if they would or not.

I'm so incredibly pleased with this Twist and Twirl coleus!