Before the Storm

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.

Thursday Blues

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. :)

Hurricane Fever

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.

Eden?

I'm having such a blast with this gardening. Mom, thanks for humoring me by looking at this blog. :)

I bought this African violet on clearance at the grocery store the other day. Isn't it pretty? It's very different from my pink one.

There is another plant that I've deemed indestructible -- this wisteria. I procrastinated all last year about planting it, and finally I gave it up as a loss. It's been sitting in the corner of the yard by the garage, and yesterday while I was watering I was dumbfounded to see that it was leafing out. Unbelievable!

A lone bloom on our magnolia tree, which is looking beautiful with all its leaves. :)

My columbine is blooming!

This is Partytime, an alternanthera?, that I bought yesterday. I just love the stripes!

I also got this little Figaro dahlia.

This is called an Outback Paper Flower. I think it's so cool!

This coleus is called Twist and Twirl. Very different from my other coleus.

A New Guinea Impatien called Grape Crush.

Dan tore all the siding off the front of the garage. He plans to put up the new siding tomorrow.

A little plywood.

Cutting the plywood.

I put about a coat and a half of paint on the doorframe the other day. It definitely needed it. It makes such a difference!

Succulent extraordinaire!

Happy Memorial Day!! I hope everyone who had today off from work and school was just happy as a clam. I know I would have been. ;)

When we went out to watch the parade I had a squawking fit and ran back inside to grab my camera, because my second clump of irises had a bud opening! And it's different from Las Vegas!! I'm going to have to find out what it is.

And when we got back from a trip to Home Depot, there was more squawking, because it had opened even more!! Isn't it unsual??

Eeeee!

Las Vegas is looking beautiful. Two blooms! And they're new ones -- not the original.

Princesse Caroline has opened up and is looking positively regal. As well she should.

My little verbena in the mailbox planter are sending up shoots, hopefully for blooms. It's already started!

On our trip to Home Depot I couldn't resist this adorable little sedum. It was less than six dollars! And it's different from the ones I already have.

My African violet is going CRAZY! Look at her! She's nuts!

My Rex begonia, fittingly, is also trying to take over the world. Look at him!

I just, as I was posting this picture, realized how damn tall that lighter succulent is getting! It's so huge! The indoor red velvet coleus is looking nice, too, and my nameless greenery.

This is the cabbage-y succulent that Reba gave me today at work! She's so sweet!!

Kind of blurry, but look at those red leaves and those ruffles!

Ginger loves her new kitty gym. Dan finally moved it out of the middle of the dining room floor. ;)

She also loves snooping around. She was initially after the bag of goodies that Nikki gave me for Elphie, but I moved it and she had to play it smooth.

We had her out in the yard on a harness and leash for a little bit today when the parade was going by, but all the noise really freaked her out, so I took her back in pretty fast.