It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!

Today's post is all about yellow. My large wild side garden is just ablaze with yellow right now.
At the top of the garden is yellow loosestrife. It will take over if you're not careful but it is still worth having in the garden. It is about 4 feet tall and blooms for weeks.
Sundrops are at the bottom of the hill.

I love the red buds and the leaves turn red in the fall.

This yellow sedum is also invasive if you aren't careful but it makes a great ground cover. It is also in my shade garden.

I'm not sure what these are but they keep coming up every year and I like the yellow centers. I also have some pale yellow Straw Foxglove. They grow tall like the regular foxglove.

As you can see from this picture the blooms are much smaller than the normal foxglove.

The blooms are interesting up close.

Last but certainly not least, are the Stella D'Ore lilies. They are always the first to bloom and they sure make a statement.
I hope you have enjoyed the yellow blooms today. If tyou would like to show us your blooms, just add your name and permalink to Mr Linky below. Please, add a link to this post on your blog.
Grab a glass of something cold and sit back and tour gardens all over the country.

A Walk in the Park

I took the girls for a walk by the creek in the park today. We tried last week but it was too muddy for the stroller.All I can say about this is....I don't have a clue! LOL!!
Jerzie had fun walking up the stone stairs, watching for chipmunks and squirrels, walking in the mud,

throwing rocks in the water

and building castles in the dirt and stones.

Payton enjoyed the bumpy ride but by the time we headed for home she was tired out.

It's great to have places like this to walk to in our little city.

They got me again!

My sneaky kids got me again! They told me they had decided to take me out to dinner for my birthday instead of celebrating at home. I didn't think much of that because I don't get out to eat much. I thought they might surprise me by having my brother join us. They surprised me alright... ...with about 30 friends and family!

They told me they had all been avoiding me because I know when they are lying and they didn't want me to be suspicious!

I also discovered there had been a few more 'break ins'! My daughter-in-law even snuck in and got phone numbers for some of my customers.

I love this birthday cake (although Laurie was afraid I'd be upset because I usually get homemade cheesecake for my birthday.)

I even got lots of very nice presents and cards.

Some of my gifts were roses,

a couple new summery covers for my pursefrom Kim and his 3 girls,

a cute turtle for the garden and

an adorable sculpture from Laurie and Chris.

I also got money, a gift certificate to Walmart and some other things I'll show you later. It was a wonderful birthday surprise and a great start to another year to spend with friends and family!

Thank you so much kids for this super surprise! I love you all very much!

Break in!

When I went downstairs to work Thursday morning I discover that someone had been in my beauty shop the night before while I was it the store working!They not only got in, they rummaged thru my cupboards looking for my flower vases!
There was certainly no doubt as to what Thursday was

or how old I was turning!

Not only lovely flowers everywhere but even some chocolate chip cookies!

There was also a sign on the outside door to let my customers know about my birthday.

This is not the first time my kids have done this type of thing on my birthday. When I had a shop outside my home, they went there and put up signs and balloons outside.

Thanks Laurie, this was a wonderful surprise!

Laurie says she didn't break in because she had a key! I sure can't complain about this kind of 'break in'!

The Answer!

In this post I asked for someone to identify this object. I'm sorry to say that there was no winner. A couple were very close but not completely right. Don't you wish you had made a guess now?Yes, the top part or lid is an ashtray. As you can tell from this picture the rim of the bottom section is way too thick to be a drinking glass.

Cigarette smoking used to be a sign of sophistication and glamour. Believe it or not, cigarettes were offered as we would offer a nice dish of candy on our coffee table.

There were several kinds of cigarette holders made during this time. Many looked like round or square goblets with beautiful details.. Some were monogrammed and some had a base that served as an ashtray. My green depression glass piece is a cigarette holder! I'm certainly not into cigarette holders but I do love unique items and green glass plus it was half off and only 4 dollars. I think it would make a great cotton ball or swab holder in the bathroom.

For more Show and Tell posts go over to Kelli's House.

Turning....

60!

Yes, that's what is special about today. It is my 60th birthday and my life will be changing for the better. I never thought I would be excited about turning 60 but because of some unfortunate circumstances, I am excited. Most of my regular readers know that my children lost their Father to cancer last summer. As with any family, this has been hard on my kids.

One of my customers told me that I might be able to collect widow benefits from Social Security. I thought she was crazy since I have been divorced for over 35 years. After some checking, I found out she was right! As long as we were married for 10 years and I had not remarried, I could collect benefits when I turned 60.

As an older hairdresser with a shrinking clientele, I had been forced into taking a second job 5 years ago. My shop has been very good to me over the years, having supported my children and making it possible for me to buy our home but my customers are getting older right along with me. I cut back to 4 days a week and started working in a grocery store 4 or 5 nights a week. Because of the change in my financial status and having paid off my house last year, I will no longer need to work so much at the store. I could actually quit but they supply great insurance benefits. I will now be working 1 or 2 nights a week at the store.

We had to struggle when my kids were home because I received no support. This circumstance although difficult at times, also had it's good points. We had everything we needed and learned to enjoy the free things in life like family, friends and nature. Even tho this benefit has nothing to do with back support, I feel like I'm getting my due. I also believe I need the money more now. Since being transferred because of our store closing, I have worked longer shifts on register which is hard on me because of my fibromyalgia.

The best benefits are more time in the garden and more time with my darling granddaughters! All I can say is....
60 is going to be good!

Edit: You need to go over to my daughter's blog and check out the limerick my OLDER brother wrote for me. It's amazing!

Take a guess!

I realized I haven't done a give away in a long time so today is your lucky day! All you need to do is tell me what this object is.

I found this at a household sale and couldn't resist. You know I love the green glass and I also love unusual items.
This lovely tin is what you will win. I also might find some things to put in the tin.

The only catch will be that in honor of tomorrow (I'll tell you tomorrow why I'm honoring tomorrow!) you only have 24 hours! Of course, I wish you wouldn't research it but make a guess. If there are several right guesses I will draw a name, otherwise the right guess by 10:30 tomorrow morning will be the winner.

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!Today I'm going to finally show you my shade garden. First is a slide show of some of the plants.

If the slide show isn't working click on 'View all Images' And you can see it.

This view is from the back of the garden. The tall plant on the right is the Red Dragon.

This is as you start walking into the garden. I put pine mulch on the path area and as you know planted my primroses along the path.

As you can probably tell the area on the left is my original shade garden. Along with the plants I have also transplanted the ground covers like sedum and sweet woodruff to fill in the new area.

I have also planted and transplanted some hosta. There is not much blooming in this area yet but I'm just hoping the plants will get as big as the critters are!

Thanks for stopping by for Bloomin' Tuesday! If you would like to join the tour, just add your name and permalink to Mr Linky and add a link to this post on your blog. Now sit back and enjoy! Happy gardening!

Treasures!

Jerzie and I worked on a project today. We are always finding treasures in the yard and on our walks so I decided she needed a treasure container.As you can see she's very serious about her art.
Aunt Laurie gave us lots of scrapbooking stuff she didn't want anymore so we used some of that on our project.

Today's treasures were half of a bird egg and some tiny pine cones. She has more treasures like feathers and larger pine cones at home.

She can keep her box on a shelf in her room.

She liked Aunt Laurie's garden stickers so much she made a picture for her Mommy and Daddy.

Little sis wanting to do what big sister is doing has already started!

Payton managed to wiggle herself close enough to get her fingers in Jerzie's book.

She watches every move her big sister makes. Luckily Jerzie doesn't mind (yet!).

Food for Thought

May you always have walls for the winds,

a roof for the rain,

tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you,

those you love near you and all your heart might desire.

Foxglove

According to the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension, "The name foxglove is from the old English name "foxes glofa." It comes from an old myth that foxes must have used the flowers to magically sheath their paws as they stealthily made their nocturnal raids into the poultry yards of rural folk. The association is natural for the foxgloves grew on the wooded hillside slopes that foxes chose for their dens."

'Baskets'

I thought I would show you some of my flower 'baskets' this season. Do you remember this?

It is a collapsible egg basket I got at a sale for a quarter.
This is how it looks in my garden.
A different style basket.

Because they stretch so much I had to wire up the bottom. Then I put in moss to hold in the water.

Planted with million bells and licorice plant.

I've had this 'basket' for several years and always used it indoors but decided to give it a try outside.

This tree is at the end of the sidewalk to my house. It's planted with asparagus fern. coleus and million bells.

For more Show and Tell posts go visit Kelli's House.

Back to the shade

The first thing I did in the new shade garden is plant the primroses I had dug out. I used them to create a path thru the area. I gave them plenty of room because I'm hoping they like it here and spread. This is quite a large area and I wanted a 'walk in the woods' feel.I also added some large rocks I had in other areas.
I moved the jack-in-the-pulpit to behind this tree. It was so far back you had to step on other plants to see the bloom.

Then I had to add some 'art'. The box on the table has 4 small spaces and I put a different coleus in each space. I also added a bench with a sitting frog and a planter on the right side 9something has tipped this over twice!) and a bird house on a log to the left.

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Stay tuned, adding plants is next!

Rescued!

Did you notice anything new in my garden photos yesterday? The item I left a bid for and got at the household sale was a new iron crib. The detail is really nice. I just wish they had left it the old cream color it was at some point. It will age before long being outside.
Iron crib ends work perfect as 'fences' in this garden. I haven't used the sides yet but I will eventually. I use the old ones as a trellis for a clematis.

The old one was in pretty bad shape but I love it in the ferns in my shade garden.

I got it for only 10 dollars and I rescued it from ending up in a landfill!

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome! Our weather has been great as far as I'm concerned. Cool nights and mid 70's during the day with some rainy days thrown in. Every day there is something new bloomin' in my gardens.
The dead nettle under the tree is just beautiful right now. I started out with just 2 purple and 2 white plants several years ago. It's a good thing I have it contained or my whole yard would be full by now.
The soapwort is also in full bloom. I have it cascading out of an old bucket also but I moved it recently and it's a little droopy so you'll have to wait until next year to see that.

Some of my daisies are open. You can see how dark they are at the bottom from the late heavy frost we had. I'm just glad they are blooming. I love them!

Now here's a first. These roses are all on my knockout rose bush. The one on the left is a soft pink, the next is shades of pink and white and the last is a darker pink. Has anyone seen this before? There are tons of buds so it will be interesting to see what else opens.

This little white flower will turn into a bright orange Japanese Lantern. Something always devours the leaves but it doesn't seem to hurt the plant. I always take the leaves off to dry them anyway.

I'm very happy to see the foxgloves open. I just love them. There are not as many as last year and I don't think they are as tall either.

This is what both sides of my garden look like so I think I'' have a good crop next year and I'll be able to give away all the seeds this year.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my little tour. Please check out the other blooms from around the country by clicking on the names on Mr Linky. If you would like to join the tour just add your name and permalink to Mr Linky and add a link to this post on your blog. Remember you have to sign up every week you want to join the tour so there is no pressure to post every week. Have a bloomin' great day!

Two 'Sweetpeas' in a Pod!

Flag Day!

Addition!

I found a wonderful cup, saucer and plate at a sale yesterday for $1.50. I couldn't wait to get home and add it to my dish garden. A cup of water for the birds.
I just love the pattern and the color! I would have bought more sets if they had them.
Just what I needed for this spot.

I got a call last night that I scored on an offer I left! Can't wait to show you my other bargain!

Dish Garden

The first thing I did was dig out all the primroses in the garden between the stairs to the beauty shop and the house. They haven't been blooming well for the last couple years so I decided to move them. There were 4 flats full! I had decided I wanted a dish garden. No, not the garden in a dish you get when you're in the hospital but...

..a garden with dishes for garden art.

I moved all the foxgloves, that were never planted in this garden, to the back and used some of the new plants for the front.

Then I 'planted' some pretty dishes I bought at secondhand stores.
Mostly I used plates but I couldn't resist this bowl.

I'm happy with the way my version of a 'dish garden' turned out. Of course, it'll look better when the plants bloom.

For more Show and Tell posts, go over to Kelli's House for a visit.

The plan!

The back left corner of my yard has been a small shade garden for a few years. Since the whole area was too shady for grass to grow well I decided to enlarge the garden. It has taken awhile since I removed the sod myself. The first 2 pictures are from the left side.

My son brought me 2 loads of dirt and spread it for me. He told me if I put in many more gardens he won't be able to get into the back yard with his truck so he'll have to wheelbarrow it!

To add a little interest, I cut down a dead tree that has been leaning on a telephone pole in the back corner of my lot for years. ( Luckily I didn't take down any wires!)
This shot next is from the right side.

I'm really excited about this new garden and looking for all the shade/light sun plants I'll need. I've moved some plants to this area so there are other changes also, which I'll show you tomorrow.

Car Load!

I'm sorry to say that Laurie hasn't been feeling well so we couldn't go on our road trip yesterday. Instead, I went alone to a couple of my favorite local nurseries that I had avoided because of our trip. I ended up with a car load!
Are you wondering what I'm going to do with all these plants? You'll have to stay tuned to see what this summers project is.

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!I have a couple different colors of dianthus blooming this week.

This coral is my favorite.
The Allium moly (golden garlic) sure stands out against all the green still in the garden.
These white blooms on the Irish Moss aren't much bigger than a large pin head. I love the bright green color against the stones in my walkway.
A white and
soft red dahlia.

I've always said this peony was white but it also has a tinge of pink on the very outside and inside.

Dr. Ruppel clematis, very simular to the Pink Champagne I showed last week.

Almost open!
Well, that's what is bloomin' in my gardens. What's bloomin' where you are planted? Laurie and I are going on a nursery road trip tomorrow so stay tuned to see what my project is this year and to see what we find.

If you would like to join our tour just click on the Mr Linky button below and add your name and permalink to Mr Linky. Don't forget to add a link to this post on your post.

Happy Bloomin' Tuesday!

Sweeties Day!

What do I do with this stuff? I guess it's not too bad.
I'm really likin' this stuff! Give me more!
I love to check out Gramma's flowers.

That's a pretty pink one.

Look how big these are!

Sisters

Nothing better than Sweeties Day!

Paper Birds

I found these cute paper birds at an estate sale (along with this wonderful shaker style chair). I'm not sure if they are old or not but I loved them. They had a string for hanging so they may be a Christmas tree decoration.
Has anyone seen these before?

Show and Tell

I decided to put my little girl statue that I found this winter in the front yard.She looked lonely all by herself so I got her a puppy to play with.
Of course, they needed something to play with so I added some croquet mallets and balls.
Now all they need is for the plants to start blooming.
Thanks for stopping by!
For more Show and Tell posts go visit Kelli's House.

39 and holding??

Happy 39th Birthday, Laurie!

Please go visit Laurie and Chris and wish my wonderful daughter a happy birthday. You know I couldn't resist this great bird picture I found at a customer's yard sale. I don't usually do yard sales but this customer and her sister are lovers of antiques and junk just like me.
The detail is amazing and I love the frame detail.

I even like the little flaws!

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!

We have been having cool weather again but no frost. Here is what's bloomin' in my corner of the country.
I'll start with one of my favorites, the cranesbill geranium. If you have a large area this plant is wonderful. It grows into a lovely mound that will get as large as you let it.
Dianthus is a great bloomer. You can find almost any color you are looking for and they come back year after year.

I love these sun roses (helianthemum) I'd like to find a darker color also.
Snow in Summer
The foliage on this plant is a very gray green. It looks super on a bank.
A burgundy colored coralbell in an area of my shade garden. The stems are so long this year.
One lonely Stella de Ora day lily.
The wild columbine is really going crazy this year. Most be time to thin some out.
Another favorite, lupine. They all seem to be purple so far. I know I've bought different colors.
What's bloomin' in you corner of the country? If you'd like to join the tour just click on Green Mr Linky and add your name and permalink . Don't forget to add a link on your post to this post.
Now let's take a nice colorful walk!

Just Jerzie

I decided it was time for some just Jerzie and Gramma time this week. She came and spent the night and we went on a little adventure this morning. We went to our local Audubon Sanctuary and went on some of the trails. Jerzie loves nature and was excited to get started. The first thing we saw was a pond with a family of geese.
Believe it or not Jerzie took these first 2 pictures with an old, very cheap digital camera that is hers when she is here. If you look really hard you can see that she did get a picture of the geese.

I took the next 2. I love the family all in a row.

Here is Jerzie taking a picture of one of the frogs we heard. She was certain she got several pictures of them.

This is the one shot that came out. We did hear several frogs but weren't lucky enough to actually see any.

Checking for tracks.

Her picture of the tracks. She did point out some turtle and fish tracks on the trail later.

We had a great morning and plan to go back soon. We stayed for a couple hours and Jerzie was still going strong. It is so enjoyable with a child that enjoys every little thing and doesn't whine at all. Next time we will go into the building to see the animals they have.

We picked up Payton on out way home and the girls were very happy to see each other.