13 years ago

My daughter was married 13 years ago today. It was actually a day like today, sunny and breezy.Laurie really did marry her best friend and they are even better friends today. I know it's a cliche but I didn't loose a daughter and I did gain a son.
If you'd like to wish them a Happy Anniversary and see the after 13 year picture you can visit them at Miss Flower .This picture is with my Mom and Grandmother. Grandma was 94 at the time.
Happy 13th Anniversary Chris and Laurie!

In the garden

We've had a cool and wet week and the flowers sure seem to like it! We've also had some frost but I have several things blooming and many others growing well. I've done a few posts on flowers this week because so much was blooming, so check out my other posts.

I just add the creeping phlox last year but it's doing quite well. I love seeing it cascade down a hill but I don't really have a spot for that.

I also planted my first Allium last year. This is the only one that bloomed this spring but I'm not giving up. I think I'll try some different types this year.
I have wild strawberries that planted themselves down the gravel steps to my shop. I have to keep them in control but the customers, young and old, love them. You can check out the area I'm talking about here.
This clematis blooms twice a season. It goes up a ladder leaning on my shed. It's full of buds and the ones on top are beginning to open.

The variegated Solomon Seal is blooming but it doesn't get as tall or full as the regular one.
This Solomon Seal is at least 4 feet tall. I love the little flowers. It is really full but I'm afraid to separate it because it's so pretty now.
I love English daisy. These are in another new area I planted last year. I think I'll add to them this year.
I'm not sure what this is but I think others called then mine iris. I've had them several years and think they were free with some mail order plants. They aren't quite as blue as they appear here.
I have bachelor buttons everywhere! After this blooming I have to get rid of some. I usually just set plants out by the shop door along with some plastic bags and tell people to please take some. I hate to get rid of good plants and that's part of the reason most of my gardens are fairly wild looking.
Don't forget the click on the +by "Green Thumb Sunday" for a dropdown of other blogs to check out today.
I'm going out to work in the garden for awhile. I'll come visit a little later.

Out front

I had a hard time growing bushes on the left side of the front of my house. Every winter ice would fall off the roof and ruin the bushes. I gave up and planted hosta. At a quick glance it looks like bushes and since they come up new every year the ice doesn't hurt it.My azalea bush is beautiful this year! You can see the lilies of the valley and goutweed under it.The bush next to the azalea is a holly bush and it's blooming now too. I'd always heard that you need two bushes to get blooms but mine flowers and has berries every year.
The front of the house is pretty low maintenance. I have plenty of work to do every where else!

The Book of Perennials

I 'm not sure where this book came from. I think a customer gave it to me a few years ago. It is by Alfred C.Hottes and was first printed in 1923. Mine is a third edition from 1930. My only disappointment is that all the pictures are black and white.I love this fern illustration page. The opposite page lists the common names and all the planting and growing information.
These pages of "Lists of Twenty-Fives" is quite helpful. Click on the picture and it will enlarge so you can actually read the lists. It gives lists of plants for wet and dry places, cut flowers and edging plants,
tallest plants, blue plants, white plants, daisy-like plants,
April blooms, May blooms, June blooms, July blooms, August blooms,
September blooms and after frost blooms.
I don't have a list of the month flowers bloom in any of my other books. They usually just give a vague idea such as midsummer.
The book also gives garden planting ideas. It would probably do me good to sit and read this book. It is full of planting information and that kind of information is never out of date.

Flower memories.

I don't usually pick flowers from my gardens. I like them to stay outside where everyone can enjoy them. There are 2 exceptions to that. Lilacs and Lily-of-the-Valley. I love to smell both of them so I usually pick one bouquet of each. This lilac is my neighbors. I have taken care of it for many years. My old neighbor wanted to cut it down but I convinced him to keep it by offering to take care of it. Now that I have the "neighbors from hell" I don't even dare pick any. It's a very old tree and I'm afraid it won't last much longer if it isn't taken care of. At least I can enjoy looking at it and I do get a whiff of it when I'm working outside!
Today I picked my LOTV bouquet. I picked both pink and white. Heavenly scent!
I planted LOTV with the Goutweed several years ago. I remember this combination growing by the back door at my Grandma and Grandpa's house when I was growing up so I had to do it! Another memory of their house was finding toads in the window wells. Did you plant a certain flower combination because of a memory you have?

Morning visitors

It was a dark and rainy morning but as I was drinking my coffee a little bird sat on the deck rail and sang for me. I'm really very happy about the rain because it was getting very dry.Pretty soon a second one came and joined in. I know the pictures are bad because it was so dark. In the bottom picture they are both on the shed area of the pic. They sang until I'd almost finished my coffee.
Then I heard another noise. Guess what that was. I had caught a second squirrel on my deck. Something had been digging in the pots that are on the deck. Luckily I hadn't planted anything yet. I had seen squirrels going up the posts to try to get to the bird feeder so I figured that is what it was.
This little guy went on a vacation to a beautiful park full of lovely trees and lots of other squirrels. I'll miss watching these 2 chase each other out in the back yard but they were getting much too close to the house and I don't plan on running a squirrel resort next winter!
That's three chipmunks and two squirrels, if you're counting!

Surprise!

I told you there would be a fuchsia hanging between these 2 chairs on my deck! Isn't it beautiful? My daughter and son-in-law gave it to me for Mother's Day. This isn't really a surprise because I hope they give me one every year. If they don't, I have to buy one myself and it's never as nice as the ones they buy. I also got this lily from Jerzie. I'll wait a little while to plant it so it doesn't get hit by frost.
My son and his wife said they were coming back over when my daughter got out of work. I wasn't sure why but I found out when they all got here. They all gave me a framed and matted 8x10 of this.
I was so surprised! I knew they both "happened' to be going to Erie on the same day and that Jerzie was getting her picture taken. I knew that they "ran into each other" and went to dinner together. They gave me Jerzie's picture quite awhile ago and she wasn't wearing this dress that I bought her either.

I am so thrilled with this surprise! They all look so natural, like they're on the floor at my house. I can't think of anything I'd rather get for Mother's Day than a picture of my kids all together! Thanks again, kids!

Goodbye!

My house guest left around noon today. Mommy and Daddy were supposed to be home yesterday but it rained Sat. night so the race was postponed until Sun.Jerzie really perfected her crawl while she was here.
Mommy and Daddy saw her do it first last Monday but she only went a couple steps.
Now she really takes off! She does have a little trouble with the hardwood floors being slippery. She's coming to find Grandma and, of course, she's on the computer!
She was pretty excited to see Mommy and Daddy!
I really enjoyed having her and we had a great time but I am a little tired out. I did some yard work after she left and mowed the lawn. Now I can rest.

Whole lot o' bloomin' goin' on!

We've had a beautiful week here and the garden shows it. My shade garden is doing very well.
I love the jack-in-the-pulpit. It is really spreading. A friend dug them in her woods a few years ago.
I just got this white Bleeding Heart last year. I'm glad to see it made it thru the winter.
I was just introduced to this plant last year. It's a Epimedium, commonly called Barrenwort or Bishop's Hat. Mine is a grandiflorum "Lilafee' but there are several types and colors. I love the heart shaped leaves and the delicate flowers. My pink Bleeding Heart is also blooming in the shade garden and the Solomon Seal is still growing. I'm guessing it will be in full bloom next week.
This is my money plant. It looks like phlox in the spring but I really grow it for the dried pods in the fall. You can see them starting to form in the second photo. These are planted in a "wild" area on one side of the house. They really reproduce! I'll be glad to share some seeds in the fall.
I love these. They are pink Lilies-of-the-Valley. I never knew there was such a thing until a customer offered me some.
The white ones are a little slower but are coming along well.
I have tons of wood hyacinth! Looks like I need to dig some out again.
I also have lots of Ajuga in bloom. I posted on them Friday so scroll down and check it out. Thanks for stopping by and I'm off to visit. Can't wait to see what everyone else has in bloom!
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Mother's Day

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day I thought I would show you this shadow box I put together in memory of my MomThe background sheet music was on the piano the whole time I was growing up. I loved to hear my Mom play the piano and this was my favorite song that she played.

The pearl drop necklace was one of the few pieces of jewelry my Mom had. She wasn't a jewelry person but she liked this pearl drop and her string of pearls.
Mom always had a box of coins that she had saved. When silver was worth a lot, she bought a dishwasher for under $100. because she paid for it with silver coins. She worked on the Thruway so she had an opportunity to get lots of different coins. She also brought home several coins from the countries she visited when she made her dream of a lifetime trip to Europe.
The bead bell was the first bead ornament my Mom made. She got hooked and made everyone in the family a bead ornament for every Christmas after that. She also collected bells.
Mom made the piece of tatting behind the picture when she was learning to tat.
I have this shadow box hanging in my dining room.
Happy Mother's Day!

Burgundy Glow

This is Burgundy Glow Bugleweed (ajuga)and it is a very invasive plant. I bought some for a border and ended up with way too much. It grows in sun or shade. In the summer it is white and green variegated with a touch of burgundy when planted in the sun. In the shade it is green and burgundy. In spring it gets these purple flowers. I had so much, I was giving away a bushel full. My cousin decided it would be great around her patio so she took the whole bushel. After it was planted her husband-to-be said it would be really fun to play toy soldier in it. The flowers were the perfect size to be trees. They both loved it. They got married in the yard and there was a special package just for the groom. I big package of toy soldiers! He won't admit to playing with them but I bet when there is nobody around he is down on his knees in the "Burgundy Glow" Bugleweed playing soldier!

The deck

I'm finally happy with the deck. That's not to say I won't still change it some. I brought this green table that was here and I'm happy with it up on the deck. I'm working on a new "bottom" to use as a potting table.

You can see the ottoman that I made in this picture.The grapevine around the window is the one I have in the archway between my living and dining rooms for Christmas. The piece below the clock is a thermometer.
I had this material on the chairs before but it was very faded. I had made a tablecloth so I cut it up to recover the chairs. I had the pillows and found a vintage dresser scarf and cut it in half to cover the 2 pillows. I believe it is done in French knots
Here's the sofa I redid the cushions on. I found the pillows on clearance. There is green and dusty purple ribbon on them that matches perfectly.

All my pots are just waiting for some plants. I found the little wicker chair at a household sale.
I keep my deck dishes in this cabinet. I'm also looking for a new cabinet. There is more room on this wall now that the pew is downstairs. The oil lamp is yellow because it has citronella oil in it.
I decided I might as well use these placemats instead of keeping them in a box. They look great out here and they are heavy so they won't blow away. One last seating area and the old soup kettle from camp just waiting to be filled. The only hanging basket I get is a fuchsia that hangs between the chairs.

Give me a couple weeks to get my plants and then stop over for a glass of cold raspberry ice tea!