Category — Gardening

succulents.

sssssssssucculent

fleshy

exotic

gorgeous

ssssssucculicious

Today is Sunday. A week ago today I stupidly wrecked on my bike. I am still feeling it.
In two weeks there is this ride I’m planning to do in Logan, where I will be riding 60 miles. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to do this, but my knee situation has me worried.
Can’t I just have someone inject it with something so I can peddle through the pain? I’m looking into that possibility.
I’m just so mad at myself for being such a clutz. Did you know that I once sprained both my ankles at the same time? Kelly D. loves to bring that incident up whenever I injure myself. He says, Who sprains both ankles??
To add to the misery, I have upgraded my bike and I am the proud owner of a sweet, new road bike which I have put exactly 2.15 miles on. It sits in my garage taunting me and my bum knee.
But, enough about that.

At the risk of jinxing it (you should know I have a strong testimony of the reality of the jinx) Beck has been such a delight lately. He says please and thank you. He doesn’t argue at every turn. He goes to the bathroom without a fight. In fact, he usually says, “Mom, I’m going to go to the bathroom because I’m listening to my body.” and often, he’ll punctuate these types of statements with a wink.
I have found myself looking forward to our time alone together. Just me and my tiny boyfriend.
Last week we went to one of my favorite places on earth. Ward and Child The Garden Store. If you haven’t been, you are missing out big time. So many things to spend your hard-earned money on!
There is a garden in back that is simply magic. I took a few iPhone photos while we were there.

Beck and I were there to pick out some red pots to flank the stairs at the studio. We found the perfect pots and they are now full of lovely plants which I love to drive past the studio to gaze at. I also found a sleeping cement dragon which I really think would be the perfect thing in the little boy area in my back yard. I resisted the urge to by it though. It wasn’t cheap.
We held hands while we looked at everything because there are so many breakables in that place. Beck said, “Mom, I really love holding hands with you while we walk in this garden.”
Man, I tell you. I melted right on the spot. And then I bought him an ice cream cone.

nearly bloomed

nearly lilacs

nearly peaches

nearly unfurled

nearly tulips

nearly done

It was a fairly nice morning for early March, so I decided to get some work done outside. I don’t trim my perennials in the fall, because every year around this time without fail, I get an itch to be in the garden, and leaving the trimming gives me something to do when it’s too early to plant.

I also thought it would be nice to let Penelope run around without supervision and let her poop wherever and whenever the mood should strike.

Speaking of Penelope, we are still getting to know each other. I miss my Molly still ever so much. Last night Kelly D. asked me if I’m glad to have a dog to snuggle with in bed again, and I burst into tears. I told him that it’s not the same. Our relationship is still superficial. It’s based on appearance and puppy breath.
She’s very sweet though, and the cutest little thing. Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes. The back yard…

I cleared out my herb garden and the little area where the log chairs are. It was awesome to be outside getting my hands dirty again. But, man, that puppy wasn’t making anything easy. The other day, Beck asked me why I picked a biting dog. I told him they all start out that way, but today I was wondering the same thing.
Exhibit A:

That’s my camera strap she’s latched onto. I was trying to get a few pictures of her cuteness chewing on sticks, but as soon as I whipped out my camera she about yanked it out of my hand.

Exhibit B:

My gloved hands were irresistable to her. She just couldn’t stay away. Even when I’d fling her off into the dirt, she jumped up and pounced again and again.

Exhibit C:

Can you see how sharp those puppy teeth are? I have wounds all over my forearms too. Speaking of forearms, look at the size of mine! The wide-angle lens makes me look like Popeye! In fact….

See? Popeye.

The only time she left me alone was when Beck brought out a broom.

Two hours into the morning, she’d tired herself out and laid down in the Lamb’s ear. Which is where I would choose to lay if I were going to do any lying around outdoors.

She looks tired here. Can’t…. keep….. puppy eyes….. open……

And…. she’s out.

I am not a good person.

But, I think the fact that I take such good care of the little birds that visit my yard makes up for it in some way.

They are well fed.

I provide water.

And bathing opportunities.

Look at them all! They are so glad that I live here.

After eating and bathing, they congregate in this bare bush to warm themselves in the sun.

Until I release the hound.

And then we are once again alone.

 
I bought a lovely, new patio pot to put in my garden beside a path. It’s a deep, emerald green, and it’s finish makes it appear wet. It gives a cool, refreshed feel to the otherwise dry flagstone of the path it lives by. I had big plans for this pot. It was to be a great focal point in it’s intended location. On a Saturday, I purchased all the plants I would need to fill it, and I couldn’t wait to get home to put it all together. I chose many succulents and some drought tolerant plants as well. Lately, I have been fascinated by the colors and textures that desert plants offer, and I have also been thinking a lot about working with the environment I live in rather than trying to transform it into something else, which leads me to a recent moment of clarity.

 
Green Santolina. This character was to be the height in my arrangement, and also a burst of color. I understood that it features little, yellow flowers which last from summer to frost. Perfect! I placed it in a prominent position, added the rest of the cast of characters and stood back to admire my creation.
All there was left to do was wait.
One day I wandered outside to find the beginnings of flowers. They looked like tiny, yellow sponge cakes. Much like the center of a daisy without it’s petals. I always get so excited when plants are in their beginning stages of bloom.
Oh! The possibilities! What will these beauties look like when they open up?
Well, I’ll tell you. They didn’t open up. They stayed that way until they were spent and dried up. When I removed them, more tiny, yellow sponge cakes arrived to take their place.
What did I do wrong? Not enough water? Too much? After a bit of trial and error, I decided that either my plant was defective, or I had done something to ruin it. Better luck next year.

 
Later in the month I rose early to to on a garden tour at a large public garden. I was admiring the variety and arrangement of their plantings, taking pictures, writing down ideas to take home when I stumbled upon a large mass of Green Santolina. They looked so beautiful all together in this garden; each of them covered in tiny, yellow sponge cake-like blooms.
There was a plaque in the front of the bed which read: “Southern France sub-shrub with aromatic foliage and yellow button flowers.”
What?
You mean, they are supposed to look like that? I took several photographs of them. As I looked through my lens at their beauty, I felt sorry for thinking of mine as defective. How could I? Just look at them… finger-like leaves holding up little offerings of sweetness to the sun.

 


 
Why didn’t I see it before? I should have appreciated them for exactly what they are instead of waiting for what I thought they should become.

Just before it rained, the light was soft and low. It made everything so green! Vibrant, saturated green. So I grabbed my camera and took a walk.
This is the first thing you see as you enter the gate to the back.

Around the corner, is my herb garden. Something is eating my basil again. I planted extra so there’d be enough for us and the insects, but they have gotten greedy.

Next, we have a three-way light saber battle…

Yellow flowers spilling out of my favorite pots from Ward and Child The Garden Store. Have you been there? You should go! But leave your kids home. Unless yours are better behaved than mine.

The following photo is of lavender about to bloom. I sometimes like the ‘almost’ stage of things better than the bloom itself.

And another almost…

This next one you might think is almost day lilies. But what you are actually looking at is a salad bar for deer.

I have a new peach tree growing in back and I know I’m supposed to pinch off any fruit that forms in the early years of it’s growth, but I just can’t wait that long, so I left this one little peach for myself. Just one won’t hurt, will it?

I climbed the hill to where my gourds grow. I love to sit up there and look out over the whole back yard.

Perennial flowers are reproducing up there on the hill. I’ve planted things that I like to cut and bring inside for vases, and I’m letting them reseed and spread where ever they like. I think it’ll be beautiful in a few years.

I think this next bush looks like fireworks when it flowers…

This little bucket was a feed bucket for calves. I bought it at one of those consignment stores. Can you read it? It says, “Calf-teria”. I think that’s the cutest thing.
I am easily amused.

The tour ends with this next picture. She actually followed me through the whole tour. Quiet, sweet, and sitting by my feet as I snapped each picture.

I’ve been giving myself a break.
I sometimes pressure myself to post regularly and then I start to resent the blog, so I decided that instead of getting rid of it altogether, I would make it a stress-free, post when I like, pleasure cruise.
Also, I took down the self portraits. Did you notice? I thought it was fun, I did. (the daily part was annoying at times) But I thought maybe I was behaving like a narcissist.
Blogging in general is an exercise in narcissism, but I didn’t want to go overboard and have it illustrated with photographs too.
I was thinking about doing one a month or something and posting it on my sidebar.
Why am I telling you this? Because this post here is without a topic. And I’m rambling. That’s why.

 
The last few days I have done nothing but work in the garden. I’ve even quit taking showers (kidding. kind of.) because I’m running in the morning for exercise (suck fest!) and then I spend all day getting dirty, weeding, and planting things.

 
So the following is what I’ve been thinking about lately:

 
I have fallen in love with white tulips. Who knew this could happen? Certainly not me. But I cannot deny how lovely they are in the front of my house.

 


 
While I may love white tulips, I am having a passionate affair with these ruffly-edged orange ones. Don’t ask me to choose between them. It will hurt too much.

 


 
My chives are just about to bloom. There is nothing quite as happy in my back yard as the chive border around the herb garden. I love this just-about-to-bloom stage. Amazingly, these long, hollow, slender stems can support the over-sized round, purple chive blossoms. They sway in the wind but never give under the weight.

 


 
I like this shot of this one lone chive. (Check out that depth of field!)

 


 
These next pics are of my defiant attempt to keep an orange tree alive in Utah. “They” said it couldn’t be done, but mine is on it’s third year here! I have grow lights and heat lamps in my garage for the winter months and it’s just as happy as can be out there. But look close…

 
a blossom!


 
then, the blossom fades, the petals turn brown and dry up…


 
Oh! What have we here? Could that be the beginnings of fruit? An orange? Yes! I think it is! (pfft to the nay-sayers!)

(Now if I can just keep my kids from picking them off too early.)

 
Ending on a sad note. Don’t these flowers look sad?

I think the plant knows that it’s sole purpose is to be cut down and used as organic fertilizer.

 
My grandma used to tell me that’s all any of us are in the end anyway.

These succulents in my bathroom window have been stagnant all winter long. They’ve stayed small and tidy on the window sill. Just barely spilling over the edge of their container.
This morning I noticed that one of them has bloomed and stretched her neck as high as she needed to in order to reach the sunlight.

 


 
I think it looks like she’s leaning her forehead against the window, longing to be outside where the sun shines all day long.

 

Tulips in progress.


 
Daffodils just before dark.

SIXTY DEGREES!
Did you go outside today?
Short sleeves today, no jacket, boys barefoot, windows open, sunroof open, working in my back yard!

 
I cut some branches to force the blooms. Do you know how to do this already? Well just in case you don’t:

 
You can do it with just about any flowering branch from a shrub or tree. The branches should have swollen buds like this…

This is a forsythia, and you can almost see the yellow blooms about to burst. I’ll bet they’ll be blooming indoors by Monday.
 
Or this next one, which is lilac. These will take longer to force to blooms…

Cut the branches you want to bring indoors with pruning shears to get nice clean cuts.

Quickly immerse them in water.
Next, pound the ends of the woody stems with a hammer:

You are opening up the ends of the branches so they can freely take in the water.

Put them into a container filled with cool water and place in a sunny spot.

These are the forsythia branches (above) and the lilacs below…


 
I’m not sure what the upcoming weather forecast is, but I hope it’s more of what we had today. But just in case it turns cold again, I’m prepared with two vases full of spring.

It was a warm, autumn day today, wasn’t it? Did you get a chance to spend time outdoors?
Lovely. The kind of day that’s made for reading a magazine from the comfort of a lounge chair on the back deck.
My favorite tree has finally begun to turn. Just the other day I looked out the window and wondered why it was still so green. It was holding out. I think because it likes to have all of the attention for itself. All the other trees have nearly bare branches now. So, the brilliant fall colors of this tree are really something to look at.


 


 

There is a lot of work that could be done this time of year. Look at this mess in my flower garden!

I resist the urge to cut it down and clean it up though.
Because I know that as soon as the winter starts to fade and the snow melts, I will be itching for something to do outside. Too early to plant things, but too warm to stay indoors.
It’s like a little gift I give myself every spring.

I’ve laid out the sunflowers to dry in the sun and feed the birds.

My mission now is to capture the awesome scene of the bird buffet with my camera.
I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning.
Early.
Like, before it’s light early. I’m going to stake out the backyard. I might even wear camoflauge.
I have made attempts to take pictures of this before, but I am getting serious now.
It needs to be documented. I’ve written about it before, but I want to show it to you.
Wish me luck.

 
In the meantime, here are some more sunflower pics from today…


 

I wish I could get a picture of the scene when I walk outside into the back yard. I have tried and tried. But the birds are too quick and sneaky.
It’s like magic though. As soon as I step onto the deck, the ground seems to move and then take flight. There are birds everywhere. If I approach a bush, there is a flutter and suddenly dozens of birds emerge and fly away.

 
It’s September, and as usual, the birds come every day for the free buffet. There are berries on all the bushes.

The trees still have remnants of fruit.

Flowers and ornamental grasses have gone to seed, providing even more snacking opportunities.


 


 

I keep the bird feeders full too. The Little Guy loves to watch out the window and always alerts me when “a birdy eating dinner”.

The sun flowers are all going to seed as well. They look tired.

Look at this lady here. She looks how I feel at 5 O’ clock. Her hair is scraggly all around her face, her head and arms being pulled down by gravity which always feels so much stronger at the end of the day.

I can relate, sister. I feel your pain.

 
Everywhere I look, I see the beginnings of fall. The burning bushes are starting to scorch,

Some things are already on fire.


 


 
I love where I live. I love the change of seasons. But, I think maybe fall is my favorite. Sometimes I think it’s spring, but lately, I feel this excitement that’s electric in my veins every time I feel the crisp air in the evenings and smell the coming autumn.
Plus, I just bought the CUTEST red jacket from J. Jill and I am dying for a day cool enough to wear it.