Hey again! Sorry it has been so long since I blogged. A big comedy of errors....lost camera cord, lens of camera broke, computer messed up, computer fixed then screen broke, etc. We have been very busy around the house. Spring came and went, college kid home, elementary kid graduating Kindergarten, making end of year gifts for teachers and a gift for a principal that is retiring. Not to mention the little kindergartner wanted to make gifts for staff at her school. I did start really early on those gifts. We gave them begonias (my favorite flower this year!) in a cute pot with a hand stamped vintage spoon. I stamped the recipient's name on the spoon: ex. Ms. Jennie.
I think that blogger has changed some settings because I can't comment on each picture. It seems the pictures come in twos. Anyway, did you happen to witness the Transit of Venus? We did. College kid googled how to safely view it. Of course after a couple of hours of "Mom....how can we view the transit?" Me: "Not sure.." then "Mom....how can we view the transit?" Me: "Not sure..." after several hours of this I finally said "Just Google it!". And she did. Come to find out all you need are a pair of binoculars. No, don't look through them, just reverse the binoculars and let the sun shine through them onto a piece of white paper. Kind of like when you were a kid and had a magnifying glass and let the sun shine through the magnifying glass on to leaves, paper or whatever. Except the binoculars won't catch the paper on fire! We were very surprised at how well this worked. We could even see the sun spots. It was a cloudy day and the clouds kept on blocking the sun, but as you can see in the above pics we did get it to work. In the top photo you can see Venus, it is the little dot on the sun
on the lower right side. The second picture shows a cloud starting to cover the sun. Just ignore the stick. The camera had a hard time focusing on the paper.Here a few shots of around the yard. Promised my sister that I would show her some of my flowers.
Above: Begonias, marigolds, pansies, and a beautiful caladium that had not been planted yet. See the pot on the left side of the gnome next to the red bench? The dog decided to dig in it one night and bed down there. She destroyed 3 snapdragons, 4 begonias, 1 coleus and a caladium. I bought this replacement caladium. I love it. It has a red color that looks like it was splashed across the leaves.
Above: this little corner of the deck is my "potting bench" of sorts. See the rake head hanging above the bench. It had been laying in our yard next to the shed for about 3 years. Last week I was raking and rediscovered it. I thought it would make a great hanger for my small garden tools. A few days after I hung it, Dear Hubby saw it and said "Well...I was going to fix that rake. Guess I can't now." Haha....it had been in the yard for three years! The big kind of ugly black planter is something new that I am trying. It is an Earth box. It uses a self watering, fertilizing system. I planted one tomato, jalapeno, squash, zucchini, cucumber and something else that I forgot to label. I have two other boxed and will report on how well they work this summer.
Above: My favorite: Dragon wing begonia. It was small when I purchased it, now it has doubled in size. See the twigs planted it the Terra cotta pot. Those are some rhododendron cuttings that we are rooting.
Above: Here's my favorite spot. This year we have added twinkly lights and a mister system to the pergola. The mister system is great for the plants and after working in the yard and getting hot, it is nice to sit under it and cool down.
Above: Herbs and a Super 100 tomato. The herbs are: sweet basil, purple basil (tiny), boxwood basil, oregano (hot and spicy), thyme and a pot of strawberries.
Above: Moss rose. I love this. It is the first year I have grown it and it loves the hot part of the deck.
Above: Planters in front of the window. A kind of a window box of sorts. No, the wire fence is not for rabbits. It keeps Nosy Rosy, the dog, out of the "window boxes". She loves to stand in the planters in order to look in the window and whine.
Above: Hen and Chicks succulent. Ugly wire, again, for the same reason.
Above: lettuce
Above: Cucumbers, tomato, eggplant, squash and tomatillo.
Above: Purple cherry-size tomato plant.
Above: the herbs again. A closer look.
Above: Neighbor's yard. See the tiny little rabbit.
Above: Bad boggy area of yard. We finally decided to "fix" this area. Every time it rains, this area is a boggy mess.
Above: We are installing a Japanese inspired garden. All of the grass will be gone and mulch, a rake garden and small goldfish pond will take it's place. Right now we have the boardwalk installed. The goldfish pond will be to the left of the picture and rake garden to the right of the picture. I will post more pictures soon. Hopefully we can get the Japanese Garden finished before summer is over.
Above: A corner of the butterfly garden. Black eyed Susans and a butterfly bush are planted here. The birdbath is used alot. I love gnomes, but usually try to hide my gnomes behind stuff so they are not really visible because I don't want to look like "that" kind of a person!
Above: Some of my daylilies.
Thanks for stopping by and visiting my garden,
Holly
