Hooray my favorite lily!

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blooms, postaday2016, summer

I was worried for my favorite lily, I love its color, because when I planted her, I put her in the background near the fence where I thought she would be safe. This was prior to Jack, our dogs Marshall, Rex and Tuck stayed out of my flower gardens back then, but when Jack came onto the scene, he was all about hunting and patrolling the entire perimeter of the backyard. I never said anything to Jack because at 15 lbs, Jack never did any damage to my plants. I didn’t foresee how his actions would influence future dog acquisitions. So in come Lulu and Stanley, Jack’s faithful followers, imagine a 46 lb and a 100+ lb running back and forth along the perimeter, trampling everything in the way. Hooray for my lily, it survived the dog rampage.

These two pictures are a perfect example of what I’m talking about, little Jack peeking out amongst the ground cover while Stanley’s huge face right in the same spot, what a difference, lol. I love my balloon flower plant, I can’t decide which I love more, the sunflower or the balloon flower, they are both so gorgeous.

The summer blooms are out! My coneflowers and upright phlox are just starting to come into their own, what I love is that they keep their blooms much longer than the springtime blossoms. The colors are dramatic, a rich dark pink and a lovely shade of light purple. Looking through the pictures, the colors look nice all together, my plants help soothe my worries, it’s hard to be anxious when you are surrounded by beautiful colors and lovely scents.

Irises are now out and about

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blooms, flowers, postaday2016

My irises are out, it might be just me, but I swear it feels as if they came out of nowhere. One day the irises are about six inches high and the next, they are practically all in bloom. Time is getting away from me again and I protest, I would like spring to linger for a bit longer, I’m not in any rush for summer. 

Once the irises are spent, a large section of my side bed loses its dramatic color, I still have dianthus and purple sage planted in the side bed, but their blooms can’t compete with the visual impact clumps of blooming iris give. As I always say, shaping and maintaining a garden, be it a flower or a vegetable garden is always a work in progress. What to do, what to do, I suppose I could plant some annuals to get splashes of color throughout the season, I’ll think on it.

Summer blooms are sprouting

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blooms, postaday2016, summer

Early summer blooms are making their appearance in my backyard, my principal rose bush, which I think is close to twenty years old now, has started to bloom. My crop of chives have bloomed, what I love about them is that I can cut the chives back and they will resprout immediately so I have access to fresh chive for the entire summer and chives go with practically everything, if there is only one herb to be planted, I would plant the chive, it never disappoints.

I am so excited about my rhododendron, two years ago I planted four very young rhododendron and finally I have a blossom! I had forgotten by this time what color the rhododendron were, so now I know, I bought purple rhododendron, it only took two years to find out, lol.

A geranium blooms in Astoria

Tags

blooms, holidays, postaday2015

   
 
I arrived at my mother’s early this afternoon and I promise you, I have never taken pictures of pansies or geraniums in bloom outside on any December 15th of any year that I can remember.

I am not complaining, they are beautiful, it is simply bizarre to see the week before Christmas, it doesn’t put me in any less of a holiday mood, if my health issues don’t, then an unseasonal bloom most assuredly will not, I think geraniums and pansies go great with pine, holly and twinkly lights.

   
 

A beautiful bloom to lift my spirits

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blooms, postaday2015

  
My spirits aren’t low, but I’m a little frustrated because I am in a holding pattern, waiting for a treatment plan, and my imagination is whirling around. I am focused on the idea that I will only need surgery, but the odds of that aren’t too high, according to my oncologist it is only 10% of early stage cancer patients that get by with only surgery. The other 90% of early detection cases still have to follow the chemotherapy and radiation protocol before surgery, a little daunting to contemplate.

I was thinking about my hair, if my hair falls out, it will grow back more white than brown, lol. I have had short hair a few times over the years, so it doesn’t frighten me, I’m more nervous about eyebrows and eyelashes, that would be tough.

I like to pride myself on my lack of vanity, but I am vain when the it really comes down to it. 

Now I have Carly Simon’s song “You’re so Vain” stuck in my head, lol.

  
 

My mother’s summer garden

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blooms, bulbs, postaday2015

  
The bloom I love is the one I bought and planted for my mother last year before she had her garden re-landscaped and it survived all of the turmoil. Witness its beauty, can you blame me for rooting for it  and its defiance?

   
    
 My mother deserves to be proud of her front yard, it looks healthy, luxuriant in its growth and still full of color; I’m fairly sure some shade of color has been maintained since the early days of spring; funny enough the springtime colors came from the remnants of the old garden, those bulbs did not want to go! lol

 

Brand new blooms

Tags

blooms, peonies, postaday2015, roses

      

Today is another beautiful day in the neighborhood. I was speaking with Alice our Blandford Post Master and we both agreed that the best thing about living in Blandford is the continuous summer breeze that we are blessed with everyday. I don’t remember the proper name of these peonies, but I love their intricate inner structure, the bees love them, I bet the butterflies do as well.

   
     

The salvia has come into bloom and my dark pink roses have just come back, the bush was much larger last year, this winter took them down all the way to the base; actually all of my smaller roses had to be trimmed all the way to the base. Despite losing all of their height, their leaves are all very healthy which is nice to see, I have yet to see any destructive insect activity, but we are still early in the growing season.

A gardener’s job is never done.

And so mud season commences

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blooms, mud season, postaday2015

      

When I had left for New York Tuesday morning, the front had still been completely covered in snow and in the course of three days, almost all of it has melted. Now the ground is very, very squishy where I walk with the dogs and in some parts, a great deal of it is water logged, beyond the descriptive squishy, the dogs don’t even walk on it, not wanting to get their paws completely submerged in cold dirty water. They are both of a somewhat dainty nature which is adorable, the way they pick their paws high up in the air when they encounter something wet, cold, or slimy, it is too precious.

I can’t remember the last time that we had so much snow melt, so I don’t really know how long our mud season will last this time. I don’t foresee us getting very warm anytime soon, so the mud that we have probably won’t dry up quickly. On the upside, I think that all of this deeply sourced moisture will be a tremendous boon to my garden and I can’t wait for green shoots to poke their little heads up, no matter what they are, I am waiting impatiently for my little  surprises.

My mother has her daffodils and tulips poking their heads up, it will only be a matter of a few weeks or so before they bloom. I am looking forward to my return trip to her house because New York in spring is truly magnificent.

I took a picture of my bougainvillea bloom because that bloom has been holding strong since the last time that I had posted its picture. I have no idea how it is still alive and fresh, it should have faded and fallen off the branch weeks ago, but it is stubbornly clinging to life and vitality, I am in awe at its staying power.

Tiny reminders of hope and light

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blooms, flowers, postaday2015

Another day of bone chilling temperatures; thank goodness for my flowering plants sending me kisses of vibrant color and reminding me that this too shall end and Spring is not too far away.

My plants make me so happy!

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blooms, plants, postaday2015, winter doldrums

I was walking past my bougainvillea, which if you casually looked at it, most of its leaves are gone except for a green leaf here and there, but out of the corner of my eye, low down at the bottom branch was an adorable tiny bloom. I immediately cried out, my husband said “what, what” as I was running for my iPhone to capture it and write about it. I showed him the tiny blossom and he laughed saying “go write about it.”

I tell you, it doesn’t take much to make me happy and excited, a hibiscus bloom, my blooming impatiens and this tiny adorable bougainvillea bloom and even though it is a very cold 20 degrees outside, I am surrounded by signs of life in traditionally tender annuals. This most definitely helps stave the winter doldrums; my plants are so good to me. 🙂