The little prarie garden

A few weeks ago my husband mowed the lawn. It's been so hot since that it is now drying to a crisp.  At the time I told him that I would mow inside the little

picket fence. But then I noticed the daisies were about  to open, and I do love daisies so I let it go. 

I told him that I was going for the the 'prarie garden' look. Do you think he believed me? lol

As I was typing this entry the skies

 opened up and we are having

a wonderful, much needed rain!

~ Thanks be to God. ~

Our deer friend stopped by today!

 I thought maybe

she'd take a ride on the swing

but - no, she was too busy eating!

and this is why

the garden has a fence around it

 it's bad enough they try to sneak

the lily blossoms

and they sometimes succeed!

Grab Your Sunglasses

A daylily extravaganza

is going on at our place! 

 My geraniums have some 'filling out'

to do yet but I just had to share

what a great deal I found

earlier this spring!

TWO 16" cocoa fiber baskets with frames

for ninety nine cents each!

Springing Forward

In the early 1900'

Lady Mary Wortley Montague

developed a language of flowers

in which significant sentimental

meanings and thoughts

were assigned to many flowers.

May's traditional flower is the

lily of the valley

and its sentimental meaning is:

return of happiness.

photos found online

verse found in 

 'inspirations from the good earth'

Tip Toeing Barefoot

I've been doing a LOT of daydreaming lately. I've planted and replanted my garden at least a dozen times. I've hung flowing curtains on my arbor, dug in the dirt, rearranged rock gardens, plucked flowers from my gardens and tip-toed barefoot across the dew kissed grass ... but only in my mind. I've toasted marshmellows over an open fire, drank iced tea, clipped fresh herbs and walked in the warm rain ... but only in my mind.  Until then I will just share some scrap pages of my beautiful blooms from last summer!

See why I'm having such a hard time being patient!

Dang snow!!!

Glad I Grew Glads

I'm so 'glad' I grew some 'GLADS'

This Weeks Super Finds

This has been  an exciting week as far as snagging some SUPER FINDS! I have been searching for LARGE terra cotta pots for the past few years. My patience has certainly paid off. I just knew that someday, somewhere I would come across some that I would be willing to pay the price for ~ and that day was yesterday! We had a little time to kill before my hubby's Dr. appt so we stopped in at a thrift store and found these treasures there ~

The "small" pot is 18 inches across and the "big" pot is 22 inches across.

You can tell by the recycle bin (another steal at $1.50) and cooler setting behind them that they are not your ordinary little terra cotta planters. Now here's the deal ~ the small one cost $9.99 and the big fella was only $14.99.  I've searched them online and these exact same planters cost as much as $75.00 to $250.00!!!! These are some heavy duty planters we're talking about.  And if that wasn't enough to give my big strong man a good workout - we stopped at an antique store and he found himself something he's been hoping to find for some time - an antique cast iron bell.  It needs a little sand blasting but it's a big fella too at 18" across and it comes with the original clapper (very important you know) and with the ringing arm! A true find.

Then this morning we had a little shopping to do at the local hardware store and they happened to have some things on sale in their greenhouse. Lucky me ~ we got this wonderful huge fuschia plant for only 20 bucks.

There is a 12" pot hidden in there somewhere and it's just loaded with buds!  But the absolute best part of this week was finding out that my dear husband Thom continues to be cancer free! 

Snow Crusted Rhubarb

O, wind,

 if winter comes,

 can spring

 be far behind?

~

Percy Bysshe Shelley

O, ruby rhubarb

how I prefer you

encrusted in pie

with streusel topping!

~

CherShots

God's Lemon Drop

Roses remind me of blessings in disguise!
~ God's little treat ~

like reaching into a candy jar and finding a sweet little lemon drop

scrapped by CherShots in 2009

Give me Colors

As much as I love the change of seasons, after several months of snow covered ground, I begin to long for color.  White is beautiful for a while, but give me some green.  Give me pinks, reds, yellows, oranges, etc. etc. Give me colors!! I'm really not complaining, after all, it's my choice to live here,  it's just that I appreciate color. 

As a huge dark snow cloud hoovers overhead, I find great comfort in peeking at sites like "Todays Flowers."
Looking at all the beautiful flowers inspired me to pull out my digital photos and once again take a little trip down memory lane. These African Daisies were stunning in real life.  I snapped this photo in 2003 at the University of Alaska Botanical Garden in Fairbanks.  We lived in that wonderful state at that time and really enjoyed our visits to the gardens. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Plant Rescue

A couple of years ago as I was browsing through a local greenhouse, I came across a pot setting off in the corner, It was the saddest plant I've ever seen. Their heads were bowed and nearly dead and yet I thought there was something peculiar about it. Upon inspection I noticed there were two different colors hanging there - pink and purple peeking through the tips of what was supposed to be a beautiful fuschia plant. I asked if it was suffering from some sort of disease and the lady said "no, it just wasn't flourishing and so we gave up on it." Being it was still on a marketable table, of course I had to know "how much?"  She told me that if I took it, I'd be rescuing it from the trash. So - I rescued it. 

With a little fresh potting soil, water and love that plant had a major comeback. It was beautiful!  I couldn't stand the thought of bringing it back to health and then tossing it out at the end of the season so I clipped it back and set it in my basement, just out of direct light. I dropped a little water on it about once a month, but never really thinking it would survive. But to my surprise it started showing signs of green come spring. I  must have done something right because it was just as beautiful the second year.  So once again when fall rolled around it got  a trim job and I tried it agian.  Third season wasn't quite as prolific but it was still pretty and it put a smile on my face everytime I looked at it.

If you ever have the opportunity to save a plant ~ do it. Not only is it good for the plant, it's good for the soul.

Recalling Summer Beauties

As the cooler winds blow in and the temperatures drop I find some serenity in reviewing the pictures I've taken throughout the summer months of my flowers.  I just linked my site with "Todays Flowers" so I thought it appropriate to share some of my beauties.

This is my first year of growing hibiscus. Hopefully they will survive our Northern winters as well as the saleslady said. They are the "hardy" type so wish me luck.                                                              

I'm well aware that cabbage is not a flower, at least not this particular one; BUT it's still as pretty as can be with the sun shining through it's leaf. Don't you agree?