Fertilizer Friday

Good Friday Morning. Tootsie is celebrating Fertilizer Friday and I am joining the party. This is the day set aside to remind you to fertilize those babies for some awesome blooms. Ya'll go check out who else is joining the party.

I will be fertilizing today. I don't like to fertilize my plants when we are experiencing dry conditions. We have rain in the forecast for the next 5 days.

I needed to start with a flower and I didn't load things quite like I wanted. This azalea is not done yet.

Seedlings are doing very well. I water everything nearly everyday. Hollyhocks growing like crazy.

Okra Hibuscus is doing very well. Thanks Darla.

I wanted to share how the gardens are filling up now.

I have daffodils, cosmos, hollyhocks, red and yellow cannas, zinnias, milkweed, dahlias, sweet peas, phlox, peony and snapdragon in this bed so far. I will be adding just a couple of others to this bed.

Full view of the same garden.

This is a different garden (didn't load in the right order). Blue forget-me-nots - thanks Darla.

Shasta daisy's doing well.

The bigger picture here. Here I see forget-me-nots, lupines, okra hibuscus, hydrangea, dusty miller, yellow violas, breadseed poppies, blue geranium, iris and a couple more - can't remember them all.

Here there are begonias, dianthus, iris, red melon poppies, shasta daisy, and zinnias.

Trimmed the pansy's back a few days ago and now they are going to show out again. Loaded with buds.

Johnsons Blue Geranium is beginning to bloom. It is loaded with buds now. Blur...yuk

The daffodils are not thru blooming. The flowers that keep on giving.

That's it for the flowers.

I'm sure that most of you have heard the news of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This is setting up to be the worst disaster. This will have far reaching affects to the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida. Alabama is preparing but about all they are doing now is putting out booms to try to deter the oil. They have been using the word 'if' a lot but this is not an IF situation. This is a WHEN will the oil impact us by reaching our beaches. The magnitude of this disaster will effect not only the fishing, shrimping but the sport of fishing. Dauphin Island is the home to several tournaments. It will effect the tourism, all the way down to the little man trying to make a living. Devasting this will be. Alaska is still recovering from the Valdez spill. This is of great to everyone who lives here on the coast of Alabama and the other state that will be effected. Our government is dragging their feet just like they did during the Hurricane Katrina Disaster. BP should have realized the magnitude of the oil that continued to spew from the well right after the disaster instead of waiting 4 days for the spill to be measured at 1000 barrells and 4 days later determined to be 5000 barrells a day. They are talking that it could take 3 months to construct an underground something that will cap the oil that is presently leaking.

The eco system will be devasted. The animals could be covered in oil just like in the photos we saw back in the 80's when the Valdez spilled. The birds of all kinds, dolphins and other fish and the list can go on and on. I just hope that they will be able to think of something that will work before we are damaged for 20 or more years like Alaska.

Thats enough ranting for now. I'm sure there will be more news everyday for a while.

I hope you all get out and play in the dirt a little. Have a nice weekend.

Bloomin' Tuesday

Good morning blogging buddies. Today is Tuesday and it's time for Bloomin' Tuesday over at Jean's. Ya'll go check it out and see who else has something blooming.


I have another new daffodil blooming here. This one has a small flower but they are a double coming off the same stalk.

Another one with slightly different coloring.

This orange and white baby is face up. She is kissing the sun.

And a few things that are coming along in the garden. Zinnias are popping everywhere. Zinnia's have to be the best and easiest to grow of just about any other plant other than begonia's. They are not fussy at all.

Two of my bulbs/rhizomes I planted 4 weeks ago has not come up yet. Phlox and Clematis H.F.Young are running behind. After 4 weeks they may not do anything.

My Sarah Bernhardt Peony has just come up and is taking off now. It took this one about 3 weeks to spring up and look at it now.

Hollyhocks I put down as seeds are doing well. Not many of the seeds I direct sowed are doing anything at all. I have learned that I should always put out little seedlings because I tend to pull what I think are weeds and probably were not weeds at all. Unfortunately yesterday I pulled up some Johnny Jump Ups before I realized what I had done. Oh well - gardens are always a work in progress and learning experience.

Dahlia's are really coming alive. These have been out of the ground only about 10-14 days and look at them now.

Hope you all have a great day and some beautiful weather.

Fertilizer Friday

Hope you all have had a good week. It's that time again when we gather over at Tootsie Time and celebrate Fertilizer Friday. Ya'll come on over and check out the other gardeners flaunting their stuff. Click on the title and you are on your way.



We have been in a drought. No rain since the middle of March and the gardens are a slow go right now. I have been watering nearly everyday now for 2 weeks. We are expecting some thunderstorms and possible severe weather on Saturday. I am thankful for the rain coming and hope it doesn't get too severe. I am hoping to move around some things I have planted and want to put some more seedlings into the beds but that would kill them till I have some moister soil to work with. I have a REAL problem with putting plants too close together. I am seeking a fuller look to my gardens and realize that some plants don't like to be jumbled up but me and my gardens are always a work in progress. They all need a shot of fertilizer after the rain.

Had to share this little beauty that I found yesterday upon arriving home from work. The orange center was speaking to me when I walked up. How nice that the flowers talk to me. I bet you hear them sometime too.



This is the fountain in front of Mr and Mrs Bellingrath home. You can barely see it to the right. There was a lot of growth in the front of the home this time and could not get a good photo. I sure hope they trim some of it back in the coming months. The trees have grown so much since I was last there.

This is my prize azalea. I do not know it's name but I am in love with it. She looks like a rose to me. I don't see this one very often.

I wanted to share a couple more shots of the pretty daffodil. This particular daffodil doesn't hang around too long either. Only a day or two before it wants to hang its head down. I have a couple of daffodils that have maintained the same bloom for 9-13 days. Betsy at Joyful Reflections has identified this one as White Lion. She is so pretty.

I am seeing that this snapdragon is drought tolerant.

I was wondering if you could recommend a good book to identify flowers and a book about birds.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Bloomin' Tuesday - Bellingrath Gardens

Head on over to Jean's and see what else is a bloomin this Tuesday.

I recently heard from the friend I had written about before and we headed on over to Bellingrath Gardens. This was the first time I have been to the Gardens and there was hardly anything blooming. No daffodils and hardly any azaleas. I suppose they peaked a couple of weeks ago. I will be going back and will share more of the gardens and about Mr and Mrs Bellingrath and their home. Time does not permit this morning.

This is going into the Gardens.

This fountain is called Rebecca so naturally I had to have a photo.

This past weekend was to be the Annual Rose Show. Due to the severe weather we had over the winter they said they had to cancel the show. But here are a few that were blooming.

Some hydrangea's were blooming. They were so beautiful and about the size of a basketball.

I have another new daffodil. Check this one out. It looks like the sun is shining on it it is so bright. It truly is this color with the yellow tips on the petals.

Azaleas in front of my house yesterday - this is at their peak. My neighborhood is just now peaking.

Hope you have a great day.

Fertilizer Friday

Good Friday Morning. It's that time again each week when we link up with Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday - a time when we like to share what's blooming and what's not. Have you fertilized your babies yet this year? Finally -I did that yesterday. Ya'll head on over to Tootsie's and check out who else is flaunting their spring flowers.

I have some pretty daffodils still a bloomin. This is the first one like this. Did I tell you that the 55 bulbs I bought in January for $5 contained different kinds of daffodils. I love this one that just opened.

I love how this snapdragon keeps showing itself.

This is what I have in various plantings and germination and seedling stage. Many are on their second plantings. Don't know where I'm gonna put it all. I think I might need to create another small garden - perhaps in the back of the house. Most of these come from fellow bloggers. Enlarge to see what is currently going that you may have sent. Several packs from other bloggers didn't make it the first round and they have been started again and a couple just didn't do at all before using all of the seeds. There are still more that haven't made into the seed start yet.

This is how the new porch garden is filling in now. The big mass you see to the right is Breadseed Poppies and a few more plants. There are Red Melon Poppies down to the other end.

Full Tide Iris is up. Sure hope all of the iris's bloom.

The blueberry bush is loaded. Enlarge and check them out.

Check out the cluster of peaches.

The pear tree is producing good but not like the peaches. Little pears.

WE NEED RAIN BAD. The fruit is going to affected by this drought we are currently experiencing. Seems the weather affects is every year with too much rain or not enough. I'm gonna hose them this weekend. It takes a lot of water to make a difference with fruit trees and then it may not be enough. I've been watering the flower gardens as the seedlings are starting to suffer a little. I have watered well over the past three days before adding a small of amount fertilizer. It has been since mid March since we have had any rain to amount to anything.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you all can get out and enjoy your weekend.