By Ivan - Welcome Kitty

Good FRIDAY morning everybody. Not much going on here thus the lack of posts. We are having some gorgeous fall weather. We had some cooler weather move in last week and we are in the seasonable range of the low 80's and low 60's at night. It just makes me feel good when the seasons change.

I know that I introduced ya'll to Ivan the dog two weeks ago. Well Ivan didn't make it in my home. He was a very good dog but I was too worried about him visiting the neighbors too much. Plus he wouldn't stay out of my gardens. I work too hard on the gardens to let a dog tramp through it all the time.

The Kitty may or may not work out. I'll have to see with the neighbor. But still she'll be confused too... I just don't know. But she sure is cute and cute with Buddy.

Well I'm trying this sweet little one out here. She is about 3 months old. The kitten belongs to my neighbor but she has taken a liking to Buddy. She got to the point that she would come up to him, even though Buddy is barking and just want to love on him. Well I took a liking to Kitty. If she likes Buddy then I like her too.

The kittens were so bony and underfed. I hate this about my neighbor and I am gonna have to say something soon. Neighbor has 4 cats and 3 dogs and none are fed well and I know none have ever had shots.

I'm trying her out in the house and have already checked with the vet if I decide to keep her and get her shots. After feeding her for a week while she went back and forth next door she is fattening up nicely. A plump little thing now. Buddy and Kitty are here nose to nose. I love it. I let her stay indoors last night. By the way the neighbor doesn't miss her so I knew it would be OK.

She is beautiful and has some nice markings on her. She answers to Kitty so I will call her Kitty.

Found a few blooms this morning.

I told ya'll I don't do pansy's well. There is only one live plant out of 6 here.

 

Wish all the pansy's would have lived - oh well.

Help me out here. This thing is big and it is heavy. It is made of clay and came from Mexico 30 or so years ago. I have no place for it inside and it doesn't go with anything I have. I had an idea of placing it in a garden but I'm afraid that the clay would disintegrate. Any ideas? Maybe I should just take it to Goodwill. What do you think? What would you do with it?

I thought I'd taken a more recent photo of the dead Rose of Sharon I transplanted 3 weeks ago. It didn't make it. Sad face.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I bet there are lots of fall festivals or sorts going on this time of year.



Cottage Flora Thursday - Fertilizer Friday

Hope all of you buddies out there in blogland are having a good day.

I'll be joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday and Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer. Ya'll go check out these blogs and see their pretties and check out the other partiers.

You can find them here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/05/cottage-flora-thursdays-20.html

http://www.tootsietime.com/

I have a few things to share today.

I was dancing the happy dance this morning when I found this Rose of Sharon blooming. I've been watching these buds form but I really didn't expect this. The plant is still a baby and is only about 15" tall but let me tell ya this plant is loaded with buds. Last year when I planted this tiny thing it was only about 3" tall. I didn't hold out much hope but boy was I wrong.

And also this morning I found this one spreading its wings. I'm so glad to see that it opened up more than the last little thing that bloomed. I would love to start a garden with just bulbs and have a lot of iris in it. That is a dream right now though.

Love that the shasta are really yielding me lovely blooms. They last a long time and the plants are loaded with buds and every day I see more buds forming. I'm pleased with the Shasta Daisy but I didn't realize how big these plants would be.

The pentas are awesome after shooting them with MG Bloom Burst.

I need to know why my Sarah Bernhardt peony still has no buds. This is the third year for it. I feel like ripping it right out of the garden. But I won't. Maybe it isn't happy where it is. It receives more than 8 hours of sun. The soil is good. I enhance the soil every year with fresh MG Garden Soil and I fertilize regularly. Any ideas?

Last weekend I worked my hiney off weeding this big garden. As you can see I have a lot of vacant spaces. The plants that occupied this space last year are no shows this year. I have given them ample time and now I'm needing to fill this space in. This garden is part shade. The front side gets more sun than the back. I live in Zone 8. Do yo have any ideas on what would look good in the back? It was a beautiful space with the dahlias and milkweed and okra hibuscus and a few others last year. I suppose these probably weren't the right plants for this space either since I didn't realize the amount of sun this part of the garden receives.

Inside I'm a furniture mover. I'm thinking I need to do the same thing in the gardens sometimes. I don't usually move plants around but I'm thinking maybe I need to move things around. Do ya'll do that? I'm afraid I will lose plants.

I'm wishing for rain. Rain come... I'm watering the gardens regularly now. Our grounds are so dry. Way too dry for one of the rainest cities in the US. I'll take thunderstorms - anything.

Prayers for the flood victims. And for the economy. Fuel prices.....trickle down effect... everything cost more.

Have a good weekend whatever you find yourself doing.

Some Blooms to Share

I'm happy that I found a few new plants to feature today. I was about to get bored with the same old blooms. Not that they aren't pretty by any means but it sure is nice to see new things.

I shared this one yesterday but I think it deserves a repeat. I'm proud of the Jean Marie Dahlia.

The bougainvilla is revisiting with some new blooms. I've never seen one as it was going into a bloom stage. It appears as if it is taking on new leaves and growth and then this. The blooms start out looking like leaves and are turning pink as they age. Neat.

Glad to see the milkweed blooming now. I've noticed some activity but not as much as it should be. But I expect it'll pick up soon.

I can't get enough of the geranium. I think the name is strawberry sherbet. Ya'll correct me if I'm wrong.

I have two shades of the butterfly weed. This one is more on the pink/fushia side. They are very hard to photograph.

While this one is more purple. It is blurry - sorry. The flowers in the background look nice this way though.

The marigolds are looking nice now. I gave everything a fresh shot of Miracle Gro Bloom Burst this weekend. I think bloom burst works pretty quick - perhaps within 36-48 hours. I noticed a big difference. You can see the nemesia behind the marigold taking on new blooms as well.

This is my first year to have the Shasta Daisy. They sure do get bigger than I thought. But they are so pretty. The plants are full of buds.

Today I'll be joining the following parties:

http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-bloomin-tuesday_16.html

http://www.sidewalkshoes.com/2011/05/garden-tuesdayblueberries.html

http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2011/05/tuesday-garden-party-still-waiting-for.html

Ya'll head on over and check out these parties and see the other blooms gardeners are sharing today.

Hope you have a great day.



Cottage Flora Thursdays

I'm joining the party at Tracie's Cottage Flora Thursdays at Fishtail Cottage. http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/04/cottage-flora-thursdays-16.html

Just a few things today.

These are nice pom pom like marigolds.

After trimming back the blooms on most of the plants a couple of weeks ago and giving them a shot of Miracle Gro Bloom Burst they are taking on a lot of new buds. This snapdragon is getting so big I may have to transfer some of it to a new location. Thats for another time though.

Nemesia is doing well with a shot of fertilizer. The purple nemesia is rather puny. Not bushy like the salmon colored.

 

I have a ton of work to get done today. I'm taking the day off tomorrow so I won't be around a computer for a few days.

I am working on a project tomorrow. I'll share that next week.

Hope you all have a wonderful time with your families this weekend.

Happy Easter

Happy Friday Ya'll

I'm hooking up with Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday. Here ya go http://www.tootsietime.com/2011/04/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers.html - head on over and check out the others flaunting a bloom today.

Guess what if you set your camera properly you get photos that aren't blurry. Amazing.

I am falling in love with this new snapdragon. It is so different than any snapdragon I've grown before. It is a very slow grower. This flower has been opening up now for almost a week. It is tall - 15" and only has the one bloom. Most snapdragons spread but not this one. Snapdragon Giant Tetra from Hometown Seeds.

The fourth bloom on the Full Tide Iris.





Hope you all have a great weekend.