In My Gardens This Week

Today I am linking up with Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays and with Tootsie at Tootsie Time. You can go to their links here http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/03/cottage-flora-thursdays-12.html

and http://www.tootsietime.com/.

Things are popping here on the Gulf Coast as spring has arrived. The bridal wreath (spirea) is still putting on a show. I love their delicate blooms.

This is my twice a year blooming azalea. Soon they will be open all over the area.

Daffodils are slow to bloom and only giving a bloom at a time. Don't know why they aren't busting out like last year. But I'm loving the double bloom on this one. As you can see it is small.

 Nemesia.

Snaps are in their prime right now but they will be blooming all summer long and into the fall. They love it here.

Dianthus are putting on blooms but they are leggy. I didn't do the fertilizer yet so it is my fault. I'm lazy sometime - what can I say. But the Miracle Gro is on my counter in the kitchen.

Azaleas are so hard to photograph.

Purchased a few new additions to the gardens this past weekend. Loving this fire red here. So hard to photograph.

I fotgot the names of some of the plants I bought since I stupidly removed the ID tags. Shame on me.

This is a new dianthus. It will be different than the other I have. I'm looking forward to what these will look like.

This a very different verbena. Loving the soft colors. 

My Sarah Bernhardt peony is coming back and looking good. I'm so hoping for a bloom this year. I planted this two years ago and it hasn't bloomed yet. 

These shasta plants stayed green all winter long. I planted these last year from seeds I had done early in the year. They didn't bloom last year so I'm hoping for some blooms. If it doesn't do this year I'm pulling them out. 

My one and only hosta. Didn't do much last year so this year should be better. I would so love to have a hosta garden. Maybe soon.

Bought another Butterfly Bush. I'm looking forward to lots of butterflies this year and these awesome blooms.



I've got a lot to do today so I'm gonna keep this short.

Hoping you all have a wonderful day and a great weekend.

March 2011 GBBD

I am participating in May Dreams Garden Blogger Bloom Day. Ya'll go over and check out the other blooms from around the world. http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/

I am loving the nemesia more every day. They haven't stopped putting on a show since I put them in the ground. I like the salmon color on this one.

The snapdragon is flowering now. There are tons of buds. I have been anxiously awainting the first blossoms. Click it and check it out. My photo came out so clear and you can see the hairs on the flower.

The bridal wreath is always a treat. The branches get heavy with all these flowers on them. They are just getting started too. Do you see all those buds on the bottom right of the photo?

This is all I have for poppies this year. I guess I messed up by not collecting the seeds last year because there are not any coming up where they were last year. This little patch of poppies are what were left of the seeds in the fall. I thought that they would come back bigger and better than last year. Fooled me.

Our weather is warming up here on the Alabama Gulf Coast. We had a nice rain last night and all the plants were happy this morning. I have lots of seed put out two weeks ago. There are barely some seedlings coming up. I'll just see what's gonna happen with them. Unless I get too impatient and head out to the garden centers for my flower obsession.

Hope you all have a great day.

Today I am thankful for closeness in a family.

PS My little brother is very ill and needs your prayers. We are not sure what all he is dealing with right now. He does have cirosis of the liver but there seems to be some other complications like maybe cerebral palsy is striking back from his childhood.  He lives in Atlanta so it isn't so easy to go to him. Please pray for him. I am worried.

Happy Friday and the Winner Is...

I hope you don't mind but I chose two winners today. Actually they were drawn from a batch of numbers.

And the winners are Catherine at A Gardener in Progress http://agardenerinprogress.blogspot.com/ and Pattie at Our Hollyhock Farm  http://myblog-bratti.blogspot.com/ . Ya'll go check them out. Catherine has been a long time follower and grows the prettiest flowers. Right now she is re-doing her front yard and I can't wait to see how pretty it will be. Catherine also has a beautiful Koi pond and her lilies are stunning. Pattie has a relatively new blog. She loves her flowers and home decorating and has some beautiful animals too. Pattie also into yard sales and junking. Loads of fun and ideas. Ladies my email is on my sidebar and I need you to email me your address and if you prefer decaf or the real kicking stuff.

I just couldn't get a clear photo this morning. Guess my hands are shaky this morning. Just wanted to throw in a flower or two. I'm loving the blue on this hyancinth. This is the first bloom on the new blue ones I just bought. Beautiful next to the purple nemesia.

And next to the pink hyancinth.

I splurged on myself yesterday. I spent three hours at the beauty salon and had my second professional hair color. I've colored my hair since I was 14 and always did it myself. I'm thinking it may not be my last.

BEFORE....

AFTER. (I hate my photos. I think I don't really look like that. I'm much better looking than that.) Here my face is pink from the waxing too. I hate that painful part. I was tearing so bad I lost all my makeup.

Too bad you can't see the sign. It says $3.45 per gallon. Last night it was $3.35 and I decided to wait to get fuel. Darnit I don't know what I'm gonna do when it cost me more to go and buy at the grocery stores and everywhere else I have to go. I heard this morning on the news how the cost of groceries have had the greatest increase in many years. The economists are saying that we should expect fuel to be $5 a gallon soon. How will we make it - I guess by letting some other things go.

I hope you are having a good day and have a wonderful weekend wherever you are.

Today I am thankful for the rain that is coming to water my seeds.

Some Blooms

 Saturday was an awesome gorgeous day on the Gulf Coast. This is my favorite time of year when new things are happening. To me it is a refreshing time of year. I love getting outdoors and piddling in the gardens when the weather is so nice. Wish I could take my desk out there today.

This is Dees Pecan Company where I have purchased coffee for some lucky person and some other goodies to be thrown in.

Saturday.

This is a good before of what I accomplished this weekend. I worked my hiney off enlarging this garden. You see it didn't start out that way. I intended only to clean it out and put down a few new plants for color. I was shoveling around the outer edges to edge it out and ta-da....

I added another 20 inches to the bed. Doesn't sound like much but the garden is pretty big by my standards anyway.

I've been needing a place for the lantern and I think it fits here nicely for now anyway. Soon there will lots of plants here. But I could not wait on seeds so whats a gardener to do but go buy some plants...

And this is what I bought.

These are such a pretty color. The camera doesn't do it justice. It is a soft lavender and they are full of buds. This is Osteospermum. I'll not remember that name.

I bought 2 shades of the Nemesia. The coral is pretty. And they are full of buds.

And the purple Nemesia.

Zonal Geraniums.

I'm gonna hold out hope that I have some juicy peaches this year. The tree is not as full of blooms as in years past. I'm telling you this past years summer drought hit hard on the fruit. That's why I didn't have any pecans.



Hope you all have a lovely day.

Today I am thankful for friendly blogging buddies.