Almost TGIF

Not too much going on in my gardens this time of year. Actually all of the gardens are looking puny and straggly since I haven't had any rain to speak of lately. Haven't been able this week to get the garden hose out since I'm having some plumbing done this week. Anyway just thought I'd share a couple blooms today.

Canna

Red vervena

Geranium

My Little Buddy

I love stormy clouds. Well I just love clouds but especially stormy ones. Wish I could say I got some rain out of this. It went all around me. Made for a nice photo anyway.



Hope you all have a great weekend.

Bloomin Tuesday and Tuesday Garden Party

I've tried a few times on some blogs to comment and blogger is being very selective today. Anyone else having a problem?

Hooking up today with Jean at Ms Green Thumb Jean
http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/ for Bloomin Tuesday and with An Oregon Cottage for Tuesday Garden Party.  http://www.anoregoncottage.com/

I am finding a little color left in the gardens. They are the same ole plants as I've been sharing for a while now. Darla has stated and I agree that it is challenging to find anything interesting in the gardens this time of year. I am hoping I get the planning down pat so that I might have a more interesting gardens next year.

The pink vervena is definately a stand out and am sorry that I didn't purchase a flat of these. I only bought one pink one. sad face.

The red verbena is also a show stopper. I put down 4 plants of these and am wishing I had more. Any plants that are still blooming are keepers for next year and will add more. The plan is to put down a couple more garden areas. Keeping the fingers crossed I get this accomplished in the fall to better prepare for spring.

I have quite a few patches of the white dianthus and am really loving the dianthus this year. The white glows at night.

Happy to see another bloom on the Endless Summer Hydrangea.

Begonias were the show stoppers last year. But the plants that I have are hanging on and keeping their blooms.

The bougainvillea is still holding onto a few blooms.

Critters in the garden. What is this?

What is this little fellow? His wings never stopped. Reminded me of a hummer.

Look at the roots on just a couple of the weeds I complain so much about. Can't shake it back into the garden since it is loaded with these spider roots. Will be adding more soil to the gardens when I get ready to put out seeds for next year.

I love interesting clouds and I love rain. Thought I'd share what our weather has looked like lately.

And yes it brought some much needed rain.

Hope you all have a great week. I'm thinking of you guys in Texas. That is some HOT weather you are having.

PS check out my recipe blog -

http://beccascookingspot.blogspot.com/

Cottage Flora Thursday

I'm joining Tracie over at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays. http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/05/cottage-flora-thursdays-18.html


I can't believe it's been slightly over a week since I have posted. Sometimes things just happen that way. I've had a few things going on and lots of work to do too here at the office.

I haven't felt good in a few weeks since I am dealing with a bad tooth. Have to go back to the dentist on Monday. Yuck!

I've missed you guys and will be by to visit as I can today. I love blogging and visiting so I hate when I can't check out your gardens regularly. Ya'll mean a lot to me, each and every one of you.

I've never seen the poppies in this stage right as they are opening up. They are so pretty. I need to know how to extract the seeds from the poppies. Help me out here.

I love the hydrangea I recently purchased. This bloom is only an inch from the ground. I had to get way down LOW to get this pic.

This bloom is on the same plant as the one above. I fertilized a few days before I took these pics with Miracle Gro All Purpose. I usually use the all purpose and then a week later I spray them with Bloom Burst. I fertilize about every 3 weeks alternating.

How do plan your stages when you fertilize with what and how often?

The begonias are really taking off now. This one is crowded though. The salvia I planted next to it is a larger plant than I first thought. Would this be a bad time to move some of the plant?  

Mums blooming.

The butterfly weed is looking good. I've noticed more butterfly activity but can't capture those pretty things on camera.

Beautiful dianthus.

Check out the blueberry bush. The entire bush is leaning towards the ground loaded with berries. They are beginning to turn. Soon I'll have some cobbler. Yummmmmmy!

Enlarge and check out the critter. (PS it's a fake) Can you see the berries?

Beautiful snapdragon.

Put on your sun shades to look at this four o'clock. The sun is bright, shining on this yellow beauty. There are many more to come. The plant is loaded now.

More butterfly weed.

I love the blue sky and the wispy clouds this morning.

No rain in the seven day forecast so the sprinkler will be used regularly. I bought me another sprinkler from Ace Hardware and hopefully it will last the entire season.



I'll be visiting my daughter this weekend for Mothers Day. Can't wait to get some kisses and hugs from everybody. I miss them so much.

Since I'm taking tomorrow and Monday off I'll be back to visit on Tuesday.

The state of Alabama is still cleaning up after the tornadoes a week ago. This will be a long road for these people as as there is so much loss. There are 38 counties in Alabama that are disaster areas. The death count in Alabama alone is above 250. Please continue to pray for these people as they pick up the pieces and put their lives back together.

Have a great day and a lovely weekend.

Party Time

I am linking up with Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday and tomorrow with Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday. Ya'll go check out these great blogs to see what others have to share today and tomorrow. It's that time of year when the parties will be getting bigger as most of us have some pretties blooming. I just love this time of year.

http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/2011/04/cottage-flora-thursdays-14.html

http://www.tootsietime.com/

The weather is just gorgeous today. Wish I could take this desk outside to enjoy the warm sunshine or better yet be in my gardens enjoying the sweet smell of the soil.

These pretty skies are expected to last thru the weekend with the exception of a 20% chance of rain tomorrow. Well that means I probably won't get wet or even have too many clouds. We are expecting temps to be in the upper 70's and warming into the mid 80's this weekend. Could be a beach weekend.

On to some of the flowers I have to share today. I love how the snaps look with the pink verbena.

The red verbena is also showing off. This one is a true red too.

I have toyed with tossing the broken down bird feeder in the trash. I have repaired it so many time now that a nail wouldn't hold the feeder onto the bottom. I was on my way to the trash when I thought I just can't do that. So I placed it in a pot with some white dianthus coming out. Around the bird feeder I placed more white dianthus and purple white eye verbena. Hope it fills in good later on. 

Can't believe all of the mums are so loaded with buds.

Orange marigold is in the herb garden.

These are the newest yellow marigolds. I love the petals on this one.

This is the size of my only blueberry bush. It must be at least 10' high. The berries on the top will be for the birds unless I take a stool to the tree. I don't really need that many berries though and the birds really appreciate them.

Kinda hard to see here but there are berries everywhere you look. Hope they will be big and juicy like last year. Remember last year we had a drought for a couple of months so we will see. The peaches are definately affected.

That's it for me today. Hope you all have a beautiful weekend where ever you are or whatever you are doing.

I'm a Sewing and Have Some Blooms

Good Morning. I heard on the weather report today that a lot of people are not having a good day today or for the next couple of days, weatherwise that is. Terrible - record setting snow for you guys up north. I hate it. Here we are socked in with fog this morning and expecting severe weather this afternoon as a cold front pushes in. Today the highs in the upper 60's and tomorrow the upper 40's.

Saturday on the other hand was a beautiful day with temps of around 70 and these pretty blue skies. So you know what I did...

I got out into the gardens and did a little spruce up. The leaves were several inches thick but I left some in to protect seedlings coming up - that is if there is anything other than the weeds. I hesitate to pull some of them up because they could be a flowering plant. I check the grass to see if I see lots of the same thing growing there. Then out they go.

I found my Blue Hyancinth blooming. It sure isn't as pretty as it was last year blooming in my house. But look at it there are 4 babies from this one bulb.

Dianthus is beginning to think it's spring.

Last year I planted these shasta daisy's from a seedling I started indoors. It never bloomed but it has stayed green most of the winter. I'm hoping for some blooms this year or I'll pull them out.

Snapdragons taking on buds.

Dusty Miller is so hardy. Last year they were so big in this garden I think that I'll be moving a couple of them.

Budding on the hydrangea.

Blueberries taking on buds.

Peach tree is taking on buds.

This is what it looks like this morning. Got my umbrella for today.

I got rid of this...

....for this. I fried chicken, cooked potatos for mashed potatos and french cut green beans and Pillsbury French Bread Roll. Hey if you haven't tried this bread - you need to. It is so good and is nice to have something different. I was able to cook on three burners - four if I needed it. I'm so happy with it.

I was excited to finally sew and I completed one kitchen curtain panel. I think I did pretty well. Oh by the way I shared 2 patterns curtain patterns with you and guess what - there is no pattern for making curtains. I winged on these and I think they turned out nice. I was short on fabric so I improvised with the 4" piece on the top to give it more in length. The new machine sews good I've just got to get used to the way it sews with these fancy presser foot and how it pulls the fabric so fast. Anyway I love it. And right now I am needing this distraction from some other personal family stuff going on right now. I could use a few more prayers as some of this is so difficult to handle. My heart is broken.

I hope you have a great day today.

Today I'm thankful that I have a lot to do at work.