A Little This n That

Good morning blogger buddies. I found a few things blooming this morning. It is cloudy and it is morning and I was shaking while taking these so I hope I don't hurt your eyes too bad.

I am surprised at some of the things in bloom right now. I don't remember my canna's blooming this time of year. I appreciate it though because the yellow adds a lovely bright spot in the garden.

Osteoporum (sp?) has only a few blooms. I suppose I should douse everything with some fertilizer.

Love these begonias. They bloom freely throughout the season taking a break during the hottest periods.

Ya'll I picked the best out of pics. This one is horrible blurry. The buddlei is blooming well. I forget which one this is.

Red verbena laying on the ground and hardly any leaves.

Mums.

Bougainvilla blooming again.

Pulled this old bed out of the shed this weekend. Originally I had thought I would sand it down and use it in a bedroom. Now I'm thinking I want to put it in a garden. It is extremely heavy and the iron is thick. It's not real fancy but I like it. I'm not sure how it will stand in the garden since it is so heavy. It may need to be anchored somehow. I also like it leaning against the tree. I'm planning to let vines run it. Of course you see there is a footboard and I'm thinking it may not be so hazardous to use it in a garden if I can bury enough of it.

I spent my time in the kitchen this weekend. I baked some apples, brownies and banana bread and cookies. Didn't get a pic of the brownies or apples. Oh well sometimes you just have to dive in before you think of the camera.

Perfect bottoms on my cookies. Just the right amount of crunch. You can get the recipe here http://beccascookingspot.blogspot.com/search/label/cookies

Here I have bagged everything to give away (except the apples - they were all mine).

I love baking and love to share. I got this idea I've had for as long as I can remember - it is to bake/cook for a cafe or bake shop - rather to own my own place. I am getting ready to put myself out there and see where this may go with selling my baked goods. My ideas for an avenue include online site, flea markets, festivals and flyers. Down the road perhaps to have a permanent location. The town I live in does not have a bakery so that is wide open right now. I do not decorate cakes as that is my sisters specialty and she is definately good at it. As I said I've thought of this for a long time and possibly working my way towards that goal. Still thinking though. Sure could use the extra money too.

Hope you all have a great day. It is hump day so counting down to the weekend.

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.



New Blooms

Hope you all are having a great day on this Tuesday. Me I'm working - but I have to get a post up so here I am. I went shopping this weekend and this is what a I bought. Purchasing new flowers always makes me feel good and happy. Mums, pansy's, portulaca, pentas, and snapdragons. I was so happy to get some new color in my gardens this weekend.

The penta were so pretty. I love purchasing plants from Lowe's. They always have good healthy plants. I loved the colors I found too. I have four pentas now and they are all different shades of pinks.

The snapdragons were so pretty. They are so bright at night too.

I pretty much put everything in containers except for a few snaps and the pentas. I am planning on re-doing the gardens (again) and I want to be able to move these plants.

I potted up two containers like this one. I love the shade of the pansy's. I rarely have pansy's in my gardens. I haven't had much luck with them in the past but ya know sometime things change. Maybe they'll live for a while.

Don't ya love the color on these two pentas.

There was orange and pinks in the portulaca and I'm loving the pretty full blooms.

OOPS! Donut alert. I simply could not turn down the lady standing outside the grocery store selling the donuts to raise money for a cause. I went to the store hungry and I know that is a no-no.

I cannot resist a good FRESH Krispy Kreme donut. These were fresh. They melt in your hands on the way to your mouth. Ooohhhh - Girls I ate the entire dozen in 24 hours. I binged. I hardly ever do this but I have to admit I enjoyed every bite. Won't happen again for a LonG time. Have you ever binged on something like this?

And back to the blooms.

My first of two orders came in the mail and I was so happy to see them arrive. I can't wait to see them next year. I will have to purchase some grow lights. I cannot stand to set up in my bedroom again. My bedroom has the only good south window in the house that receives any sun. This time I will set up in the utility room with lights and hope for the best. Many I will direct sow in the spring. I know it's hard to see those dark shiny packets.

There is so much dead undergrowth on the osteoporum (not shown but are next to the marigolds here) and the marigolds. They look horrible. The blooms are looking good but the plant looks horrible. I hate to cut it back so drastically. What do you think? This is showing growth right up from the ground. The straggly branches have plenty of blooms on them.

I follow you guys and I know that you move your plants around. I am a little leery of doing that but I moved this Rose of Sharon and it looks horrible. I hope I didn't kill it. I have another that I want to move but I think I'm gonna wait to see how this one does. I initially planted them in a spot that I was anticipating moving them once I established where I wanted them.

One of the pentas I already had. Pentas have been one of the best plants for me this year.


And tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be turning 56.

PS I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had tried to load another photo in my header and blogger said I had reached my quota of photos. Well this is the first post since then and I am able to load photos onto my blog but not in the header. Doesn't make any sense. Any ideas?

Facebook

I don't know but maybe my Facebook account has been hijacked. I am unable to get into it and can't get into it to deactivate it. I'm at a loss. I posted a complaint to them but you know it will most likely go unanswered. I have set up new email and new facebook accnt. Unfortunately I will not be able to find all the people I had friended under my original site. My new email is posted on my sidebar. If you would like to join me on FB you can find me as: beccasgardenspot williamson . Wish I could have come up with something better but oh well it is what it is.

A New Member Of The Family

Uh oh - I lost my header photo when I went to upload another. Now it says I have exceeded my limit of photos. OK blogger so I have to go figure out what to do next. I don't have time today darnit.

We have a new family member. I'm excited to introduce you to Ivan. He is a six year old springer spaniel. He is so laid back just like Buddy. Buddy was frisky at first wanting to play but Ivan was having no fun at all trying to play. Since Ivan is a bigger dog Buddy still has his place in my chair. Ivan is at my feet - all the time - wherever I am - he is. He is a sweetheart.

But he has got to learn - you don't get off of the porch over the gardens. Not allowed. Jumped right off into my new bed. I've got to put something on the porch to prevent this - it will really piss me off when I have it full of beautiful blooms. Loads of grass dug up here. The big cart which you can barely see is full of grass. Wish I knew someone near by who wanted some since I dig it in clumps easy for laying.

Ivan was pretty ragged out when I brought him home with hair matted bad and long enough to drag the floor. I immediately got the scissors out. I cut hair for almost 3 hours. This is just some of it. Too bad you can't make a wig with dog hair.

I think he is a pretty baby.

And Buddy is still number 1. He is sharing just fine.

I got the pruners out and the rake and the cart and shovel and of course 2 pair of gloves. One pair is heavy duty for the digging and raking. The other purple pair is for gardening and weeding. No weeding this weekend. Finished it up last week. Yea! Here at the back door I cut these bushes down to size. I want to have them removed and put a patio/deck area here but that is for another day/year etc. So I just cut them down. I don't like shrubs around my doors and edges of the house. Makes it too easy for people to hide.

This is the shade garden that I tore up last week. I've raked it out and watered it. Couldn't work in it with such dry dirt.

So this one is finished. It is bigger than it was before and more squared off in front rather than curved. When someone cuts my grass they were always knocking the stones over so maybe with it being squared off that won't happen so easy.

I ran out of deco stones so I resorted to the plates. It's different that's for sure. Can you see Ivan on the porch? I ran him off the other way.

My seed order has been placed with Park and with Thompson-Morgan. I'm so excited. I've never ordered seeds before and can't wait to see what I have blooming next year. The seeds I ordered are all new to me so this will be fun. Zinnia's, columbine, echinacea, delphinium just to name a few.

Well I gotta run - well uh get back to work.

Hope you all have a good day and week. I'll be around to see you soon.

Happy Monday

Good Monday morning blogging buddies. I've been MIA but not really. Nothing going on in my li'l ole world. We are having some awesome weather with temps ranging from the low 60's to the mid and upper 90's. For us down here on the coast it feels like a nice cool down. Actually felt kinda fall-ish last week. I am ready for a change in the seasons. I always feel this way as one season begins to change. Leaves are beginning to fall here.

I started the weekend off on Friday by working a little in the yard and gardens. I ended up spending Sat and Sun working outdoors. The weather was so nice lending itself to cool mornings and warm afternoon. Loved it. I'm getting ready enlarge the shade garden I put in earlier this year. Can I dare say that I showed my butt last week with the shade garden and that is why I am working on it. Someone swept my rooftop off and swept the trash all over this garden. I was so mad that I went out and tore the garden up letting my frustations out. When I was done and looked at what I had done I felt guilty and sad for pulling my plants out. Oh well it's just a garden but I intend to make it bigger and better. Just wondering have you ever done such a thing or pitch a fit over something... sometime I just lose control for a moment.

Did anyone spend anytime watching the many number of specials this weekend honoring the victims of 9-11. I watched a lot of the programs and many featured video's made by everyday people who were living the disaster/event. It's hard to look back and see where we were as a counry then and then flash forward to today. A lot has changed. I personally haven't been affected. Are we safer today than we were on that day in 2001? I wonder. I really don't think we are so much safer from terrorists. I think if they really want to harm us they can. I watched the programs and cried like everyone else as we recalled that sad day for our country.

Hope you are all having a nice Monday.