Garden guest

We had a surprise guest stop by our garden today. Stayed awhile to take a nap out of the rain.

On our roof.




Here's a close up of him sleeping, after rudely ripping off a piece of our siding.

Sigh.

Here's what's blooming now:

big irises

lily of the valley

enough little flowers to make a mini bouquet

Blunders and Progress

Mike finished his garden fence, and there are stepping stones in place. Peas, asparagus, and strawberries in the ground, but nothing else yet...



Peppers a little sunburnt, and covered by cloches for the frost tonight...



My garden where nothing is blooming right now (these last tulips are done now)... dreaming about how to make it bloom this time of year ...



Pretty little setup along the garage, now with significant improvements that I started working on tonight (coming soon)...



Delightful shady friends that are currently in bloom...



And a great lesson learned: If the bare root peonies are taking FOREVER to come up, and you start to think you'll NEVER see a fluffy scented ball of peony petals in your own garden, consider that you maybe planted the bare root plants upside down....

Tree flowers

The city is soooo beautiful right now. The early Spring bulbs have faded, but the flowering trees are in full bloom. I just want to pluck them all out of the ground and gather them in a gigantic vase. Sorry, my few pictures hardly capture the beauty of driving down a sunny street this time of year!

This last one is the view from our kitchen window- it's a great view this time of year!

Below are the views from either side of our deck. We don't have any flowering trees, but the neighbors' beautify the view from our yard. There are also lilacs in nearby backyards whose scent breezes by. I only wish we had a spot to plant one of our own!


The past few days have been rainy, which is getting in the way of all the planting I have to do. Instead of planting, I baked a strawberry-rhubarb dessert. Gotta use up all the rhubarb- it's the only food we're growing that's already ripe! I also made some candied violets to put on top. They're like sparkly candy flower jewelry. Should have taken a picture. And I'm making some arrangements out of the few flowers that are in bloom.


Unfortunately, nothing in my front garden is blooming now that the bulbs are done. I planted some of my little annuals, but they're not doing anything yet. I'm very afraid it's going to turn into flower vomit, since I didn't make much of a plan before planting. We'll see what happens- it'll probably look nicer once the tulip leaves fade.

Wildflowers and Mushrooms

Last weekend, Mike and I took a walk in the woods to scout out morels. We found some other mushrooms, but no morels yet.

False morel (not edible)

Cup mushroom (edible)


Tree mushroom (?edible)

The woods were absolutely covered with Spring flowers: trout lilies, dutchman's breeches, Spring beauties, and some violets and bloodroot.

Bloodroot (Mike really likes this one)


Spring beauties

Dutchman's breeches


You can kind of see all the flowers covering the ground

And I don't have pictures yet, but the outdoors are BURSTING with flowers right now! The blooming trees all along the street are gorgeous- magnolias, redbuds, and other things. And the lilacs are just beginning. I am in love with Spring!

Oh, and we bought a new car today in which to haul all of our plants and dirt and everything else you need to make a yard beautiful! I think it's a good addition to our armament of gardening tools.

Outdoor Living

What a beautiful day today! We found a blueberry bush on sale at Wal-Mart, and I added another peony and some ranunculus bulbs to my collection. I've been hesitant to try ranunculus, as well as other non-hardy bulbs like gladiolus, because I can't imagine digging them up in the Fall, but I fell in love with ranunculus when I saw them in a flower arranging book.

Really, I've decided you never conquer much in the garden if you don't experiment. I've had people tell me every year that strawberries aren't worth anything unless you plant them in the ground, pinch off all the blossoms the first year, blah blah blah. I planted bare root strawberries in pots today. And we're planning to get some berries from them! Life is just too short not to try.

Check out my latest awesome tulips:



In other gardening news, Mike almost finished the vegetable garden fence today- just some chicken wire left!


The strawberries, ranunculus, and peonies were planted. And I'm wrapped in a snuggie (evenings are still chilly!), drinking tea and blogging at my fancy new outdoor furniture!



I am already sooo getting used to this outdoor-living-in-warm-weather thing. Can't wait to use our new firepit!

Beautiful Blooming Bulbs

I do not know how I made it this long in life without the enjoyment of my very own bulbs in early Spring.

Spring explosion

The best part about being on call the first 80 degree day of the year is the Spring explosion that meets you when you finally come home! The forsythias are blooming, lily of the valley leaves are up, rose bushes are leafing, and new bulbs bloom every day!

I'm too excited about some new tulips and daffodils that are coming up.



Our inside plants are doing TOO well, and are begging for the weather to permit them to move outside.

Mostly dahlias in this pic

Delphiniums, zinnias, coleus, geraniums, phlox, and violas

Our seed-starting set up

Daffodils


Almost time to start hunting for morels...