Buds and Branson

Some things are only budding right now:

rose

delphinium

poppy

And as exciting as buds are, the blooms are even more exciting!

iris

dianthus
(1st yr of bloom; grown from seed last year)

peony
(also 1st yr of bloom; grown from bulb last year)

pansy

perennial geranium

Panorama of my flower garden a few days ago, after I planted the annuals for the year, when the big irises were still in bloom but the peonies weren't yet:


Here are some Branson wildflowers from a hike this week. Branson's growing season is a couple weeks ahead of Iowa:


And not so wild flowers at Silver Dollar City:

Food Update

strawberries

blueberries

big rhubarb leaves

fava bean blossoms

lettuce

chard, cabbage, kale, broccoli

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and a happy tree

Container Gardening and Hail

First, some pretty container gardens. They don't look like much when you start out with small plants, but hopefully they will fill out and look spectacular!





Second, some hail. Mike wanted to document the size. Thankfully, the tornado siren tipped us off, so we were able to move all the containers against the house to protect them. I think our plants all made it through. Thankfully the tornado didn't come near our house!


And of course, you can also see the hail cam!

Happy May Vacation!

Well, it has been a busy month! Not sure what I've been doing, but the weather's gotten to the low 90s, then cooler again with a final frost this last Monday, May 16, and some clouds that now seem all too content covering up the sunshine. But, both Mike and I are on vacation this week, so we've finally got some time to get some stuff done around here!!

Here are some pictures that are now one or a few weeks out of date. The tulips have bloomed and gone, but they sure looked pretty while they lasted!



I also tried fiddling with the settings on my camera and figured out how to take a panoramic shot. I call this one backyard extravaganza because I think it's so cool to get the whole thing into one shot-- hopefully things look a little more lush and green in a month or so!

(click for a better view)

And some other fun flowers:



We did go out on one other morel hunt but found nothing. Well, I shouldn't say nothing. Mike was understandably excited to find this:


A patch of wild leeks, his favorite wild edible. He enjoys these little guys so much that he is considering naming his organic farm after them someday. Until this find, though, he believed they didn't even exist west of the Mississippi. What a great discovery! And in case you don't know Mike well, I'm pretty sure that's his "I just won a billion dollars in the lottery" face; he doesn't tend to show a ton of excitability outwardly!

A little word of sadness on the seed starting front. A bunch of Mike's plants, including the peppers, seem to have a virus, and he's planning to probably toss the plants and buy all new ones, which means much less cool varieties. I'm still hopeful they could make it, but he's not. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, check out our seed starting success:

zinnias and lobelia

peppers
these were planted before the last light frost,
but did fine
and avoided the virus!

transplanting