More ramblings about flowers
I have flowers in my garden! I don't know why that always surprises me, especially since I actually put some of them there myself, but it does. It's not that I have a black thumb, necessarily, but my gardening habits are probably more haphazard than they should be given my sometime-obsession with flowers. Mark would say he is the gardener - and has the blue ribbons to prove it - but I always take some credit for selection and placement and picture-taking at least.
Anyway, I guess the real surprise is in how many of the flowers just show up. I was thrilled last year to find a lilac blooming - however sparsely - and am even more surprised this year to find another one - on the side of the house that we really never see! One is purple, the other is white, although the pictures don't distinguish that very well. I thought things would do better this year with some fertilizing and weeding last year and this spring, but the very late snow we had just a few weeks ago really nipped things in the bud. Still, some survived. The flowers are attracting bees, which is a very good thing, since bees are having a hard time surviving just now. So far nothing is attracting slugs, but that can only be a matter of time and rainfall.
Last weekend we attended a seminar on growing vegetables in the Northwest. It is generally cold and wet here and they tend not to do well without some extra care, we discovered. We ordered some raised bed planters and bought a well-started tomato plant and some carrot seeds etc. There was considerable negotiating involved since I don't actually LIKE many vegetables and would just as soon use the space and funds for flowers, but Mark needs his 'farmer satisfaction' too - so we are getting started. The sunflower seedlings that we also planted will go in there too.We're well on our way!
(Do you see the bee in the rhodie flower?)
posted by Cathy @ 10:33 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hi Cathy,
Your photgraphy fills my soul with happiness. Love the shot of the rhodie with the bee. Check out my friends blog at creativesoulbydebmc.blogspot.com. She's a dear friend of mine, a writing buddy, gardener, and professional photographer and she posts gorgeous photo's of her garden in far northwest Fort Worth. I think you'd enjoy her blog.
I was in Seattle last May and loved the flowers. I'm ready to come back to your beautiful area.
It's summer here -- up in the mid to upper 90's all week. Lilacs and wysteria are long gone as are all the spring flowers - now we've got the heartier heat resistant flowers all in bloom -- geraniums, zenias, marigold, sunflowers, desert hibiscus and oleander, and tons of wildflowers. Lady Bird Johnson did much for the preservation of wildflowers in Texas, and all along the roads flowers are in bloom -- prairie type flowers -- Indian Paintbrush, Indian Blanket, Brown-eyed Susans, sunflowers, daisies, buttercups,etc.
Soon the Crepe Myrtle will bloom and we'll have vivid magenta flowers all over the place.
One of my husbands cousins raises bees in the Spokane area, and she tells us of the problem withthe bees -- goodness, it would be devastating to lose the bees.
Well, I guess I'll scoot off the computer and get on with my day. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.
I haven't forgotten about the chicken recipe -- just don't have it up here with my computer -- but I'll try to get to that this weekend.
Beth
Cathy - will you please email me your address or put it on the family site? Thanks!
Your flowers are beautiful! I wish my pictures would come out as nice as yours. Either the camera or the operator are a bit off!
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