Playing in Dirt

I spent much of the weekend out in our yard! Saturday was spent purchasing plants to replace the overgrown ugly "ground cover" that had taken over the area in front of the house.

Those overgrown monstrosities were pulled out Sunday with the help of a wonderful neighbor (Thank you again, Jay!). The planting that day was short lived as we had plans to meet friends for dinner, but I did get a good start. I transplanted a couple meadow sage that had been near the stuff we got rid of and also planted three other plants.

Monday morning I was back to planting by mid-morning & it didn't finish until about 7PM. In all, I planted or transplanted nearly 40 plants. In the area I planted most of these plants there is that cloth that prevents weed growth. UGH -- that stuff is nice, but it is a pain when it comes to planting!

Before

After

I am really happy with the way it turned out! Now I am itching to do more planting!

Photo Contest: SPRING

My entry for Write from Kim's photo contest is posted here: http://prizedpixels.blogspot.com/2009/04/bouquet.html. Voting begins on Saturday and runs through Wednesday, April 22. I will post a link so you can stop by & vote once it is available.

Fun with Macro

A little over a month ago I spent a little time playing with the macro setting on my digital camera. These are the same daisies I used in my studio shoot for photography class. They lasted over two weeks and I got lots of photos using them...

You can see the rest of them here!

Poinsettias

in non-traditional colors make me smile...

Corpse Flower

Shortly after the election, the hype in the area turned from politics and to the butterfly garden at Milwaukee Public Museum. In 2002 a Titan Arum was planted, and it was expected to bloom any day. A Titan Arum is also known as the Corpse Flower for the rotting flesh smell given off when the plant blooms.

Saturday evening brought news of the plant collapsing and most had given up hope that it would bloom. However, it did today & you can see it here live. Thankfully, they don't have it hooked up to smell cam...LOL!! I don't know that the refresh is necessary anymore, but before it bloomed the plant grew at a rate of an inch an hour.

There is another Titan Arum in the butterfly garden that could bloom next year. See we aren't all about beer & the bronze Fonz...ROFL!!

Fabulous Blooms

Daylily


Red (with one white petal) Dahlia

Dashing Dahlias

A couple shots of this year's window box flowers -- Dwarf Dahlias!!



Not to toot my own horn, but they may be the best I have ever taken. I LOVE them! :)

Photographic Evidence

Here is some photographic evidence of our busy weekend.

As you might remember, over the winter our mailbox lost a battle with a snowplow so we purchased a new one. A new mailbox called for a fresh look. We had planned on doing this (minus the mailbox) for the last couple years, but never got around to it.

Before

After #1

After #2

Replacing the coral bells, three euonymus, and a bush that was somehow a mixture of spirea & weigelia are fountain grass surrounded by creeping phlox, coreopsis, coneflower, meadow sage, veronica and some sweet alyssum. The rock has been replaced with mulch.

Thank you again, Olivia, for moving all that rock to the back yard.

Spring Blooms

These were blooming about a week ago (two weeks later than normal), but are done now...

They are the tulips & rhododendrons I have shown before, but this year I took pictures from a different vantage point -- worm's eye view and ultra close. The close up of the tulip is my fav, and I may have it printed on canvas to hang in our house somewhere.

Now Showing

My spring pictures have now been uploaded to flickr. You can see them here!

Spring Blooms

Spring 2007...

Front "porch"!

Close up of planter in plant stand.
I love the colors of this planter & the little white flowers smell SO good!
Anyone know what they are?

Meadow sage in front yard!

Meadow sage & weigela in front yard.

I will be adding more to my flickr photos later. Right now a pretty wild storm is on it's way to our area. I will be logging off for a while. Probably so I can capture some cool storm cloud pictures. Yes, I'll be careful!

Plant for the Cure at Lowe's

This is the first spring we have a Lowe's nearby. I was so excited to be able to pick up this year's Plant for the Cure geranium! It is such a pretty shade of pink!

And it's planted! Woohoo...our growing season is so very near! (If there is the threat of frost, I can move the planter into the garage for protection.)

Thursday Thirteen #11

We have had unseasonably cold weather for the past couple weeks, and it is making me long for spring even more. A warm up is in the forecast starting tomorrow and heading to near 50 by the middle of next week. While it is still MUCH too early to plant here, I am beginning to draw up planting plans for spring. So my Thirteen today is on 13 flowers/plants I will be planting in a couple months (Yes, months! It is risky to plant anything you can't move inside before Memorial day around here.)

Thirteen Flowers I Plan to Plant Somewhere in My Yard

1. White Boltonia

2. Jupiter's Beard

3. Shasta Daisy

4. Siberian Iris

5. Catmint

6. Morning Light Fountain Grass

7. Dwarf Purple Coneflower

8. Cushion Spurge

9. Creeping Baby's Breath

10. Candy Stripe Creeping Phlox

11. Palace Purple Coralbells

12. Allium (Ornamental Onion)

13. Daylily (not sure of the variety yet)

* Links to other Thursday Thirteens * ctina m.o.m. amy melessa (a must read; alternate names for her blog) christine raggedy jessica

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Green Thumb or Just Luck?

I'm thinking luck...LOL!!

I have never had a poinsettia survive this long. I got two of them this year. One barely made it until New Year's Day. The other (pictured below) is still going strong.

Finally & Just In Time

I finally finished painting the outside of the fence and the arbor and just in time. The HOT, HUMID weather will be back for the weekend.

BEFORE
This photo was taken last summer.
Just imagine what another Wisconsin winter did to it!

AFTER
This was taken just an hour ago.
I am so pleased with the way it turned out.
There was just a slight color change.

Other stuff is happening in the yard as well. The hydrangeas are looking glorious!

This was taken tonight and is the same flower I posted a picture of late in June.

The hostas (yuck!) are blooming. Soon (read tomorrow) I will be cutting those flowers off. I hate them. I am planning to remove most of them from our yard. They line the entire sidewalk along the side of the garage. The previous owners didn't use much creativity when it came to planting that area. I have never counted, but there must be about 18 hostas along there ALL in a straight line. Did I say YUCK ? LOL!!

It looks like we will have our first day lily bloom of the season tomorrow morning. I sure hope so. I love the variety we planted. (Note to self: purchase more of those day lilies...lol!!)

The rest of the painting projects I have planned will probably have to wait until the fall. Usually when we hit mid-July the temps aren't great for painting and/or staining. Although, today was beautiful here near the lake. Mid 70's and not much humidity until late this afternoon.

I do have one good thing to say about the humidity. It makes the sunsets even more beautiful.

Off to watch Project Runway and Rock Star: Supernova! :)

Hydrangeas & Raspberries

I love this time of year! Our Nikko Blue Hydrangeas are beginning to open! (Taken June 23, 2006)

And beginning to turn a lovely shade of pink! Yes, PINK! The soil in this part of Wisconsin makes them a lovely shade. I know I can amend the soil so they bloom blue, but I absolutely LOVE the shade of pink we get!! (Taken June 29, 2006)

The first raspberries of the season are ready today.
This is the third summer we will have raspberries and will be the most plentiful year by far!

I will have to be out bright and early every morning to beat the birds to them! I have some all ready to put on top of our Kemp's Frozen Yogurt! YUMMY! (taken June 29, 2006)