A Visitor in the Garden

Hello everybody! I came home this past Tuesday to find a surprise waiting for me in the garden. I usually make a loop around the garden if it’s not terribly hot to see what going on in it. I noticed a small movement out of the corner of my eye and as I turned to see what it was I was VERY surprised to find this guy.

He’s about half grown and didn’t seem to mind me taking pictures of him at all. I was able to get within about five feet of him, but I didn’t dare to get any closer. I live in the middle of a large, heavily populated subdivision in the business district of my town. I also have a chain link fence all the way around the garden so I have no idea how this little rabbit found his way to my garden. I don’t know how long he plans to stay but I put out a bowl of water for him and scattered a few baby carrots. From all appearances though, he must be gone already.

In other news we finally got some much needed rain and the grass is beginning to turn a nice green shade again. Unfortunately, I had another little episode with my back late Tuesday night and now I’m hesitant to get out there and cut the grass. I spent two days in bed and it seems to be well on its way to healing. It put a damper on my weekend plans, but I’m hoping to be back in the pink and pushing the lawn mower by the middle of the week. I had started a new exercise program twice a day and I’m afraid it may have been too much too soon. BTW I had just gone to my back surgeon that day and he released me because I was absolutely pain free. Ain’t that a kick in the pants? This not the same area where I had the surgery, it’s the disk below it. In the future I will know not to push myself so hard. Lesson learned… Hope you all have a good day, I see an afternoon nap in mine. I’m exhausted from dreaming all night long, but since it was about loved ones I’m not going to complain too much. I’m always amazed at how real dreams can feel, sometimes I wonder if we don’t actually meet spiritually in some other place rather than dream..

The Iris Parade

Well, the Irises are continuing to bloom in the garden and they’re looking really beautiful. Some of my favorites were lost last year, but I’m sure I'll replace them with ones that I like just as much. Plus it’s good to put something new and interesting in the garden. Several new friends have been by to see the blooms and they think the garden is so pretty right now. LOL I think to myself, wait for another month or two, it’s just starting to wake up.

The roses are also starting to bloom as well. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t get really excited about them this year for some reason. I’m kind of like, oh… I see the roses are blooming. I think I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had time to slow down and enjoy things. It’s not showing any signs of stopping anytime soon either. I’m traveling away from home on the weekends now and spending less time in the garden. Things are looking really nice though. It’s reaching a point where it really cares for its self now. I just do a little weeding here and there. The weeds in the grass are the big issue right now.

I took the photos below on my trip this past weekend. Look at this magnificent oak. I walked around quietly underneath it and I could hear the whispers of hundreds of years. The sounds of family picnics, the young man that professed his love for his bride to be when he gave her a ring, a mother yelling at her son to get down before he breaks his leg or arm and maybe even broken promises… Can you imagine what this tree has witnessed in its lifetime?

I hope you all have a wonderful week. God Bless~ Randy

Where have Jamie and Randy Been?

Wow! What a summer… Where have Randy and Jamie been? Trying to get our lives back together and I am happy to report everything is going great. Sometimes things just have to take priority over blogging and that’s what has been happening the past few weeks, well, the past year actually. We are so thankful to faithful readers that continue to visit us and comment on the scattered post, despite our truancy from blogland. We were just trying to do too much at one time in our lives and it all came crashing down on and around us.

Jamie, has been taking time to recuperate from several years of working full time, going to school full time, a full time hobby of body building and managing the demands of every day life. He’s also writing a book. And me, well, I’ve been exploring other little projects and interesting things to do. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make jelly and jams and that’s just what I’ve been doing. I been hunting down fresh fruits to make homemade gifts and so far I’ve been very successful. Jamie and our friends have been enjoying delicious pear, muscadine and pomegranate jelly. I also made some fantastic peach jam from the local peaches. I love all the beautiful colors that jams and jellies produce. Too bad you can’t put them in the window and let the sun shine through them.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but our garden just looks horrible. The heat and lack of rain has just sent everything into early hibernation. The past two months our garden has looked like we were in the last week of October or the first of November. The plants are hanging on and producing blooms, but bless there hearts they all look so tired and ready for rest. Jamie and I haven’t done any work in the garden for weeks now. With the lack of rain there aren’t even any weeds to pull. We’ll most likely get out there this weekend and do a little tidying up. I don’t even remember when the last time was that we cut grass. It’s been dry, dry, dry…

On a positive note, neither Jamie nor I can remember seeing so much wildlife and flying visitors in the garden. Despite its neglected and haggard look, it has been absolutely filled with hundreds and hundreds of butterflies, dragonflies, birds and insects of all shapes and incredible colors. It has been unbelievable; Jamie and I have been in utter amazement and wonder. Tiny jewels of color have filled the air like never before and our back yard has been a source of enchantment for both of us.

Around the Garden 05/17/10

Jamie and I were out working in the garden a little this weekend. I was trying to catch up on a little cleaning and Jamie was busy planting some annuals. He got some beautiful African Marigolds, a few of his Petunias and three ‘Firewitch’ Dianthus planted. I had gone over to inspect the Louisiana iris because we are getting ready to do some serious thinning out and I found this beautiful guy.

Look at those beautiful pearl colored eyes and the pretty blue spot above his jaws. Those gold wings shimmer just like little jewels.

In another area of the garden two of the clematis have managed to escape the wrath of the weedeater. This one is called ‘Galore’. The blooms were much bigger last year. I’ve been afraid to throw out any fertilizer this season for fear Maxx will eat it. He eats everything. He has a special fondness for garden spiders and pieces of bath towels right now.

We have a couple of late blooming azaleas in our garden. This first one is ‘Gumpo White’. It’s a very compact plant and we purchased them for that very reason.

Here it is again coupled with some yellow ‘Anblo’ Yarrow blooms that have fallen over on the top.

Another late bloomer is ‘Cascade Pink’ it stays very low to the ground and can spread to about six feet in perfect conditions.

This plant is 3 feet wide and only about 11 inches tall. It’s almost like a ground cover.

‘Pink Cascade’

Almost Wordless Wednesday

The butterflies finally found us this weekend and they've been everywhere. I don't ever remember having so many swallowtails in the garden at one time before.

A Visit With ROY

The much needed rain finally came. For the past three days we’ve managed to get some substantial rain fall and I’m sure the garden appreciated it. Yesterday, I decided to walk around and take some pictures of the thankful flowers. After I had downloaded them to the computer I realized that with the exception of one photo, everything that is blooming right now is Red, Orange or Yellow. I don’t usually like to repeat photos of the same plant, but with some of these I just couldn’t decide which ones I liked best. Today the words don’t seem to be coming as I type, so why don’t we enjoy the flowers and save the conversation for another day.

'Red Cascade'

'Chicago Apache'

'Stephanie'

'Rocket City'

'Firefly'

'George Davison'

In other news, yesterday the skipper butterflies and a humming bird finally showed up in the garden. I hope they stick around for a little while.

Spring Is Everywhere

Everywhere you look now you see signs of spring! A lot of our climbers are putting on shows for us right now and most of them are doing it for the first time. This ‘Tangerine Beauty’ cross vine was one of our rescues last year from the half dead discount section in one of the local big box stores. It put out a pretty good bit of growth last year, but this is the first time it’s bloomed for us.

This is one of two white Lady Banks that I know of, I would like to have all of them but we are running out of room. There is also a pink one that I haven’t been able to find around here. This is ‘Alba Plena’ and she is a vigorous, but welcome grower in our garden. Her blooms are a little smaller that quarters and I think they are just adorable. This rose has very few thorns and doesn’t appear to be bothered by any of the nasty rose diseases.

The Akebia or Chocolate Vine is blooming for the first time as well. I’m told if you have two or more of these vines they can produce a delicious fruit that taste similar to melons. I’ve noticed a faint scent from the blooms but nothing that reminds me of chocolate. I’ve also read the some years they can be much more fragrant than others and no one seems to know why.

This is Lady Banks Victorian Rose ‘Lutea’ and I love it! I don’t know why I didn’t plant this closer to the house so I could enjoy it more. It’s been a favorite of mine since I first saw it growing years ago in a friend’s garden. It has no thorns that I’ve noticed and doesn’t seem to grow as fast as the ‘Alba Plena’.

This is the Potato Vine Solanum Jasminoides. We planted this vine two years ago at the suggestion of our friend Carol and I’m so glad we did. This little vine is quite the work horse when it comes to blooming; it starts in the spring and continues until frost. It seems to be a slow growing vine, so I’m going to make sure it has plenty of nutrients to give it a boost this year.

This is Jezebel, some of you may have seen her nest in an earlier post when she was building it. We chose to name her Jezebel because she seems to be very popular with the boys. She’s been behaving more like a lady since she’s laid her four eggs. Since we are in the garden all the time she has become accustomed to our presence and isn’t as shy as she use to be. She’ll still fuss at you if you get too close.

Louisiana Iris ‘Owen’s Yellow’ is sporting its first bloom for us. This is another rescue from the dollar trailer at our favorite nursery.

Last year I waited for ‘Point In Time’ to open its bloom and just as you could start to see some color the flower spike fell victim to the water hose. One wrong snatch and it snapped right off.

‘Trouper Orange’ is blooming for the first time this year. I was hoping that the blooms would be less red and more orange, but it’s still a pretty bloom, just not what I was expecting.

Everyone has been complimenting us on the way we chose to nestle this ‘Chocolate Chip’ Ajuga up in the rocks. The truth is we forgot it was planted there and I buried the rocks in that spot. It just decided to grow up around them. LOL

Jamie and I decided to go green this year. Even though our garden is full, most everything dies to the ground during the winter. We decided to work on improving the bones with evergreens this year and this Tea Olive is the first addition. We will slowly be replacing some of the tropical plants with plants that can provide interest all year.

Last but not least we finally found a base we liked for the Armillary. But, we are facing a problem with the garden décor right now. I was just discussing this with Phillip from Dirt Therapy yesterday via email. Jamie and I both love garden statuary and we’ve established a pretty good collection so far. Here in lies the problem, when everything grows in, the pieces will become wonderful accents, but right now as Jamie puts it “It looks like a cement truck threw up in the backyard.” Past experience has taught me that when you find a good deal on something you like you need to get it then, otherwise you come back a week later when you’ve changed your mind and it’s no longer available. What to do, what to do? I guess we will just have to stop for now and let things grow in a little and exactly how much is too much anyway?