May flowers

April showers bring May flowers and here it's no different.  I love my flowers and will miss them when we move.  But while I still have them lets take a walk and see them shall we?

 Although not planted or planned dandelions are quite the photographic and quite pretty in their own way.

 Next we start the daffodils....these are the bell of the garden.....the light colored ones are my favorite.

 Next come the Lily of the Valley...so small and delicate they are just starting to open up.

 Ahhh my delicate Lilac's are opening up and smelling wonderful....

 Then along comes the odd ball daffodil.....the dark one....it's amazingly beautiful.

 Another plant that is welcome but not planted are these viola's  I love the pretty yellow ones more than the purple ones that are abundant.

 Also blooming is the forsythia.....many people hate this bush cause of the pollen.  But I like it's pretty yellow flowers.

 Continuing along our journey is our Barberry bush and it's very tiny yellow red flowers.  They are hard to find along all the thorns and red-green leaves.

My pride and joy is the pink dogwood.  Such pretty flowers that come out long before any leaves.  So pretty and delicate looking.

So I hope you enjoyed today's walk through the front yard's show of flowers.  Until next time...have a wonderful weekend.

What snow can do

Do you know what snow can do?
Last weekend we had a crazy early snow storm hit our area.  During this storm I learned a few things about snow.
So here is what I learned about snow.

It can take your breath away.  Sunday morning we woke to over 7 inches of snow and the sun rising to give us this breathtaking view.

It can make the Buddy dog go crazy.  Jumping in the snow like he is a kid.

It can inspire a truce between siblings especially in candle light.  It's amazing what kids will do to entertain themselves when the power is out.

It can force you to take a second look.  Go ahead take a second look it's not very often you will see this many colorful leaves on top of snow.

But snow can do so much more as well.

 It can cover your tree's to the point that you don't even recognize what they are.  Can you see my pink dogwood?

Oh there it is finally standing back up.  But look what else snow did to my tree.  It brought down a branch.

Snow sure can do a lot of things.  Some things we may  not think about some we do.
Did you know that snow can insulate plants?
Did you know that snow can give you a workout?

What do you like about snow?  Do you know anything else that snow can do?

Fall what a strange season

 Usually thought of as the season where the leaves change color and fall, pumpkins are everywhere and the world begins it's transition to dormancy.  Then you look at young flowering dogwood tree's and see what looks a lot like new growth.  Hardly a good time to start developing leaves now but yet there it is.

 The Lilac bush is also showing signs of growth.  In spring this sight was all over the bush and soon turned to branches and leaves.  Now it's showing up as the leaves are falling off.

 Then the typical colors of falling leaves escape this beauty.  White and green are not normal colors at least in fall for me they aren't usually fall colors are red, yellow, orange, and brown.  But this one wanted to be different.  Even against the green grass is stands out.

Then you have these silly snapdragons.  They have been blooming since July and now have new growth with new blooms on them.  Granted I have never grown snapdragons before so this could be normal.

This season is very different this year.  I still have herbs growing well and beans on the vine.  Then there are the flowers.

Fall really can be a strange season.  But beautiful in it's own way.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May

It's the 15th of the Month.  Time to join Carol at May Dreams Gardens and many other Garden Bloggers in the joy of posting pictures of our gardens in bloom.  Although not part of this for very long I look fwd to it each and every month.  Hoping that each post I will get to show something different that is in bloom.  Although there are new blooms this month some are on plants featured last month.  But it doesn't matter. So to start the show we will begin with the houseplants.

 Not a new addition to the blog but the Polka Dot plants are blooming again.  This time a Purple color instead of Pink.

 A Spring Cactus.  Such pretty and different flowers.  These guys close up at night and open again each morning.

Another old timer is the Spider plant flowers.  Only difference this time is this particular flower is on my newer younger Ocean spider plant.

Here is a picture of the whole Ocean spider.  Very different variety from my other spider plant.







With the Houseplants in bloom taken care of it's time to head outside and take a look at what is going on.

 Although still a bud it's worth showing off.  The Peony's are gearing up for their show.

 Another bud worth showing off is from one of my rose bushes....2 of the 3 older ones have buds on them.

 This rose bush is new this year...Tiddly Winks.

 One of my new columbine.  Such pretty delicate flowers.

 The other new Columbine.

 Found growing in the gardens this year was this extreme miniature plant from the Narcissus family known as Jonquilla.

 Another bud begging to be shown is the Iris.  After watching the leaves grow it was a great joy and surprise to find that many are now sporting buds.

 Silly Pansy plant decided that it really liked IrishGardens and came back this year.  Although the foliage is very sparse the flowers are not.

 The other Pansy plant that came back.  There were 4 and although the other 2 show some signs of foliage only 2 have truly come back and bloomed.

 Lily of the Valley.  These were transplanted from my Mothers Garden.  They survived the transplant well and still bloomed.

 The latest in the Hope Blooms Tulips to show off it's color.

 Just cause I love the way they look more of the Tulips.

 A new container I planted Mothers Day.  Containing a Mini Rose bush....with Apricot blooms and a Brazilian Jasmine vine with pink blooms.

 Although hard to see a areal view of my Garden in the front.  I call it the Rose garden as to the left and still part of the garden is my 3 main rose bushes.  but the Columbine, Lily of the Valley, and Tulips and Daffodils are also located in this garden and picture.


Looking down at the gardens show a lot of beauty but now lets take a look up....at the Show stoppers.

 Although not quite high enough to look up at the Magnolia tree is looking good and it's single bloom is a real joy to see.

 Simple yet beautiful one of my Dogwood tree's is in full bloom now.

 Beautiful doesn't begin to describe this Lilac tree....the smell of the blooms alerts visitors to it's presence long before the sight does.

Nestled in the back by the Gas tanks is what I believe to be a Crabapple tree in full bloom.  So incredibly beautiful.  If it wasn't part of the big shaded area in the back yard that seems to house the mosquito's it would be my thinking spot.

So thats my May edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  I hope you like what you saw.  If not oh well I did.

Each Month Carol Hosts this beautiful meme over at May Dreams Gardens and hundreds join in.  So to see more blooming Garden's stop on over and take a hour or so to click through the virtual Gardens.

What a difference!

Spring is the season where everything is waking up from it's long winter's nap.  Every day there seems to be a new bud opening on the flowering trees.  Or maybe it is another bush finally showing signs of life.  Everything wakes at it's own pace.  Spring never seems to look the same from one day to the next.  Here are a few examples in my own yard.

On March 16th this is what one of my Dogwood Tree's looked like close up.

Today April 26th this is what it looks like.  Not a big difference but a noticeable one.

 On February 26th my Oregano in the Greenhouse looked like this.

As of April 24th it looks like this.  Almost a different plant.

 My little Lilac tree looked very dull on March 6th.

Ahhh but not on April 24th.  Lots of life is showing on this small little tree.

 March 12 the Forsythia bush showed very little signs of any kind of growth.

 A month later on April 14th the beginnings of it's signature yellow flowers started to show.

And 6 days later on April 20th the bush is now is full bloom.

 The 22nd of March showed signs of the Garlic Chives growing outside the greenhouse were alive and beginning to grow.

A month later on April 25th, it's almost time to harvest those Chives.

 Inside the house on March 24th a mixed plant pot was looking very good.

But a few short weeks later on April 11th that same mixed pot is beginning to look a little crowded.

April 26th brought big change to that same pot as the palm needed to be removed due to lack of room.

 March 25th showed that this Spider plant in water is growing roots.

Nearly a month later on April 24th that same spider plant has quite a bit more roots.

 Walking outside on April 14th showed the Peony bushes beginning their upward growth.

Almost 2 weeks later on April 26th showed that these guys mean business when it comes to growing.

Inside and out spring is changing the world around us every day.  Some days in far more subtle ways than others but it's there.  The spider plant growing may not look different from one day to the next but when it is growing in just plain old water you can see that not all the growth is above ground.  A few warm days and leave buds on trees begin to open.  One rainy day and you have to mow the grass.

As of next month I will have been truly gardening for 1 year.  In that one year of gardening I have learned a lot.  This spring I am very aware of what is happening around me.  I notice ever tree and flower around me as they change.  The wonders of Mother Nature are all around me.  

Take some time between now and the end of April to take a look back at pictures you took last month and this month of certain plants.  Write about it and post a link below.  Lets see what the difference is in your gardens from one day or month to the next.

I created a meme for this called Changing Gardens.  Not sure how often we will do it but I love looking back at pictures I took of certain things and looking at how they are now.  So maybe 4 times a year or once a season we can step back and take a look at what is Changing in our Gardens.