Good bye 2011 a year in review

2011 was an interesting year.  A lot was  grown and a lot was harvested.  Take a walk with me through Irish Gardens and see what the year was like here.

Colorful foliage was found and pictures were taken in January

 February brought Daffodils into the house

 as well as coke water bottle greenhouses were introduced.

 March brought in sweet n neat tomato's inside the house and.........

......and signs of life outside as the Daffodils began to grow.

 Hosta's began to show off their strips in April....

....and new gardens were created as the others began to be planted for the season.........

......the Greenhouse got a new look and then was planted.

 The front porch got some fresh new color in May after the Rhodadendrun was transplanted by the front porch.....

....flowers were found on the polk-a-dot plant from back in January

 June brings flowering grape buds......

 .....another new garden bed.....

.....and the gardens showing lots of new growth and begun to burst at the seams.

 July shows up with heat and a whole lot of growth in the new beds so a new look was needed.....

.....a few back aches and sore thumbs later it looks a lot nicer...

 ....a new wild herb was found growing like crazy in the back yard.....

.....and the Strawberry Spinach plant began to ripen

 After hurricane Irene in August, large Cucumbers were found growing in the garden.....

.....Eggplant was harvested in multiple sizes.

September came in with new baby spider plants beginning their new life......

....and the chives found them selves blooming beautifully.

October brings in changing leaves and cooler weather....of course this October brought a foot of snow too.

 Novembers abnormally warm weather brings new growth to the mint in the Greenhouse

Although still no snow in December the Holiday Cactus inside is right on time.


Hope you had a nice tour through the gardens.

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.