Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 2012

Spring has sprung again here in the Hudson Valley.  With this crazy winter we had it's almost like a second spring as we had so many warm days and tree's budding out then frost.  Oh well.

Welcome one and all to another edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - Carol over at May Dreams Gardens came up with this years ago and has been hosting it ever since.  So sit back and get ready to walk around Irish Gardens and see what blooming today:

 We start our tour in the back yard...on the side of the house first.  Where a single lonely tulip braved the big bad world and bloomed.

 Hidden in the grass there are many different flowers that can be found.  Like this one....pretty purple hidden in blades of grass.

 A weed like no other everyone knows this guy.  But have you ever really stopped and taken a good look at a Dandelion?  It's a flower and beautiful in it's own right.

 The Perry-winkle is having a blast in my shade garden....that's not really in the shade right now.

 Another weed yes but look how delicate that is.  Small and pretty and perfect food for someone.

 After the side of the yard comes the heart of Irish Gardens....this is where all my nursery plants as well as my herbs and veggies grow.....wait not just veggies but this guy too.  Believe it or not this is one of my Strawberry plants already trying to produce fruits.

Another Strawberry plant but this is one is White Strawberry.  Yup that's right this little guy has yellow green fruits and ripens white.

 Yet another one of my Strawberry plants....plain old Alpine......but a bloom and so pretty nestled safely in the leaves.

 Every kid on the block knows what this guy is.....a wild strawberry.  I know I know another strawberry flower?  But look at it....it's different and actually quite pretty when it's just about to open like this.

 Next door to that wild strawberry we find more flowers growing in the grass....such a beautiful flowery day.

 For the last bloom of the back yard is the Forsythia bush.  Vibrant yellow in early spring it's easy to see next to all the leafless tree's and evergreens.

 So on to the tour we head to the front yard....another weed that I would say just about every mother has had in a cup of water at one time or anther.  These guys get tall and there for more appealing to kids when picking flowers for Mom.

 My Magnolia is getting ready to bloom.  I got lucky and mine didn't bloom with the rest of them and then get frozen.....not sure how that happened but I am happy I may get to see the blooms.

 One of my pride and joys is my Pink Dogwood.  She's just waking up and starting to show off her lovely colors.

 A very sad looking and very lonely mini Daffodil was found the other day.  There used to be other but as it was in the yard I dug them up and moved them...the others are just fine but some how this guy got left behind.

 Look at what I found on my Barberry bush.....a sweat looking butterfly.  Poor guy is missing parts of his wings but seems to be doing ok.

Look how close I got. I got to see what he was doing.....taking a drink on my bush

 Want to see what he was drinking from?  Well here you go.  I took a close look when he was done and took this picture....didn't even really know that bush flowered let alone attracts butterflies.

 Continuing on the tour we come back to some lovely Daffodil's.  These two are just so pretty and very different.

 I just love the color contrast.

And for the last stop is my Cherry tree....finally beginning to show off it's white flowers.

It looks like it is shaping up to be a great spring...lets hope that Mother Nature doesn't get in the way.

So as that is the end of my tour head over to May Dreams Gardens and see what others have posted about.  It's sure to be a pretty show.

Apple seeds and kids

I am sure you have eaten an apple and wondered if you planted the seeds would it grow an apple tree right?  Well my 5 year old son also wondered this.

 Around the 1st of the year (may have been late December) Aiden guy wanted to save his seeds.  So he took it upon himself to place his treasures into a wet paper towel where I placed it in a bag and hung it on the cabinet.  A few days ago we noticed that two of them sprouted.  So into a container they went.

 The next day seed number 1 looked like this....

 and seed number 2 like this

 Today after just 3 days in the dirt you can begin to see tree number 1 growing it's true leaves.

And Tree number 2 although much smaller also shows signs of true leaves emerging.

Aiden is extremely happy with himself and his 9 year old sister Shannon is unhappy...she has been trying to grow and orange tree from seed and thus far no luck.

KinderGARDENS (week 8)

This week here at IrishGardens was a week for exploring for the kiddos.

 Shannon stopped to smell the herbs....mint her favorite one to smell.

 She did a little weeding around her Zinnia's

 Finding Cherry's on the ground Shannon explained to Aiden where they came from and tried to point them out on the tree.

 They both felt very small next to the Yucca plant...I feel small next to the Yucca plant.

And my redhead saw a butterfly and got her digital camera out and took pictures.  They may not be the clearest of pictures but they are there.

So thats what we did this week in the gardens.  The Inadvertent Farmer hosts this cool meme every Thursday.  I am a day late but others were on time so stop on over and see what others are doing in the gardens with their kids.

Thriving Thursday - Tree's

Welcome one and all to another issue of Thriving Thursday.  The weekly meme where we get to show off what is thriving in our gardens.  This weeks topic for my garden is Tree's.  As I have some growing inside started from seed I want to show off the progress they are making.  But that doesn't mean you have to post about trees....

So as I posted a while back about the Tree's my Mom gave me I wanted to post about them as they are growing quite well.

 Looking very healthy with a new branch on it.

Remember that little seedling in the picture before...the Mimosa I was starting from seed?  Well here she is....looking wonderful.

Remember those Rose of Sharon Tree's I started from seed?  Well take a look at them now

They still have their seedling leaves but they are getting taller every day.

These guys too.  Looking good and getting strong.

So what in your garden is Thriving this Thursday?  Got any trees your growing and want to show off?  Write a post and add your link below.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Look what Mommy gave me

This year I have been very aware of everything going on with Mother Nature around me.  I see the tree's and flowers are they get ready to bloom.  Apparently my new found awareness has rubbed off on my Mom.  Ok so that's not really true as she is that type of person and is aware of whats going on, but she has said that she is more aware this year.  Be it me or my sister and her blog and garden in CA or just that she has more time to fulfill her joy of gardening.

Anyways she was playing around in her garden and found a baby seedling

Just look at him.  A baby Rose of Sharon. Well actually she gave me this guy a few months ago.  But still important.

This is my true happy seedling.  A Mimosa tree.  She has one growing in the front yard garden and I have always loved the tree and it's delicate flowers.  This little guy even still has it's seedling leaves still at the base so I know it's only a few months old.  I've got him in a little pot as you can see and above him is one I started from seed 1 week ago.  Both are in a watering tray with all my Rose of Sharon seedlings.

Mom's are awesome.  Mom's that know gardening are even better.

The way I measure

We all have out ways of measuring the height of our plants.  Be it a stick placed next to it.  A ruler.  Or like me, family members

Last year it was Buddy dog.  Sitting still allowing me to show off the height of my corn.  Realizing of course that not everyone knows Buddy but that many do understand the height of a Chocolate lab that at the time was 4 years old.

Earlier this spring I decided to use my son instead as I can have him stand next to what I wish to measure and stand a certain way.  Much easier to control a picture with a walking and talking 4 year old boy than a 4 year old dog.

I took this picture today.  Hard to believe that this picture was taken 1 month and 2 days after the one above.  Guess we know what grows faster around this house.  Clearly I am not feeding my son the right stuff.  Wait if he grew this fast I wouldn't have money for my garden as it would go for his clothes.

End of Month View - May 2011

AAAHHHH May I am sad to see you go.  Irish Gardens did not see the typical May flowers following typical April showers.  Actually it was May flowers to bring May flowers, and maybe June flowers.

Some how much of April escaped me so I never did the End of Month View.  Because I want to show how things have changed this year I may add April's views in....
In March the Greenhouse was given a facelift.  In April -

 The Greenhouse is loving it's facelift and beginning to show signs of life.

But a Month later the Greenhouse is quite green.

The new flower garden didn't change a whole lot.

 But others were also created or given new life

 I call this my rose garden as it has 3 rose bushes and they were the inspiration for adding additional beauty.

 Rightly called the Driveway Garden.  Getting fuller looking by the day.

 Many plants growing inside during the cool beginnings of spring were able to finally be given some true sunlight on the Kitchen porch.

The front porch is now home to a few flowering plants in an attempt to hide the recycle bin.

Thats my Garden at the end of this Month.  Stop on over to the Patient Gardener and see what other gardens look like at the end of May.