flowers — Page 185

Investigating

April 18, 2017 at 10:06 am by Claudia

The wind has died down, thank goodness. We had about three days of it, which is three days too long for yours truly. Today is coolish and sunny and still. Good.

I moseyed around the property yesterday as I checked on new growth. Everything is taking off. I haven’t yet cleaned out the area around the peonies, but I see the red stems coming out of the ground.

Two of these beauties were dining on some clover in the lawn. They were very small – maybe an inch and a half to two inches wide? I thought they were moths, but my investigation (I use that word loosely) tells me they may be Painted Lady butterflies. They migrate from Mexico to Canada in the spring. I’m going to settle on Painted Lady unless someone has more information?

The maple right outside the kitchen door is leafing out. Huzzah! The big sugar maple always takes a bit longer, but it’s on its way.

Yarrow in the big garden bed. I love those delicate, lacy leaves.

The hyacinths are so beautiful. I found these bulbs – mystery bulbs to me – when I created another garden bed on the side of the house. I didn’t know it they were viable, but I took a chance and planted them here in the big garden bed. I was so delighted when I realized they were hyacinths!

I found another crabapple tree in the middle of an area of brambles which is close to our property line but very near to the kitchen window. There were so many brambles that I didn’t dare try to get close to it, so I ran inside for my new lens.

After almost 12 years here, I still find surprises. It’s a nice sized tree, so I imagine I’ve somehow missed it because it’s in an area that I usually leave to itself. Brambles and I don’t get along, though I have to do some trimming today. Wish me luck.

There’s also a baby tree springing up right outside the kitchen window – that’s what sent me outside yesterday. I saw two little flowers blooming and knew I had to investigate. That little sapling led me to the bigger tree.

If I have misidentified this, let me know. There is another crabapple that I’ve spoken of on the other side of the property, down near the street. I see that it’s budding and here’s my quandary: that crabapple has a pinkish color of unopened flower bud and when the flowers finally open, you can see traces of the pink on the back of the petals. I don’t see that with these flowers. But I’ve searched and searched and the only possibility I can settle on is…crabapple.

Once things start taking off in the gardens and on the property, there’s always something new to investigate! Maybe instead of Nancy Drew, I should invent a character named Nancy Grew…

Happy Tuesday.

Miracles in the Garden

April 16, 2017 at 10:37 am by Claudia

Whatever you are celebrating today, I send you my best wishes for a happy and joyous day.

Here in my neck of the woods, the temperature is going to reach 81 degrees and then, as is the case in the Spring, it will drop back down to a more moderate temperature tomorrow.

My beautiful lilacs are coming along nicely. I took this a couple of days ago, so I’ll have to do an update later today.

This is the season of miracles. Plants that were thought lost are back again. Old reliable friends have spread their beauty into other parts of the garden. We’ve made it through a month in which there were balmy days and then suddenly, snow and frigid temperatures. Still they survive. And thrive. Amazing and truly wondrous.

Back after taking a year off:

These beauties. In a garden filled with green and brown, this splash of vivid purple makes me smile.

Yesterday I took a little ride and then came home and decided to mow the area of the lawn that is on the house side of the driveway. Since we’re on a slope, rain water flows down the slope and portions of the lawn grow very quickly and densely. In April and May, we usually have to stop the lawnmower and clear out clogged grass, then start it again and this can go on and on. Since I’m handling this on my own, I decided to mow early and often. As I opened the shed to get the lawn mower, I noticed the bins holding the air conditioners had fallen forward (they’re fine) onto the snowblower.

Crap. I knew I would have to move them, as I didn’t want any damage to occur to the snowblower. I moved the lawnmower out of the shed and lifted each bin off the pile and down to the floor of the shed. But that left no room for the lawnmower. Since I wasn’t sure how to reconfigure the shed contents on my own, I took two of the bins outside the shed. Then I wheeled the lawnmower down toward the lawn and mowed. That in itself was tiring. When I finished, I looked at those bins and figured I might as well drag them toward the house – which I did – and move them inside.

And then, despite what I knew Don would say, I proceeded to install the kitchen a/c unit. It’s the heaviest and most awkward of the units and it wasn’t easy. Lots of heavy lifting. At one point in the middle of the process, guess who called? Yep. I fessed up immediately, explaining that I had no idea where to put them after I’d had to haul them out of the shed. He wasn’t happy, but he understood.

Then I moved the bedroom unit up the stairs one at a time, by pushing it up onto each step. Once I got it upstairs, I could easily move it into the bedroom. This one is the scariest for me to do on my own because I’m so afraid that I’m going to drop it and it will crash to the ground. In the middle of the whole thing I almost gave up. But I somehow managed it and it’s a done deal.

There’s still the unit for the office to install but that can wait.

I was really, really exhausted at the end of the day. A nice hot bath helped.

So, I’m taking it easy today. Really, really easy.

Enjoy your day, friends.

Happy Sunday.