garden — Page 203

Let’s Take A Walk

May 14, 2014 at 8:36 am by Claudia

Let’s take a little walk around the property and see what’s growing and blooming in this late-to-get-going Spring.

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The wild honeysuckle that grows all over this property is blooming, much to the delight of the bee population.

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The climbing hydrangea that I planted about 6 years ago is taking over the shed. It’s supposed to start blooming after 4 or 5 years but nary a bloom has been sighted.

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Until now. I couldn’t believe my eyes. In fact, I had just finished a sentence that included the words, “I guess this will never bloom,” when I saw these. Only two, but who cares? A small victory.

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The lilacs have bloomed. I walk over to that side of the driveway several times a day and inhale. What a glorious scent.

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Our woods open up to this big field, which is owned by my fellow blogger Breida and her husband. I walk through our woods daily and always take a moment to stand and gaze out at this vista.

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To the left is the back of our neighbor’s property. He’s been busy stacking enough wood to last him through the apocalypse. Check out his beautiful lilac bush.

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This tree is on the edge of my other neighbor’s property, which also abuts Breida’s field. Isn’t it pretty?

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The flowering quince is still blooming.

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My delicate yellow tulips are open. These were planted long before we moved here, as were the daffodils and a couple of the hostas and sedum.

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The big garden bed on April 30th.

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On May 7th.

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And on May 13th. As you can see, the trees have really filled in, there’s green everywhere, and the perennials are much bigger.

I planted lots of morning glory seeds the other day, as well as zinnias. I haven’t filled my barrels or my galvanized planter with flowers yet – my budget is very, very tight – and I haven’t bought any hanging plants for the porch. Those things will have to wait a bit. Waaah! I want them now!

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When my friend Heidi’s shop (which was called Hi Ho Home Market) closed, she gave me one of her signs, which we have placed in front of the birdbath – right where we park our car. Sort of perfect for the funky patio area, don’t you think? We love signs and if they can be used with a sense of humor, all the better.

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I made some towels for the dollhouse bathroom by using baby washcloths, a tip I picked up somewhere on the Internet. I think they look neat but they’re too bulky at the moment. I’m going to trim them down a bit.

Today I have to mail off all the items I made for the swap. I spent most of yesterday morning wrapping each item and figuring out how to pack everything so that nothing is damaged. Can’t wait to see what everyone else has created!

Happy Wednesday.

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Birds & Squirrels & Bunnies & Chipmunks

May 10, 2014 at 8:49 am by Claudia

satprettyweed

This would technically be called a weed. But I call it a pretty flower. The yellow blooms are a welcome splash of color in the back forty.

Rain, rain, and more rain – that’s the weather report here in our neck of the woods. The trees have baby leaves, the plants in the gardens have shown their appreciation for all that rain by spreading, and growing taller and wider. Lush green is everywhere; in the grass, in the gardens, and on the trees. I love the spring green of the grass at this time of year.

satroseleaves

Hello, roses! Welcome back.

At one point in the day yesterday, there was a bunny rabbit near the birdbath cleaning himself, the chipmunk was a few feet away looking for food and a catbird was in the birdbath. All in about 4 square feet of space. I’ve seen robins and catbirds taking a dip in the birdbath and this morning I saw a squirrel taking a drink! That’s a first.

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This is the bunny rabbit I was talking about. He’s hanging out by our car in this photo. No, that’s not a snake. It’s a bean pod from the Catalpa tree. I’ve seen this same bunny hanging out in and around the silver maple tree that is right outside our kitchen window. In fact, I mentioned it to Don several times, wondering why he was always nestling himself down among the dry leaves that surround that tree. I noticed this over the course of about 3 days.

satbunnynearnest

There he is. I took this from inside the kitchen. You can see how close he is to the house. We clean up this area in the spring and I usually rake as many of the dead leaves up as I can, but there are still lots of them on the ground. That turns out to be a good thing because while we were making dinner last night, we watched this little one scurrying around. It took a while before we realized the rabbit was gathering material for a nest. The bunny would pull up some stuff from the ground, leap up this little hill, and then jump in the little hole. Its head would disappear inside the hole while the nest material was added and then it was back to gathering more material. The second arrow points to the nesting area.

We were mesmerized. And enchanted. Most of the bunnies on this property make their nests in the woods. This one, however, has decided to make a nest right outside our kitchen window!

I immediately thought about how careful I would have to be when mowing or weed wacking.

It’s actually a good place to make a nest because the leaves provide camouflage. The bunny rabbit blends right in.

Smart bunny rabbit.

Sometimes, when birds are in the birdbath and bunnies and chipmunks are running around, I feel like I’m in a Disney movie. All I need is some animation. But real life is much better than animation, don’t you think?

Happy Saturday.

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Putting It Out There

May 7, 2014 at 8:33 am by Claudia

Wgazingball

Here’s looking at you. The world looks pretty amazing when it’s reflected in a gazing ball.

Spring is here. Although we had a minor glitch when we had a Frost Advisory last night.

It’s May 7th.

I had to run out and cover a plant I had just put in the ground a few days before. After the Red Sox game ended (12 innings!), there were Don and I, flashlight in hand, throwing a sheet on the plant. Well, not actually throwing a sheet; we artfully arranged it so it covered the plant, but didn’t touch it.

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Big garden bed last week.

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Big garden bed this week: perennials are spreading, growing taller, and you can spy some green on those trees.

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Up in the back forty, some are actually leafing out. Will wonders never cease?

Wtulips

The tulips are just about to open. My goodness. It’s May. (Do I need to keep saying that?) Apparently, yes. I am still wrestling with the fact that Spring has come so much later this year.

My peonies are emerging from the ground. They bloom, like clockwork, during the first week of June. Will that still hold true this year? I’m wondering.

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The woods are full of vinca; swaths of purple flowers are everywhere.

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The buzz of big, fat bumblebees accompanies me on my walks around the property.

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Waiting for Spring here in Northeast isn’t for sissies. It requires a lot of fortitude and more than a little patience. This year, more than ever, I look for the tiniest signs. It’s getting a little easier to find them lately, but for quite a while there, I had to look very closely indeed.

I almost had to use a magnifying glass.

In other news, I cringe slightly when I share this with you, but here’s the scoop. I added another ad above the content area on the blog. I don’t like the look of it, but it’s necessary right now. I spent a long time on the phone with Dawn yesterday, trying to figure out how to change some CSS coding so that the ad wasn’t right on top of the post title. We finally figured it out, but it’s messed a bit with my post title spacing. Nothing I can’t ignore.

The truth: I need more income from this blog and I don’t kid myself; that will be easier said than done, as this blog isn’t one thing, i.e., a decorating blog or a food blog, it’s a lot of things. It’s a reflection of all my loves, all my passions. I’m perfectly happy with that, indeed, I deliberately fashioned the blog in that way, but the downside is that my kind of blog earns less ad income. So I continually walk a little tightrope here, balancing the need to be honest and real with trying to find more ways to generate an income. I haven’t had coaching work in several months. Jobs of any kind in my neck of the woods aren’t particularly easy to find. We need more money coming in. STAT.

Wouldn’t it be perfect if this blog I put so much work and love into, this place where I write a new post each and every day, could provide me with an income that matches what I might earn working elsewhere? I’m putting it out there into the Universe.

Why not?

(Please don’t think I’m asking you to click on ads. You don’t have to do that and I don’t want you to. Only click on an ad you are honestly interested in. If you visit the blog directly, that is enough. Thanks.)

Happy Wednesday.

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Let’s Take A Walk

Birds & Squirrels & Bunnies & Chipmunks

Putting It Out There

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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