Since tomorrow is supposed to bring at least two inches of rain, I’m going to shower you with lilac photos. The blossoms may not be there after tomorrow.
I never cut lilacs to bring inside – I tend to be that way about all my garden flowers, wanting to enjoy them in their home in the gardens – but I may reconsider. I bring peonies inside when I know they’re going to be trampled by the rain, so I may do the same thing with some of the lilacs.
I finished planting/sowing my moonflower seeds yesterday. I brought the porch plants inside because of the frost advisory. Hopefully – fingers crossed – this will be the last time I have to do that. I’m more than ready to plant my porch pots and the barrels by the funky patio.
Another pass at the front lawn is on the docket for today – a day or two earlier than I would prefer, but it will get totally out of control if I leave it until after Friday and Saturday’s rain.
I’m happy with the new look of the porch – now the weather has to cooperate so I can enjoy it out there!
Happy Thursday.
Your porch remodeling looks so bright and cheerful. Such a friendly and happy space to enjoy being outside.
We’ve struggled with the rain to say the least. We so needed it to help with drought conditions. The wheat farmers are much happier, and my son in law says it looks like this year’s crop will be good.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend in spite of the rain! Best to you, Becky
Thank you so much, Becky! We’ve had so much rain lately that I could happily take a pass on this next deluge!
I am deeply envious of your lilacs! I have 2 huge old lilac bushes, but had only a couple of small blooms this year. We had a long warm spell in Feb/Mar, and the bushes set their buds; but then we had a couple days of below freezing weather and the frost killed them. This Spring has been crazy.
We’re also getting rain. So far since yesterday we’ve had 2-4 inches, which is on top of the 8 or so inches we got over the weekend. Lots of flooding. My town is 90% on high ground so even though we’re right on the Missouri River there will be little flooding in town. But a lot of the routes out of town are under water, and there’s so much flooding of the surrounding areas. (I’m about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis, MO.) So as much as I enjoy rain, it can stop any time now…
The same thing happened here weather-wise, but the lilacs hung on. Maybe because we’re a colder climate? Who knows?
Not looking forward to the deluge, Amy!
Yeah…I’d cut some lilacs…just in case. They are beautiful….I can only imagine their scent…..must be heavenly. Enjoy! ;)
Their scent is incredible. I get a waft of it when I’m mowing or walking down to the mailbox.
Your lilacs are gorgeous. I always have to enjoy them from afar as I am unfortunately allergic. It is cool and rainy here for the next three days so I am going to catch up on indoor chores. xo Laura
So sorry you’re allergic, Laura! I’m going to use my indoor time tomorrow to read and do some projects! xo
I would definitely bring some of those lilacs in to enjoy inside. The scent will be heavenly! Mine have yet to bloom, and we did get a frost last night. I left out all my pansies, they can take a mild frost…..meanwhile, something is eating all the flowers off my pansies, I think it might be either the chipmunks or the squirrels, little punks!
One of my bunnies that I love to see on the property ate the hyacinth flowers! Darn him/her! And some day lily leaves. They’re cute, but they can definitely get into trouble!
Your lilacs are so beautiful! Glad you have been enjoying your porch furnishings. What a nice place to be.
It’s been too cold and windy to enjoy them so far. And rain for the next two days. So…hopefully at the beginning of next week, I can actually sit out there!
I had a huge lilac tree at one home where I lived, and I still miss it. I used to keep track of when it blossomed, it would usually be right at the end of May. (Our trees are only beginning to bud here, we are close to Lake Superior.) it will be a few weeks yet before I can get my flowers. I live in an apartment in a triplex, but I have a small garden at my side door, have to have a garden!
So lovely that you have a garden! That makes all the difference in the world, doesn’t it? Thanks, Melanie!
That does it! I’m talking my husband into lilac bushes to replace the evergreens he just pulled from a corner of our backyard that were slowly dying these last 2 years. I love lilacs but, like you, prefer them outside. Their scent is just too overwhelming. Your lovely pictures helped calm me after coming from a 2-hour department mtg in which-time and again-what’s going on in the White House was discussed as it affects our work (fundraising for a university’s professional school). Each summer I spend a good deal of time sitting and reading/knitting/contemplating life in our backyard which is just one big flower garden after my husband dug up all the grass. This year, more than ever, I will need it as a refuge.
I’m so devastated about health care reform passing in the House. Sick at heart, especially at Republicans who voted for it celebrating (blatantly) the loss of coverage for millions.
I honest to goodness closed my eyes and thought I could smell those lovely lilacs :-) Thank you!!! Sorry to hear so many are being battered by Mother Nature and her rain. Here in my neck of Texas, we are enjoying very unseasonal chilly wind…but, it sure beats our usual humidity at this time of the year. No lilacs in Texas–boo hoo
They’re predicted 1- 2 inches, then 2-3 inches, now it’s back to 1-2. Any way you put it, that’s a lot of rain!
I try, too, to leave flowers where they bloom but it’s hard to resist bringing in a beautiful rose when just a lone stem in a plain ‘ol clear drinking glass gives me so much pleasure, especially when I know a brutally-hot day (we’ve been having too many too soon in SoCalif) is going to just fry them on the bush.
Lovely lilacs; can’t imagine how they must smell; heaven-sent…
My yard crew STILL did not finish yesterday, after a 7:30am to 4pm stab at it, in temps which rose to 90 degrees; just too many weeds and overgrowth from rain. This also means I have to withdraw more money for them today, for what was still not finished (it’ll be their third day of work). It’s a 4-man crew and I’m grimly realizing how we are so NOT going to be able to afford this once my husband isn’t on full pay (i.e., retirement upcoming) nor can he, clearly, do all that hard work himself. I guess I just didn’t realize, when deciding to go with this house when Mom died rather than keep our own, that a big rear yard and hillside was going to be this costly to upkeep but, you see, my folks only very rarely had any work ever done on the hill and pretty much let it go to seed in the last 25 years or so of their lives. My husband and I can’t return to that; we just can’t. It would be too upsetting. We’ve invested too much money in its overhaul. More and more, I’m realizing that we probably aren’t long term here and it makes me so sad. I’d thought it would work out to age in place…but, I don’t think so now. I can wish all I want, but I wish a lot of things…opportunities; life events…had happened with us sooner, when we were younger. Stronger. Both of us working; steadily earning money. Time on our side.
There’s a reason why a lot of seniors go into smaller places with no real yards to keep up. My husband was home part of the day yesterday and he worked hard to cut back a thick fern patch and he wound up in bed for several hours; his back just can’t take it. And I can’t do the physical work of any of this; I just dabble with a few potted things and our raised-bed planters. But I also decided today that I will enjoy every minute of my yard for as long as I get the privilege. I remember all the years as a younger woman, single and living in apartments, when I could only visit my parents’ house with the nice big yard, which was always a treat when in my otherwise everyday life, all I had was a small balcony. No grass to squish my toes in; just no…space.
At some point, this property will be too much for us, as well. Just the winter maintenance alone will be impossible, let alone all the work I do in the gardens. We’re on a limited income – alway have been – and I doubt that we could afford to hire someone to help out. Sigh. Like you, I will enjoy every minute I have it! Just mowed a whole lot of lawn and like your husband, I have to rest my back now!
I think you have ENORMOUS energy, Claudia; you are active and strong as if you’re a woman half your age!
Thanks, Vicki!
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous photos,. I just brought peonies in after finally getting all of the ants off of them. The ants really do like the peony bush. LOL
Have a good weekend.
Judy
Ants love peonies! Mine aren’t ready to bloom yet, Judy, won’t be until the beginning of June. Enjoy yours, my friend. They are such a beautiful flower!
I don’t cut any of my flowers to bring in with the exception of a few lilacs and a few peonies before a hard rain. They both smell wonderful when they are inside. I plant lots of zinnias and always think I will bring some in….but I just can never do it. Although people say the more you cut them, the more they produce ~ I guessI’m not destined to know that for certain.
We are mowing today as well. Things are so beautifully green right now. Hope your Thursday has been a lovely one.
The only time I ever brought in zinnias was when a hard frost was coming very early in the season. I cut them and brought them in. But I usually don’t.
I love the green of Spring!
SO beautiful! I know how you feel—we are supposed to get quite a bit of rain tonight, and my native azalea has just bloomed. I love this tree (because strangely, that’s what it is–a tree) because it is strange to me, and quite beautiful. I wait for it all year long, and last year it got pummeled by hail and its ‘show’ was a little sad. This year everything lined up to make it a glorious event, but I don’t think it will stand up to this rain. sigh…
I love all of your ‘porch nesting’. I have been doing the same thing, dragging things out of storage, buying new cushions, giving things a lick of paint. It is my happiest kind of nesting, because it signals months of cool breezes and late-night dinners al fresco. I hope that, after you see to the back 40, you sit yourself down with a glass of something cool and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Peace,
Leslie P.
Same thing always happens with the peonies, Leslie. They bloom and we get a few days of their beauty and then some torrential rain comes and they’re battered.
Didn’t do the back 40 – but I did mow all of the front lawn and the corral and my back is complaining! I’m going to make some hot chocolate!
Oh Claudia,
Just so beautiful…
I am a bit off today..to hear republicans cheering their nastiness with this healthcare bill…sorry to bring it up but it is not good to know that this is how America behaves.
I joined the group across the street yelling shame! shame! (emotionally joined them)
Your lovely photographs do not match my concern over those who will lose healthcare.
I am glad you put them up because the beauty makes me believe that good will happen again….
Love and Peace.
Katheryn
I am sick at heart at the cold hearts of the Republicans. I can’t snap out of it, Katheryn. How can they live with themselves?
I will do everything I can to defeat them in 2018.
I hope the lilacs make it. They are so beautiful. It’s raining here today. I did get out to Bible Study and a quick trip to Aldi. Then took Sam the cat for his fluid injections. Poor old guy, but they perk him up and if I can do this for him (and Mom) for awhile I’ll be happy to do it. Sweet boy is old but not quite done yet.
I hope to stay home tomorrow and get some yard work done, plants moved about and planted. We will see how much rain we get. Snuggled with Annie right now while dinner is in the oven. It’s been a good day. Hugs!
So glad you’ve had a good day, Linda. I’m tuckered out now from mowing. My back is kicking up a fuss lately with all the bending over I have to do for gardening and then the mowing!
Beautiful lilacs! Wonderful photos, I just love that vibrant color! We so miss the lilac bush that we had to leave behind when we moved here. There’s nothing like that lovely aroma either. Enjoy, Claudia!
Nothing like it. I love walking near it on my way to the mailbox and catching a whiff of that scent. Heavenly!
The lilacs are lovely. The weather should be nice next week. Hopefully you can enjoy your porch in the coming week. I just mowed my front lawn and cleaned and trimmed a little. It is a good day for outdoor chores.
Marilyn
It is. Have to get it all done before the rains come!
When we first moved into our home 40 years ago (Yikes) we had the most glorious Lilac bushes and every Spring they would bestow such beauty. The years passed and at some point they were gone. I remembered them like mourning the departure of a dear friend. Then I thought “well you can always plant new ones” Duh! I now have 3 lovely bushes which were planted last year. They didn’t produce flowers this year and are only about 3′ high, but I look forward to them producing beautiful flowers. Maybe next year. Yay! I love how you enjoy your garden. Me too! It’s my spiritual place as well.
So glad you planted some! Mine wasn’t here when we moved in and I decided I needed a lilac bush. It’s been a joy!
It is 11:30 pm here and the rain has begun…I am not enjoying this chilly feeling again…there is so much I want to do outside! I love what you have done with the porch Claudia!
I know – I don’t like not having time in the garden, but the rain will be good for the garden, so I’ll just have to accept it!