Butterfly garden

While in Holland, in Winterswijk, I enjoyed a stroll down some of the trails surrounding the hotel where we stayed.

Upon returning to the hotel after one of my strolls down this pretty trail, I came across a butterfly garden.

This charming little building was at one side of the garden.

An information board showing the many different species of butterflies which visit the garden.

It was nice to walk the narrow mulched paths around all the plants, looking for butterflies.

There were many plants I could name, and just as many I could not.

Looks a lot like a hardy geranium.

So pretty.

A lovely poppy.

Another of mother natures works of art.

There were not many butterflies, perhaps we were a little too early in the season.

Through the fence

Or, through the eyes of deer and rabbits.

A series of photos of my vegetable garden taken through the fence.

The sweetest of memories

We all have special memories many brought back , by places we have been, people we love, perfumes wafting on the air, things we have been given, and by many other means.
This pretty little vase was from a relative who meant much to me, and the sweet peas bring back memories of my mother and her garden full of sweet scented flowers.
This is the largest bunch of sweet peas and lavender I have picked thus far, and there is promise of many, many more bouquets from my garden.

Buds are beautiful too

Bee Balm

Hosta

Asiatic Lily

Penstemon

Sedum

Snapdragon

Photo of the day

Hydrangea

This Endless Summer hydrangea is a mop-head type, with the unique ability to bloom consistently on both old and new wood, and provides beautiful large flowers all summer long.

2008

2009

I am so pleased with this particular hydrangea, that I decided to take some cuttings and see if I could get them to grow. As you can see, two of the cuttings are coming along very nicely, the third is a little puny looking, but may be OK.
The plan is to purchase two or three more half wine barrels to plant these cuttings in.

I am growing my own garden art

Butterstrawb ? Michelinstrawb? Doughstrawb?
What do you see?

Every couple of days I am picking peas and strawberries, unless of course I eat them all as I stand in the garden. Last night my dinner was a salad of Quinoa (say keen-wa) which is a whole grain, freshly picked spring onion, and sugar snap peas, sliced into the Quinoa along with tomato, freshly ground salt & pepper and some good quality, tasty olive oil drizzled over the top.
I am not a vegetarian but I do like my fresh veggies straight from the garden.

Breakfast in Keewee's garden

Ligularia, found at a farmer's market yesterday. I needed something else to add to my shade garden and this lovely plants sounds as though it will do very nicely. In fact there were two small plants in this pot.

As you dig down in the shade garden, the soil is rather sandy and drains too fast, so, as this plant likes it a little more on the damp side, I placed a small saucer from under a flower pot at the bottom of the hole. I also amended the soil going back into the hole around the Ligularia, with compost, slow release fertilizer and all natural super absorbent granules which hold water.

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After all the work placing the Ligularia in it's new home, I was hungry for some breakfast. I knew there were ripe strawberries in the vegetable garden so picked and ate all which were ripe.

Blueberries would have been nice with the strawberries if they had been ripe.

Peas picked and eaten right there in the garden, were also part of my breakfast.

Could have had a few tomatoes too if they had been ripe *grin*

Note to self: Place a small table and chair next to garden, with a vase of sweet peas in the center, so you can sit and enjoy the fruits/vegetables of your labor. *chuckle*

I am not complaining

After around 28 days without any rain, the clouds released their much needed moisture upon us. It smelled and looked so fresh and clean this morning as I opened the door to look out.

Who says?

Nothing in this life is free. When it comes to gardeners, well almost all gardeners, we like to share, so plants can be free.

A friend stopped by and left me hellebores, hardy Geranium and some succulents.There were way more than I needed, so I in turn, shared them with another friend. There is nothing quite like the feeling of sharing the wealth of our gardens, whether it be flowers or vegetables, with friends and neighbors.

I seem to have a color scheme

The colors of blue, purple and pink in my flower garden, was not intentional at all. I bought and planted flowers I like without considering color, then there are plants which were given to me by friends. I did not plan a color scheme for my garden, but much to my surprise and delight, it all has come together in a very pleasing, eye candy way.

Mother Nature takes care of her own

This past weekend my honey and I went on a camping/fishing trip to Bank's Lake WA. Banks Lake is a man-made reservoir that offers 91 miles of shoreline, renowned bass fishing and water sports.
This time around, I decided to take pictures of the flora and fauna while Mr C. was busy fishing, so instead of a slide show of my garden, I am sharing one of Mother Nature's garden, animals and birds we saw. Many parts of the shore around the lake are very rocky and bare, except for the trees and plants which take root, and manage to survive in the crevices of the rocks.
I find a great deal of beauty in the twisted roots of a tree as it clings to the rocks, and the flowers and critters of this interesting place. I hope you enjoy the slide show.

Creeping past the in between stage.

For a week or so, there has not been a whole lot of color in my garden, but that is rapidly changing.

The sweetest of Sweet Williams.

Sweet William.
I grew these from seed a couple of years ago, and this year they are going to be stunning.

Allium hanging out with the lamb's ear.

Delicate delphinium.

Take a tour of my vegetable garden

My vegetable garden is a fenced 20 x 20 foot area with raised beds, recycled styrene boxes, car tires and any other containers suitable to be used as planters. There is pea gravel surrounding all the beds and containers, as it makes for easy weeding when a weed decides to take root.

On the left is a small bed of sweet corn, a blueberry bush in the tire, and behind that, sweet peas and gladioli growing in two recycled styrene boxes. The raised bed on the right has tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, spinach, and broccoli. The bed in the far back, has beans, cabbage, leeks, swiss chard, kohlrabi, and sweet basil.

Black Russian and Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes supported by my colorful cages.

I have created a small garden surrounding the vegetable garden. Here are those roses I moved from a different location and did not care if they lived or died. Seems to me they are very happy in their new garden.

I bought a packet of gourd seeds before deciding where I would grow them and when I looked around, I realized I was out of room, so I made three holes down through the gravel on the outside of the vegetable garden fence, to the right of the rose bushes, and pushed a seed into each of the holes and covered them over. Imagine my surprise when all three seeds emerged from the gravel and are now about three inches high and very healthy looking. I am hoping they will grow up the fence and give me many gourds to make bird houses out of.

Wordless Wednesday

Un-named Irises

This one I bought at a garden club sale.

This one was given to my by a friend.

It really does not matter one little bit, that I do not know the names of the two Irises, as they are just as beautiful whether named or not.

Chocolate Soldier

I have been waiting and waiting for this Columbine to show me what it is all about, and I am not disappointed. It was quite difficult getting photos as many backgrounds I placed it against, simply did not work. These are about the best I could do with my little Kodak easy Share camera

The petal on the Nickle sized flowers are are a purplish/brown color, a hard color to capture.

The artist in me, is quite taken with the color combination and shape of the flower.

Such a dainty little thing, which has produced just a few flowers this year. With some TLC, I hope for an abundance of blooms next season for show and tell.

Thank you

Thank you Jackie of Ellie Mae's Cottage, and Jackie of Jackie's Secret garden. I am honored you thought of me.

Now I am supposed to choose 15 other wonderful blogs I enjoy. I would love to, but right now I have more on my plate than I can take care of. The first being, cleaning and loading our RV so we can leave bright and early on Friday morning for a weekend of fun. Then I have to work part of the day tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh no you don't !

These two scoundrels were attempting to sneak into my vegetable garden when my back was turned. I shouted no, no, no and two very startled rabbits hopped away as fast as they could. Cheeky little devils thought they were going to have a free lunch on me.

Talking about lunch. I spotted these two bald eagles across the pasture from our house. The pasture was being mowed so I presume the eagles were waiting to see if the tractor would scare up a rabbit, mouse or some other critter for their lunch.

June is bursting ~

with color.

I enjoy the dainty nodding heads of Columbine

I think I can safely say, that this grow bag of Petunias is a success. Wait until all the plants are covered in flowers, how lovely it will look.

This is a first for me. I over-wintered this begonia in the basement, and have been rewarded with these stunning blooms.

A gift from a friend.
I received a box of unnamed Iris last year, so every bloom is a fabulous surprise.

Pretty in pink.

Another gift, this one from mother nature.
I thought both of the clematis, one on either side of the gate into the veggie garden had died during our sever winter, but was pleasantly surprised when this one came back. I am now looking forward to the blooms.

The Chinese Pagoda Primrose blooms are on about 12 inch stems. Aren't they gorgeous?

Sweet William, and old fashioned favorite of mine.
These were grown from seed two years ago, and this year they are going to put on quite a show.