More spring pics...

Check out this great sedum album 'bella di'inverno' (if I remember right...). Isn't is colorful?! By id sumemr it will be solid green again, but the spring colors are so festive.


Equally pretty is this pink pulmonaria. Great foliage and the slugs and deer both leave it be.


Pale blue grape hyacinths - a favorite.


And check out these crazy fritillarias. So fun! Moles supposedly hate them and sure enough, there's been no moles in this bed for the past three years. Plus they must love our climate and soil as they are multiplying like crazy.


And here's what I did with that bed with the giant boulder. Rock on the top and planted around it. Will see how it goes. Shallow rooted stuff and 10-15" of dirt below most of them.

Fresh pics...

I was expanding a bed in back and found this boulder in the way. Far too big to move so I'll try busting the top off tomorrow, and if that can't be done we'll just leave the area as part of the open pathway.




Daffodil 'Jetfire' and a pulmonaria below.

It's a spring thing

Finally getting some nice weather again so gardening can proceed. Here's a new bed I made next to the driveway. Small, but I managed to squeeze 13 iris varieties in there with multiple rhizomes of each. Should look fabulous in 2012.


The camera didn't pick it up, but this hellebore has a lovely blue-toned glaucous sheen to it that moves it much more purple than the brown it appears here. Still... gorgeous flower, eh?


And the ribes is in full bloom and the hummers are here and buzzing all over it.

New Spring pics

The potted Princess.


New garden beds.


Another stump pile from construction removed to the bones.

So there's a puppy...

... and the cats are not happy.

Sping's a'comin

First iris of the year has opened - about a month early.


I love this black hellebore. It's in a very sheltered spot near the house so is a week or so ahead of the rest in the garden. But they are close!


I cheated with the daffs - they are from the grocery store. The ones in the garden are heading upward tho.


And look how bright this cyclamen is! Wow, does it put out the color.


Looks like we're in for an early spring, as is typical with an el Nino winter. I'm not complaining, even tho the weeds are getting a head start too.

More xmas...

I know xmas is over but there's still a few pics I wanted to share. First, here's a better shot of the tree. Those posted before were just too blurry to see clearly.


Daniels parents leave their plants with us every winter as they snow bird it to warmer climes so we always get to enjoy their xmas cactus blooming. It has been going non-stop for two months now.


And last are the button trees Daniel and I made using the buttons he inherited from his granmother after she passed away several years ago. A much better use than having them stashed away in a box somewhere. Joey did the first one for us (center) and we did the rest. The black velvet one with the mother of pear buttons still needs to be completed, but that can wait until next year.


So easy to do. We used old fabric we'd been carting around for years, cut it to fit the styrofoam cones we picked up at thrift stores and then used a spray adhesive to make it stick well all over. The seams are finished with a fabric glue. Then we added buttons (after a good washing and scrubbing - they were dirty!) using straight pins. Some are plain silver pins with a small glass bead added first, others have the large headed pins in gold, silver, pearl or other metallic colors. I think they turned out fabulously. Can't wait to do more next year - we've plenty of buttons left!

That's it for xmas this year. Promise.