Archive for the ‘Flowers’ Category

May 18
2011

Purple Rain

There have been springs when we have been deluged with rain. There have been years when I was already hauling hoses in May. But this year we’ve been fortunate to have just the right amount of rain—not too much and not too little. I think the purple stuff here likes it too. Maybe we have been having purple rain.

The side fence wisteria is blooming, as are some of the peonies. (Why don’t I have more peonies?)

The baptisia I had to move from the front flower bed into the potager was threatening to die last year. I don’t think baptisia likes to be disturbed, but it has rallied and making a rather nice purple show now.

The irises are blooming, as are the foxgloves. Everything that isn’t green is purple.

I still have so much spring work to do and seem to be forever behind. I still have containers to fill and annuals to plant. There is the truckload of stone dust I need to buy and haul into the woodland garden. And this is the year—I hope—that I will finally install some kind of edging to separate the border beds from the paths in the potager.

For some reason making decisions about what to plant this year has been more difficult. Part of the reason is that I just haven’t had much time because work has been keeping me running. But I’m also weary of the same old, same old annuals I see at the local nursery. I am sick to death of petunias and marigolds and the like. It’s like getting up and wearing the same dress every single day. I need something new and exciting to break through my annual ennui!

Perhaps something purple.

(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

 

Robin

April is quite a yellow month, isn’t it? I mean, there’s the forsythia, the witch hazel, the daffodils. If that weren’t enough we can now get our azaleas in shades of orange-yellow. And don’t forget that drop-dead beautiful magnolia ‘Yellow Bird.’ (I want.)

You know what? I don’t care. After seeing brown, brown, brown all winter long, I like a nice, bright yellow.

Bring it on.  In fact, let’s do some masses of yellow.

Harry and I have been slowly adding to our daffodil collection. We started near the house by the driveway. Last fall we planted a grouping about a quarter mile up the driveway—a sunny little patch to greet visitors.

I even added a few crocuses and muscari in the mix to see how the deer would like them. They didn’t.

Next fall we’ll add even more yellow. For another yellow April.

 

Robin

I never really understood the interest in growing monster vegetables to see how big they can get. To me, the point of vegetable growing is to eat the things. But more often than not once a vegetable reaches gigantic proportions it is no longer edible.

But perhaps it’s akin to my fascination with  sunflowers. I have grown short, bouquet-worthy sunflowers. I have grown stunning, nearly black sunflowers. I have grown dainty sunflowers. But what I really adore is a colossal sunflower. Towering sunflowers. The kind of sunflowers that makes visitors stop and say, “Is that real?”

Until this year the tallest sunflowers I have grown were Mammoth. They grew to about 8 or 9 feet, towering over the rest of the garden.

But this year I grew Titans—the biggest yet.  I measured them this morning at 12 feet tall.

Visitors ask me if they are staked because it seems so improbable that a flower on a single stem that tall could stand up without assistance. But the stalks are nearly as round as my wrist,  so they are standing tall all on their own.

Now, what’s bigger than a Titan?

Robin
There are 27 comments
Filed in: Flowers, Gardening
Tags:

Right Now at Bumblebee

February 3rd, 2012

If you’re in the neighborhood and just happen to have your paintbrush and paint clothes with you, stop on by. Harry and I are taking the day off from work to start painting the master bedroom. We figure it’ll take until Sunday. Harry does most of the rolling—no small chore with high ceilings—and I do all the tedious detail work. You, of course, can pitch in wherever you like.

We’re painting it a dove grey. So if you see some grey in my hair in the next few days, it’s paint. Got it? The grey is paint.

Robin

February 2nd, 2012

Happy Groundhog Day! What are you doing to celebrate?

We’ll have a special dinner of NOT groundhog. Dinner will be a special pasta (TBD) and some yummy homemade yeast rolls. Then we’ll pull out the photo album of past Groundhog Days and reminisce. We will toast Puxatawny Phil by opening the first bottle of my homemade apfelwein, which I hope is sparkly by now. If it’s any good, you’ll hear more about it.

Cheers!

Robin

February 1st, 2012

Working from a home office is not always what it’s cracked up to be. I have a lousy IT department (me). Interruptions range from barking dogs to crowing roosters. I hear my business phone ring during non-business hours.

But there is a lot good about a 15 step commute. Such as today. It’s cloudy and a bit drizzly, but the temps will climb into the mid 60s for the second day in a row. I will turn off the heat, throw open the windows and give the house—and office—a good airing. Ahhh!

Robin

January 22nd, 2012

It’s cold here with a bit of ice and snow on the ground. The hens hate it.

There was a huge, chicken-y traffic jam at their window/door this morning. As I opened it three hens bolted outside. But they beat a hasty retreat back into the coop while other hens were still trying to get out. There was an impasse and much chicken shoving. There were no injuries—unless you count my sore sides from laughing so hard.

Robin

View archived notes »