What's Bloomin'

Another week, and still more flowers! I can't believe it, either. I did warn you last week that lots of my plants were about to flower, though. Buckle up for the tour!

The Iris that I aggressively borrowed from my mother-in-law's garden up north:

She didn't miss them - they have tons and tons. The bachelor's buttons bloomed in both purple...

And pink!

The globe allium are open...although they will get bigger and be a complete globe once they're done...

The salvia (a relative of sage) started to bloom:

The chives also bloomed. These are edible, so we might be having some purple flowers in a salad this week!

The verbascum sent up pink flowers this week, in addition to the purple ones last week"

And, finally, the tradescantia (widow's tears, spiderwort, whatever you want to call it) started blooming also. These three-petaled little flowers only like to bloom when its morning or shady - they close completely when it's sunny. It's fun to have flowers with features.

I'm working a little on composition...so that there aren't just random plants, but actually a progression of sorts. So here you can see the chamomile in front, followed by catnip and the iris in the back. It's getting so much better!!! Although, I should probably sweep the concrete border a little before taking a picture next time, hm?

My plan is to have the entire yard "composed"...eventually. Have a great week!

Thief!

Here is a picture of the perp. Don't be fooled by the smile and the big blue eyes.

Yes, she has been cutting her hair again.

She is a thief. A tool thief, to be exact.

I have been working almost non-stop in the garden these past few days, fueled by the realization that spring is almost over. Transplanting has to happen now! Sophia has also been in the garden with me. She has her own tools and gloves, but they are never what she wants.

"Can me borrow that?" she asks constantly, pointing to whatever tool I have. "Me helping!"

I have tried to explain that she should be using "I" and not "me". Perhaps the pronoun lesson is what brought the thievery out in her - heaven knows, grammar lessons have never been my favorite, either.

At any rate, she takes the tool whenever I lay it down, which is often, since I usually need two hands to pull those pesky weeds. Then she uses said tool to "help", which means "accidentally" getting dirt all over me. To be fair, usually all over her, too. "Sorry, it was not an accident!" She always throws in the "not", unintentionally telling the truth. It never is an accident with her, especially when it comes to airborne dirt. She loves that stuff.

She is not limited to garden tools, either. Whenever Doug is in his shop, she constantly brings him tools. To help out. Then she replaces them, or not. Drives Doug insane.

So this morning, I go to find my garden tools and can only find her's. So what do I do?

That's right. I steal them.

Let There Be (a Spot)Light!

Or two or three. You can never have enough spotlights, right?

Doug was hanging out in the laundry room with me one day (since that's where I live, he visits to chat every now and again), and saw a long box from IKEA. "Hm, what is this?" he wondered.

He should know better than to wonder. I had bought a lovely track lighting system the last time I went to IKEA...for the basement hallway. We need artistic lighting for the chalkboard, so that the kids really feel inspired when drawing down there.

Okay, maybe need isn't the right word, but whatever.

Boy, was I surprised when he put them up later that same day! Actually, not that surprised...he is looking for anything to do other than mud and sand that large basement room he finished wall boarding a while ago. So here's our new lighting:

Whoa. I love it - it is not a dangling light bulb anymore! And it extends the line of light throughout the hallway. It is actually less light - which was a bummer - but because it is such a long fixture, it does seem more artistic than dark-basement-hallway.

Once again - go, Doug! Now we just need flooring...and trim...okay, I'll just stop. Have a great Wednesday...half way to Friday!!!