Bloomin' Updates

There are a few updates this week...

P.S. Tomorrow I'll be doing a lengthy piece on how the wedding went...oh, it was so lovely! Mostly, the bride was soooo lovely...

My lilies finally came into bloom - I got them half price at Lowe's last year and planted them. Absolutely no blooms came out last year, but this year...bam!

The color is a complete surprise, too. I thought they might be red, but this yellow with orange tips is a welcome surprise.

The achillea popped up this week, too. It's getting huge. I like these much better than their yellow cousins that you see along the roadside. The best part about this flower: butterflies. The second best part: it looks great in bouquets.

This one, I have no idea what it is. Pathetic, really. I planted it from seed, so you think I'd take more notice of what it is. Truthfully, the longer it stays around without blooms, the less likely I am to remember what its name is. Sorry, plant. I'll look it up, and maybe I'll even have a name for it.

What's weird about this one - there's only flowers at the bottom. What plant does that? It's hiding its light (flowers) under a bushel (leaves). Hm.

Anyway, hope you all have a fabulous week! It's supposed to be sunny but not too hot here, which is about the best I can get in summer - hope your weather makes you happy, too!

I Tree You

Back in college, I had a friend who didn't like the words "I Love You". They just seemed to mean so many different things - from passionate love for another person to a simple liking for a breakfast cereal.

So she and her man decided to use a new phrase: "I Tree You". And when she decided she was really, really in love with him, she gave him a ficus tree. True story.

There was a time when I thought that was seriously goofy. These days, I want trees so badly (living in a desert will do that to you) that I can understand why that would denote passionate, unending love. This is why we spent so much time, effort, and yes, money on trees last year. We actually got quite lucky with a few as far as price, and we tried buying starts from Arbor Day.

This one is the best of the bunch. We got two sugar maples, and they sent us a free red maple, a forsythia, and two crabapple trees. One of the crabapples has a few leaves, much like this sugar maple. But really, they don't look so hot.

So we broke down last week and bought more sugar maples from Home Depot. Here they are:

The wicked strong stakes are because the wind here is unceasing and packs a pretty punch some days. Sigh, the wind is what I hated about where I grew up in California. I swore I would never live in a windy place. Watch out about swearing, it comes back to bite you in the butt.

Anyway, now I can look up into the canopy of a new tree. And truly say, "I Tree You, tree."

There are a few things that are bloomin' that are new, in case you were wondering where my regular Monday feature is...this is the only thing that is truly newly blooming. This is Potentilla (I mistakenly called my Sweet William that a few weeks ago), with strawberry-like foliage and a teeny little flower that is quite a surprise.

The delphinium sent up this new shoot in a different color of purple...I didn't know it could do that!

Another painted daisy decided to start up...

And there are still more to come! Have a great week (especially if your kids are now out of school, as mine are)!!!

We. Don't. Need. A. Larger. Garden.

When I look at our garden...

Which doesn't quite go the fence in the background, but almooooost...I don't think: "We need a larger garden". Nope.

Doug does. He was out planting seeds the other night...but I couldn't see him in our garden. He proudly pointed out the "new garden" today. Planted with all kinds of ornamental gourds, corn, etc.

"It's only 25 feet by 25 feet," he said, "very small." Did I mention that he has also taken over the base of the children's play area:

As a place to grow beans? Since the trellis shape is already there, why not? And in his favor, it will make a fun retreat in July and August from the sun.

I can imagine how fun it will be to play in there for the kids. Truly, though, I wonder how much (or how little, rather) of our yard will not be garden by the time Doug is through "getting enough space" for everything he wants to plant.