Iris Blooms

   A few more of my Irises have come into bloom. I think next yr, I shall try and purchase some more bulbs. I would love more variety.

Spiderwort

  My Spiderwort ( Tradescantia virginiana) has just begun to come into bloom. The flowers are actually a purple, but for some reason my camera is determined to show them as blue. I love how this plant looks with the gold color of the Red twig Dogwood as a backdrop. I have seen some responses on GW about a few complaining of it being an aggressive spreader. However, I have had this one plant for many years, and have never had it spread once. Its a pretty little plant that requires no care on my part.It is a perennial that grows 18"-24" tall. Its hardy in zones 4-9b. Prefers sun to partial shade. Mine is growing in full sun in clay soil. It blooms thru out most of the growing season. I have saved seeds from it, but I have never tried started them from seed.

Surprises in the Garden

  When working in the garden, one always needs to be prepared for all the little surprises that tend to occur. You never know what Mother nature is going to throw your way. Such as sudden rain storms, snakes, bugs, bird donated plants, etc. I have had all of the above, plus one more this morning. I opened a jug with one lone, Shasta Daisy seedling inside. I figured I might as well plant it out. So I carefully dug my hole, then scooped my fingers down in and under the seedling. Scooping it out gently. While picking it up and moving towards the hole, I thought it felt a little different.....a little squishy. Suddenly, I thought I felt slight movement inside the lump of dirt.Still i wasnt concerned. I just figured it was a bug, and gently laid it in the hole. Just as the clump settled into the hole, suddenly a little critter jumps from the clump as if to say, " Hey, I was sleeping there!" here is what I actually had in my hand:

Luckily, this is my daughter holding it for the close-up. I am a little more squeamish,lol

And here is the home he was so rudely evicted from:

This was actually a little better than the surprise I got while messing around in my lillies last year. I might be squeamish about the frog, but I dont like snakes.

Clematis Ramona

  I just love the color of this clematis. And when it blooms, I can see it while sitting on the couch. It is growing right outside my sliding glass doors. Last year, I left the seeds to develop after the first bloom. I didnt know it would bloom again. Those seeds took forever to ripen. This year I am pruning it back when it is done. Then if I want I can save seed from the second go round.

Early Morning Glow

  I love relaxing in my garden in the early morning hours with my favorite drink of the morning. Its my time of day. Anyone that was up are gone off to work, and the rest are still in bed. Its perfect time to reflect, and enjoy your work. I was doing the same this morning, when I noticed how much more ethereal everything looked with the soft glow of the morning sun peeking thru the trees down on my insignificant garden. Its a moment in time, that almost seems to transport you to the heavens. As if the hand of God had taken a brief moment to reach out and touch all living things as if HE was enjoying his handiwork just at the same moment you were. As always, click on the photo's for an enlarged view.

The Sun seems to make the leaves of the Penstemon Husker's Red almost glow.

I had to include this shot, even tho it was off subject slightly. This is my little kitty, birdwatching. She knows momma starling makes her nest under the eave of my porch every season.

A Tour of My Garden

Here are some random shots I have taken recently after some spring cleaning.

                     This shot was taken of approximately the center of my long raised bed in back. When things are  more in bloom, I will take another shot to document its transition.

This next photo shows the left side/end of the same bed.

Columbine/unknown variety

The same Columbine

Shell Bark hickory Tree at the edge of my property

A Group of my Tomatoes waiting to get planted

A Black Krim Tomato waiting to get planted

Far left End of the raised bed

New Dawn Rose is in the teuter far center, with purple Iris just behind.

Hosta's After A Rain

I have a small variety of Hosta's. Approx 6-8 different ones, but my original has been divided many times. i like it because it tolerates full sun very well. below are some pics I took after a rain.

And here is the one that likes the sun or shade:

Clematis in Bloom

 Here are some new pics of my two clematis that are in bloom. Pink Champagne Clematis is in its height of bloom. It is group 2, so will be pruned back after it finishes for an encore.

This next one is Clematis Ramona. A few buds have just started opening, so I will wait for a full shot when it is in its height of bloom. it is also a group 2, and should be pruned after bloom for repeat.

Grow Project

 My Climbing Nasturtium Spitfire's that I winter sowed one month ago, are doing very well. They are about 4" tall now.Leaves are bright green and very healthy looking. I just took these from their winter home (milk jug) and planted them in the potager under a small 3 ft bamboo tri-pod a couple of days ago. Our last frost date isnt offically until May 15, so I am taking a chance removing these from their protective home so soon. But I am hopefull our frost are done. Either way, my backyard is surrounded by my house and hills, so it doesnt get frosted very easily. As soon as we get some good weather again I will direct sow the remainder of my seeds with more details added to this post, on where and how they are planted.

Here is a pic taken moments ago of the Spitfires in their new home in the potager.

I forgot to mention, when I created the beds for the potager, they are made up of about 1/2 aged horse manure, and the rest my poor clay soil. Everything was till together very well. In this bed I also have my strawberries and a few winter sown seedlings (one of which can be seen growing right in front), and some lettuce, and a nice layer of mulch layed over.

 "I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project, thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds."

Winter Sowing Successes and Failures

    Below is the long list of results I had with winter sowing for the first time in winter 2009/2010. Out of about 230 containers I sowed, 23, as of yet have NOT germinated. I dont consider that too bad. I did get loads of nice stuff that i have been busily planting out. With still loads more to do. Winter sowing sounds hard to believe, almost too good to be true. When thinking about whether to try it or not, i kept thinking it was going to be too difficult, I wasnt going to be able to keep 100's of containers watered, or it just wasnt going to work. I have read on GW where some put them out in the thousands. I thought in the beginning I would reach no where near 100. Well after sowing a handfull of containers out here and there over about 5 months, it was a breeze. Didnt take hardly any time at all. then my worry about keeping them watered. in that 5 months, i watered maybe 4 times this spring. I didnt obsess about it. just took my waterhose out and dribbled water in each container. Then on days when i was really feeling lazy (which is pretty frequent), I just set it to spray, and run it back and forth over the tops of the containers as it it was raining. Not as good, but it got me by. This has to be the easiest method to sow plants by the 100's or even 1000's there is. Thanks to Trudi at wintersown.org for coming up with this. If you love to grow your own plants from seed, you have to try this out. You will be amazed!

Seeds that did NOT germinate, at least as yet:
I will give them another month just in case.

Anchusa Dropmore Blue
Aster purple
Aster purple ribbon
Aster Schone Von Dietlikon
Blue Thimble Flower
Caryopteris summer Sorbet
Chrysanthemum Clara Curtis
Coneflower orange
Cosmos- all
Echium Blue Bedder
Florence Fennel
Gaillardia Burgundy
Gaillardia Red Plume
Gaillardia Summer's Kiss
Golden Chain Tree
Hakoni Double blue balloon flower
Helenium yellow
Heliotrope Marine
Hollyhock figleaf yellow and peach
Joe Pye Weed regular and chocolate
Marigold Citrus
Salpiglossus
Silene orientalis

Seeds that germinated, and I still need to plant out:

Agastache Korean Mint
Allium neopolitanium
Alyssum Carpet of Snow
Aster Tiger paws
bachelor buttons
Balsam
Bellflower, White peach leafed
Blue pimpernel “Blue lights”
Butterfly Weed, orange
Caryopteris Worcestshires Gold
Cineraria Stelata
Coreopsis Early Sunrise
Dahlia Hello bronze
Delphinium Blue jay
Delphinium larkspur
Dianthus raspberry swirl
Dianthus Sooty
fever few virgo
Foglove, dwarf Foxy
Foxglove, strawberry
gaillardia
Geum Rivale
Godetia Amoena
Gomphrena soft pink
Helenium red
Helenium red
heuchera marvelous marbles
Hibiscus Pinot Noir
Hollyhock Chaters
Hollyhock mix, rose, red, yellow
Hollyhock peach
Hosta mix
Hosta Sagae
Jacob's Ladder blue
Larkspur Kingsize Scarlet
Laura Bush petunia
Liatris
Marigold safari yellow
marigold Scarlet starlet
Marigold Sweet cream
marigold, orange from McDonald's
Marigold, yellow from McDonald's
Melampodium butter diasy
milkweed, swamp
Nasturtium Alaska
nasturtium cream Sickle
nasturtium Empress of india
nasturtium milkmaid
Nasturtium Whirlybird
Nicotian Crimson king
Night Scented Stock
Penstemon “Lipstick”
Penstemon Cobaea
Petunia Double Madness Rose
Petunia Hurrah Blue
Petunia Ramblin Red
Poppy , California
Poppy, pink
Poppy, Shirley Red
Rudbeckia Cherokee Sunset
Rudbeckia indian Summer
Salvia Splendens
Shasta Snowlady
Shiso
Spirea, blue mist, Black knight
Sweet Alyssum
Thyme
Tithonia
Tithonia Fiesta Del Sol
Wallflower, siberian
Zinnia Aztec Sun
Zinnia benary's giant
Zinnia Cherry Queen
Zinnia Dreamland red
Zinnia Envy
Zinnia Exquisite
Zinnia magellan Coral And Cherry
Zinnia peppermint Stick
Zinnia polar bear
Zinnia Profusion Deep Apricot
Zinnia profusion fire
Zinnia Purple prince
Zinnia, tall

TOMATOES: Some of these guys are 10"tall right now, also some were sown indoors.

Black krim- 2
Black plum- 2
Brandywine PL: 5
Caspian Pink- 2
Cherokee purple- 3
Early girl- 2
Ladybug- 3
Mortgage Lifter- 5
Sungold Cherry- 2
Supersweet 100's- 5

Seedlings/plants that are planted out and doing very well:
Remember these plants were put out in clumps called HOS. So there are several in each clump. And some i sowed in a couple of containers.

Agastache blue Fortune
Agastache golden jubilee
Alyssum Gold Dust
Ami Visagna
Antirrhum Rembrandt
Ballerina Sea pinks
Balloon flower, tall pink
Bellflower, giant
Bellflower, purple Clustered
Bellflower, white peach leafed
Calendula Bon Bon
campanula peach leaf bellflower Blue
campanula Superba
Canturbury bells
Carnation, cardinal
catchfly
Cineraria Stellata
Coneflower, purple
Coreopsis Blue Butterfly
Coreopsis Early Sunrise
Coreopsis Sternthaler (from 2004 seeds)
Coreopsis Sunray
Cornflower Dwarf blue
Cosmos Double Rose bon bon
Daylillies, OP
Dianthus Eastern Star
Dianthus raspberry
Dianthus Siberian blues
Echinacea Berry Pow Wow
Echinacea White Swan
Feverfew Flora pleno
flax, blue
Foxglove ( 100's)
foxglove, dwarf Foxy
gaillardia Arizona Sun
Gaillardia oranges and lemons
Garlic
Gypsophilia Convent garden
Heuchera unknown
Hollyhock, Chaters Double icycle
JMG Cameo Elegance
JMG Chocolate Silk
JMG Fuji no Murasaki
JMG Gray mist
JMG Hige Red Feathered
JMG Tempest
Jupiter's beard
Larkspur blue butterfly
Larkspur kaleidoscope
larkspur rocket
lavatera trimestris Pink beauty
Lavatera Trimestris Rose mallow
Lupines
Lychnis Abbotswood Rose
Mallow Piroette
maltese Cross
Malva Moschata Alba
Malva Mystic Merlin
MG Red Sunsmiles
MG, Heavenly Blue
Money plant, White variegated
nasturtium Climbing Spitfire from Renee's
Nicotiana Hot Chocolate
Nicotiana Lime green
Penny Black
Penstemon Barbatus navigator
Poppy Dark pink fringed
Poppy dark purple fringed
Poppy laurens grape
Poppy orange
poppy, annual hot pink
poppy, pizicato
Popy red mix
Rose Campion Angel's blush
Rudbeckia Cappucino
Rudbeckia Cherokee Sunset
Rudbeckia Double gold
Rudbeckia indian Summer
Rudbeckia Tiger Eye gold
Rudbeckia ToTo
Salvia blue Queen
Schizanthus Angel wings
Shasta Crazy
Shasta Snowlady
Shrimp plant
Sidalcea Elsie heughs
Sidalcea pink mix
Sidalcea, pink dwarf malva
Snapdragon, giant tetra mix
Snapdragons Candy Corn
Veronica Blue Streak
Wallflower bedding mix
Wallflower fairlady

Dealing With Fibromyalgia

  I usually don't get into details of how I am dealing with the fibromyalgia, but I had to share what happened this morning. I have had this since 1995. Which at that time, there was very little information about it. I had been a nurse for 14 yrs by then and had never heard of it. Now its all over the TV, when they try to push drugs for everything, then you have to buy more drugs to treat the side effects.When one has a lifetime condition it helps to not take everything so seriously (when you can). Fibromyalgia, in case your not aware of it , causes widespread pain, fatigue,tender points,sleep disturbance,  problems with your thought processes, and a host of other symptoms that can come and go as they please.. I think the" thinking" problems are actually caused by the lack of deep restorative sleep. Which, early on, even caused me to start reversing letters and numbers. Thanks goodness for spell check. Now the pain isn't always bad, but its usually always present to some degree. This winter has been the worst for me for some time. Cold usually seems to trigger more muscle pain and fatigue which leads to other things. Once the weather started warming, I started feeling better, and getting some energy back.There are days I don't make it off the couch until I have to, and others I get a brief reprieve to enjoy life.You never know how your going to feel from one minute to the next.As for the "thinking" problem, that is another thing that can sneak up on you and  grab you by surprise. Its the one thing about this condition that I can laugh about, and believe me sometimes it gets hilarious. Except when I get lost, but thats a whole other story.
   Anyway, you have a little bit of background. Here is how my morning went: We woke up about 6Am. We were lying in bed, snuggled up under a warm blanket, and had started talking.

Me: It had seemed later than it was, and I was trying to figure out in my head why my husband wasnt up yet to get ready for work. " Are you off today?"

Him: "No"

Me: "Are you off Monday then?"

Him: "No, why?"

Me: "Cause this weekend is the fourth?"

Him: Already realizing I am not thinking clearly again, he said with a chuckle, " This is only May".

I was thinking this weekend was the fourth of July instead of the fourth of May, lol. Oh well, another interesting day is about to begin.

Planting Out Winter Sown Seedlings

  This is my first year winter sowing, and I know it wont be my last. This has to be the easiest and most productive way to mass sow seeds. I sowed out over 226 containers. I still have a few that haven't (and may not) germinated yet. But I cant complain, because I have so many that have. Some are even almost 6" high. I did find out that it is best to have the soil moist before trying to pop them out of the milk jugs. If the soil was a little dry, and I tried to pull out clumps of seedlings, or turn the jug over to get them out, they would fall apart. But if the soil was moist then I could take them out as one big cake, and separate the clumps into the size hunks I needed. Or as winter sowers call HOS, hunk of seedlings. Instead of planting out individual seedlings, it is much easier and quicker to plant them out in hunks. And from pics I have seen on Gardenweb, it looks much nicer and fuller when the plants have matured. Here is a clump after I turned over the milk jug and slid it out:

Now all I do is divide this large clump up into a few smaller ones. The size of the hunks are determined by how heavily I sowed, and the type of plant. A few things, I realized too late that I sowed way to heavily. Such as the Butterfly bush...es. These seedlings are packed into one jug. There is now way I am going to need 100's of Butterfly Bushes, no matter how well I like them. But I am learning,lol.