Hi dear blogging friends! It has been over a week since I last posted-where does the time go?? For me it has been work, gardening and granddaughters. and of course getting ready for Spring Fling. :)

Our weather has cleared and we have had glorious warm sunny days that are finally drying out the ground enough to get a few plants in. I have managed to get some new plants-annuals and perennials planted, and have done a few containers. That's the good news. The bad is I still have several more to plant and of course lots of weeds to pull. I also need to put down a lot of mulch!

The Painted Daises are blooming. I love their hot pink color against the deep green of the ground cover vinca. Unfortunately, blogger or my Internet connection is not letting me add any more photos at this time so you will have to take my word for it.

My clematis unknownist is blooming! This year it has more than one bloom. I have babied this plant for 3 years now and it looks as though this may be the year it finally comes into it's own.

What would a post by me be without a super macro shot??

As I said above, I have been having a lot of trouble with either blogger or my Internet. I can't visit from my side bar and even when I go to one of your posts, I often can't leave a comment. But I am reading most of your posts and enjoying seeing your late spring gardens.

I first noticed this on Perennial Garden Lover's sight. So Racquel, if you are reading this....I have been reading your delightful posts. It may have something to do with my security settings-I am going to have my son-in-law check it out soon.

I have had bird photo envy for a long time. Actually ever since I started reading blogs. When I was deciding about a new camera, I had to chose between super macro and super zoom due to the budget. :) Really I have not been sorry that I went with the macro, but every once in a while... So you have to click to enlarge this and the next picture to really see them. The cat and I were walking the gardens the other evening when I heard lots of scolding. Looking up I saw this female cardinal first and then---

very close by the male cardinal. I have a feeling there is a nest in this tree and we were getting too close. Especially the cat. After a couple of quick pictures we left the area and let them get back to the business of nesting. ( The cat had to be physically persuaded to leave!)

Spring Fling is next weekend and I am sooo looking forward to meeting all the bloggers and seeing the gardens Chicago has to offer. It sounds as if we will be very busy. After we get home and I get all my photos downloaded, I want to get back to the business of blogging on a regular basis. Surely by then, life will be less complicated(famous last words). Until then...

Have a Wonderful Memorial Day and enjoy your gardens!

A Walk in My Gardens

Cheryl at My Wildlife Sanctuary suggested that we all take time to enjoy our gardens today no matter the weather. Thankfully, the weather here was perfect. Sunny, a light breeze and a temp of about 60F. My kind of weather!

To all of you who are having bad weather-storms, blizzards and flooding, my heart and my prayers go out to you.



After doing some cleaning and clearing in the front garden beds and picking up sticks and limbs the recent winds blew down, I took my garden walk. And surprise! My vinca is blooming. I know we complain about this ground cover spreading everywhere and choking out other plants, but in the spring it is sooo lovely to see all it's delicate blue-lavender blooms. In a few more days I should have a cheery carpet of blooms against their dark green glossy leaves.

The daffodils are getting so close. I had hoped one would pop this afternoon so I could get a picture. I guess I will have to wait a few more days. Everyday, though I notice more are coming up. I think they are the ones we planted last fall when I had all the help from the kids and grand kids. Some may just be later, but I have a feeling some were planted a little deeper than recommended. Good help is so hard to find. :)

Lilacs are budding! I am so excited and can't wait for them to flower. I love the scent of lilac more even than hyacinths. This is the pale lavender that has the big blooms. Sorry no name.

This is the darker one that has smaller blooms, but oh such a heavenly scent! No name for this one either. I planted these long ago before I knew you were supposed to keep track of the names-silly me. I trimmed each of these bushes drastically last year. They were getting way too tall and all the blooms were high on the branches. I was a little worried they might not do to well this year, but they look great and are both loaded with buds all the way up.

This is oriental lily just pushing through the ground, reminds me of an artichoke!

The purple plum trees is also putting on buds. Soon the dark pink blossoms will appear and we should start seeing bees.

Does anyone else see the ragged edges of these tulip leaves as evidence of critters in my garden??? I shouldn't complain too much as I only saw a couple of these and the nibbles won't really hurt the blooms. But lets not make a salad out of my garden, please little rabbits!

This no name clematis is putting on leaves, another surprise. I hope it blooms this year so we can find out what it is.

The hen and chicks, Sempervivum Brannii I planted last year is a little worse for wear. But I think it will come back and fill in.

And now I need help. I think this was a pass along, but can't remember who or what it is? Anyone??

Same goes for this one.... I know I should have written down names and locations.

And finally we have this very healthy looking plant. It is coming up close to where I had the gorgeous blue delphinium last year. But is that what it is, or... is it just a very fast growing weed?

I hope you enjoyed the walk around my garden as much as I did. Spring is a wonderful time of the year-go on take a walk in your garden today!

A Quiet House

The house is quiet. Too quiet after 10 days of giggly girls, 'Hannah Montana' and 'Sponge Bob Square Pants' on the TV, doing crafts, baking, working in the flower beds, chasing butterflies and going places. I miss my girls.

Our one big adventure was to the Indianapolis Zoo. Pictured below are 5 of the 7 granddaughters and my soon-to-be-step granddaughter and grandson. We had a wonderful day of sunny cool weather and lots of animals. The Indy Zoo is really a nice experience. They have 5 areas of wildlife including the Ocean, the Plains, the Dessert, Africa, and the Forrest. Each area has animals in a natural habitat with lots of educational materials about them. I think the kids enjoyed the Ocean the best. They got to 'pet a shark' and there was a dolphin show. Although a little on the pricey side if you bought food and drink inside, we took a picnic lunch to have in their very clean picnic area. I think we will make this a yearly summer visit.



The girls and I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching the finches at the sunflowers. They had never seen so many bright yellow birds in one place before and learned to be very still and quiet so the birds would stay. We even noticed them getting the seeds out and bringing them to the 'table' to break open. Most of the big sunflowers have been picked bare but there are still several smaller ones for them to enjoy.

Not much new blooming in the gardens now. In fact, I can see a real winding down of all the summer flowers. Except, that is, the zinnias. This is profusion cherry and I have been so pleased with it that I am going to look for more colors next year and do a border of them.

Some of the ones I started from seed-still looking very fresh and putting out more buds. I seem to have a lot of lavender and pinks. I swear, even though those are my favorite colors, I planted mixed colors.

Occasionally, I find some oranges and some reds. I have started to save seed heads from all the colors and have a feeling I will plant many more next year.

There have been so many beautiful Clematis shown on posts these last few months and I have drooled over them all. Mine finally bloomed-1 bloom! It is pretty, but hardly worth the effort and the space it takes up. I have moved this one(name unknown) a couple of times trying to find a happy home for it. This is it's 3rd year in this spot, but only grew to about 2' tall. I may leave it one more year, but am going to get a couple of new ones next year. Maybe then I will have some good bloomers.

I have enjoyed reading all the wonderful posts these last few days and have missed not posting. But I wouldn't have given up my time with the girls for anything. I miss my girls...

******************************************************************************************
Have a great gardening time!