Hi all. Just want to let you know that I am still here. It has been such a long time since I posted and for that I am sorry. I have missed it, but mostly have missed reading your posts!

Rose keeps telling me to put up a photo and a short note, so that's what this is. I promise to get back into blogging soon-well when the gardens are done for the season, anyway. :) I will have lots to tell you about and several photos to share. And a visit from VIPS to tell you about.

Happy gardening all!

Walk on the Wildside 2

This past weekend was granddaughter time again. The house comes alive with laughter, noise, laundry and cooking! Amidst all of that, we had party for all of the April birthdays-there are 5 of them. 2 granddaughters, a daughter, a son-in-law and Hubby all were born in April. The party was NOT here this time and that made it even more fun for me. :) We did bake and frost 2 cakes, made a batch of brownies and a big bowl of from scratch coleslaw with lots and lots of help from the grands.

The adventure-a walk in the same woods of 2 weeks ago, we saved for Sunday afternoon. It was a little wet and the plants and briers had all grown some, but that didn't stop us! Our first wildflower...

is unknown, but has very tiny delicate blooms.

Next we saw Mayapples. I was thinking they should be in bloom, when one of the girls looked underneath and found the flower.

One to a plant, and you had to get low to see them, but it was well worth the effort.

The girls and I decided this one was pretty enough to bring home to my gardens, but we thought better of it and left it for the woodland creatures to enjoy. Any ideas on what it's name is?

Golden Ragwort-thanks Linda @ Garden Girl!

We visited the tadpoles again, showing the youngest granddaughter the joys of scooping them up in cupped hands. This was her first walk in the woods. Fortunately, none of the girls are squeamish and all seem to enjoy anything to do with nature. : ) Just past the pond we saw this tree with these buds. Looks almost like a honeysuckle bud, but it is a tree. Again, I need an ID.

I've saved the best for the last. At least, I think so. I am thinking it is some type of lily. It reminds me of a peace lily in shape-sort of. What do you think it is?

                              Jack in the Pulpit or Lords and Ladies-thanks to Lisa, Cheryl and Joey!

What would a walk in the woods be with out climbing on a fallen tree?

One final note. If any one would like baby maple trees, just let me know....

I have a gazillion of them!

To all those who have suffered damage from the storms and flooding, take care and know we are all praying for you.

Have a great gardening week!

Mish Mash Monday!

I know this is late for a Mish Mash Monday, but had a few things I wanted to share.  MMM is brought to you by Monica and a thank you to her for it!

 Thanks, also to Rose. I now have a new look to my blog after over 2 years of the same format and colors. I have also started using the new editor on Blogger.  Because of that, these photos may be hard on your eyes and your sense of composition as I am still in the learning curve of how to use the new editing features. But I do want to thank Rose for explaining all of this to me. She is much more computer savvy than I. :)

The first poppy of the season! I so love these gorgeous crepe paper looking blooms. These are in my MIL's garden and will not transplant to mine. I have tried unsuccessfully for years to get a start and now accepting the fact they will not grow for me, I enjoy them in her garden.                                                                     

Lily of the valley is another plant that multiplies in my MIL's garden but will not come to live in mine. However, I do enjoy the delicate blooms and love taking photos of them.

I think this must be the Year of the Lilac and Wisteria here in Central Illinois

Cheryl, this photo is for you! :)

I did a board at work for Earth Day. I find free coloring pages on the Internet and have parents and grandparents at work take them home for the little and not so little ones to color. They put their names and ages on them and I display them on the board. I take photos of the board and send them back to the kids so they can see their artwork displayed. We all enjoy their efforts and their artistic abilities.

More lilacs, tulips and wisteria at work. I love being able to take in bouquets. The fragrance was wonderful. I can't believe how long the lilacs have lasted.

While I am on the subject of work....

I got permission to do 3 planters in the front of the building. This is the'yellow' container and I have a pink one and a purple one. As they fill in I will show you more.

Back in my garden, I have Bachelor Buttons blooming. This was a pass along plant from a favorite cousin a couple of years ago and is doing wonderfully. I also have pass alongs from another favorite cousin and will share those at a later time. Lucky me to have such green thumbed cousins!

Couldn't resist a photo of the pansy. With the cooler weather, they have stayed so fresh looking and continue to bloom profusely.

Last, but not least. the first iris of the season. This is an unnamed one, probably a very old variety that has been passed down through many generations of flower lovers. My MIL gave me this one. While not very flashy, it is dependable and it's blooms fill in that gap between spring bulbs and summer flowers.

Do you have antique pass alongs in your gardens?

I hope everyone has a great gardening week!

 I do apologize for the spacing ! Bear with me while I learn. :)

A Walk on the Wild Side!

This was a Granddaughter weekend and four of them were here. The four middle ones to be exact. The two older ones are usually working or spending time with their friends and that's alright. That's what they are supposed to be doing at their age. The youngest was with her step grandma enjoying learning to ride a horse. And that is alright too, as we have to share. (I guess)

Papa was busy helping his brother plant corn. That left us free to have an adventure. After a nice lunch out, we decided to take a walk in the woods just south of our town. These woods, about 20 acres, are owned by The University of Illinois and are left completely natural except for a few semi cleared paths.



Our adventure starts.

There are always one or two who like to lead the way. :)

We were on a search for wildflowers. I was inspired by Lisa's post on wildflowers found in her area. These are wild phlox and the woods was covered in them.

The ones in more sun were lighter in color.

We found yellow violets! I would love to have some of these in my garden.

As well as the purple ones which are Illinois State Flower.

And a butterfly! Surely a survivor from last year this is a female Spicebush Swallowtail. The females have blue hind wings where the males have more green. At any rate, we were thrilled to see such a beauty.

And other wild creatures were found. This slug on a walnut was the subject of much discussion and wanting to bring it home with us. We left it where we found it. :)

Earth worms are wild creatures-aren't they??

A stink bug? We couldn't be sure.

Deer tracks were found and again were the subject of much discussion. The mud made for perfect impressions of these and what we thought were raccoon tracks. Also, we saw a huge paw print that was either of a very large dog or as Papa said later, could have been a wolf's tracks.

A very small pond was found and....

proved to be very interesting and...

full of new life. The girls tried scooping up the tadpoles to get a feel of them.

Oh no! A misstep and into the mud! Bottled water saved the day and was used to rinse mud off both feet and flip flops.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits were blooming.

Such a pretty sight.

May Apples were not blooming yet but their foliage was a brilliant chartreuse.

Someone decided she needed to collect walnuts for our squirrels at home.

I told the girls this was a gaul, but now am not sure. Any ideas?

These will soon be in full bloom. What a mass of them!

Trout lilies or Adder's Tongue are so delicate. We only found one blooming but it's beauty has us going back in a few days to see that whole area in bloom.

This is the leaf of a tree that...

had these almost spent blooms. I couldn't tell the girls what tree it was. Does anyone know?

I thought this a weed, but the girls said it was another wildflower. Does kind of look like a wild cleome doesn't it?

A small glade that is perfect for picture taking at the end of our walk on the wild side!

GBBD April 2010!

Wow! This is one of those glorious springs where everything is blooming with a vengeance. I don't remember one nearly so perfect in many, many years. I certainly hope your spring is as lovely as ours. And thank goodness because it is that time of the month when we get to show off all our blooms thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens.




I couldn't resist taking a bouquet into work. Besides brightening up my little cubicle and smelling wonderful, I get to show what is blooming in my gardens. The response has been great. One young man stops by 2 or 3 times a day just to take a whiff. :)

This is one of my favorite tulips- Angelique!

These are First Impressions and thanks to all the help I had in the fall of 2008. I have them blooming in every bed. They have really put on a show this year.

I've been told the name of this plant many times but have a mental block. You'd think I'd write it down. Vining out of a container a few years ago, it has spread into several areas and is a great ground cover.

I bought yellow and purple pansies. That orange one just appeared. Hmmm...now how did that happen?

The daffodils have been truly spectacular. I am so pleased with the variety of different blooms. I add a few here-a few there-what ever strikes my fancy at the moment or when I am plant shopping with Rose. :)

I love this pure white one.

And this double pink and white! (ignore that old woman's hand) The blooms were so big and heavy, they almost needed support.

The single pink and white is such a delicate bloom.

Last but not least is the traditional yellow. My grandmother called these 'March flowers'.

Another bloom I am so happy with. These bluebells were given to me by a neighbor last spring and I worried all summer and winter whether they would return. These wildflowers were my Mother's favorite.

Our ornamental cherry tree bloomed it's heart out this year. Last year the frost got it and we had almost no blooms.

The ornamental plum is gorgeous. This photo does not do it justice, but I can't seem to get one that shows the true colors of pink blooms against dark maroon leaves. What a color combination!

Creeping phlox and vinca have mingled. I am very pleased with the color combination.

Lilacs are at least 2 weeks earlier this year than last. This old fashioned one sends it's scent all over the back yard.

This smaller one have a heavenly scent as well. I wish I could have gotten photos of the bees that were swarming these blooms. The bees were very flighty-zipping from one to another bloom almost too quickly to get a taste of pollen. But then, maybe it doesn't take them long.

A teaser of what's to come. The wisteria is loaded with blooms this year and barring a late frost will surely be covered in a few days. This is another plant that didn't bloom last year due to a frost.

Violets are everywhere! In the gardens, in the grass, even growing in cracks in the sidewalk.

And finally, a poppy! I had not seen it growing just a couple of days ago, and when I went out this evening to take a few more pictures-there it was! What a gift from the Garden Gods! It survived our winter beautifully. With any luck, it will continue to grow and bloom and maybe drop seeds to grow next year.

Have a great gardening week and be sure to visit other GBBD posts!