Friday - Finding Beauty

Beauty can be found everywhere,

 but I am going to use pictures of flowers from my garden. 

Rain drops on my Town and Country Rose.

Or on a peony bud.

Slow the shutter speed on the camera and the waterfalls take on

a milky look. So romantic. This pond is located at the pool where I take my Aqaufit class.

I am joining Claudia at Dipity Road.

Please stop by to see how others are Finding Beauty.

But before you leave, I would like to mention I am taking a blogging vacation

until the end of the month.  Hubby and I are heading to N.Ireland to visit family,

I will post some pictures when I return.

Take care and remember...

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt.

~Unknown Author~

Native Plant Profile - Coreopsis lanceolata

Coreopsis lanceolata is a reliable blooming and drought tolerant winner for sandy, nutrient-poor soils. It likes good drainage, acidic to neutral soil, in full sun with room to spread. Coreopsis will grow one to two feet high with narrow leaves in a rounded growth habit. Deadheading or cutting the whole plant back in midsummer will extend blooming until frost. It is easy to start from seed, which mature approximately four weeks after flowers die off and the seeds do not require cold stratification. The plant can also be divided in fall or spring, this will help with overcrowding.

 Goldfinches and Juncoes love to eat the seeds over the winter and the flowers attract butterflies and bees.

 Coreopsis is a staple in my garden, but this year I purchased Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'.

The fern like leaves is what attracted me to this plant along with its' pale yellow flowers.  It is not a long lived perennial and is very late to make an appearance in spring, but that is Ok as I do not cut back any of my perennials in the autumn. I leave the seedheads for the birds.

Both are good selections if you require a drought tolerant plant for a sunny location. 

Mosaic Monday - Insects

We hope that, when the insects take over the world,

they will remember with gratitude

how we took them along on all our picnics.

~ Bill Vaughan ~

I am joining Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Please join the fun.

and

Have a great week.

Camera-Critters - Unco-operative Goat

Over the winter we belonged to a Farm Share and received monthly vegetables from a local famer,

once a month we would travel to the farm to receive our share and on our last trip

I took some pictures of the animals outside the barn. 

I call this shot 'Ok you can take my picture but I am not posing or looking'.

I am joining Camera Critters this Saturday morning,

stop by for a visit.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Fertilizer Friday

What is blooming today in the garden for

Come and join me for a quick tour of what is blooming in my garden for Fertilizer Friday. The weather is sunny but on the cool side, you may want a light coat.

This Tradescantia is a great combination of purple flowers and golden yellow foliage, I have a lot of shade in my garden so I look for interesting foliage.

The Foxglove have bloomed this year, they do not self seed very well in my garden.

So I have foxglove every other year.  This year I bought plants and hope to have flowers again next year.

 I think Heuchera sanguinea 'Splendens' has the best flowers of the many varieties of heuchera. 

I have both the white and blue Peach leaved Bellflower, Campanula persicifolia, growing in the garden. It self seeds freely around the garden and will grow in sun or shade, it does not care.

Fairy Tale Rose (Floribunda) is a new addition to the garden.

 It has lovely golden yellow flowers, is vigorous and disease resistant.

 I will have to see how well it grows in the garden.

This is a very hardy groundcover rose, the flowers are 1" across.

It grows 5 to 6" tall, but will spread 3 to 4 ' across.

It is salt tolerant and pest and disease free. 

I hope you have enjoyed spending some time with me in the garden.

I am joining Tootsie at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday.

Happy gardening everyone!

Friends

I received a wonderful gift from my friend Valerie, Gardening in a Sandbox, for my birthday today. A beautiful teacup and teapot. 

The teacup has a butterfly on the side, I love these miracles of nature. 

 The bouquet of flowers was a present from one of my sons.

So on this rainy afternoon I shall enjoy my tea and cupcake.

Have a GREAT day!

Mosaic Monday - Iris and Quilts

  My interests in gardening, quilting and photography are represented

in this weeks' mosaic.  Please join Mary at

Little Red House to see some wonderful mosaics.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Whimsical Tea Cozy

I belong to a quilting class that meets once a month at a local quilt store for a morning of lessons and an afternoon of quilting. Today was our last class until the fall and I thought I would show you some of the cute tea cozys that were on display. You could purchase just the pattern or the fabric and pattern combined.  It was a very hard decision, but I came away with the pattern for the 'Zany Zinnias' Tea Cozy. The tea cozy patterns are from Bent Tree Hallow Designs, http://www.benttreehollow.ca/. 

 I will just add this to my ever growing list of projects that need starting. There is also the list of not finished and then the list of finished but not quilted. Wow, a lot of lists...so much to do and never enough time.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Plant Profile - Orientale Poppies

 'Royal Wedding'

Most species of poppies are short-lived perennials or annuals that happily self-seed in any sunny border, the exception to this is the longer lived Papaver orientale (Oriental Poppy). The Oriental Poppies are blooming in my garden and have large clumps of coarse, hairy foliage, with enormous satiny flowers in late spring.  They are nice in the garden, but will go completely dormant after flowering, therefore you need to plant something nearby that gets bushy in the summer to fill in the gap.

There are several good seed strains available in shades of orange, salmon, and red with a dark zone or eye in the middle of the flower.  Many named hybrids also exist, these are propagated from root cuttings and include both single and double flowering forms in shades of orange, pink, white and deep red.

They will somethings come bicolored or with exotically fringed petals.

Good drainage is crucial for the poppy particularly where winters are wet and all species prefer lighter soils and a warm, sunny location. These requirements make them an excellent addition to my garden.

I Won

I was sitting on the back deck this afternoon relaxing after a morning in the garden when hubby arrived with a box from the post office.

A few weeks ago Mary Lou at M is for Maga had a giveaway and I won, the box arrived full of goodies.  Are you ready to unpack, I am so excited to see what those packages contain.

The first package has this butterfly on a stick, it will look lovely sitting in a container on the deck.

A beautiful magnet is wrapped in a small box, is it not lovely.  There is a wonderful scent coming from the box, but I have not found the owner.

A box of hasty notes and three of Mary Lou's greeting cards. The greeting cards would look nice framed, Mmmm...I will have to think on that idea.  Are you starting to notice a theme, butterflies. I am amazed as I have a passion for butterflies.

The owner of the heavenly scent has been found, a bar of soap. It looks so beautiful in its' paper, ribbon and ladybug that I hate to unwrap it.

 

There is also a flameless candle and holder, it will be nice in the evening on the deck.

I put the magnet on the fridge, it holds the grocery list close at hand,

no more hunting for it on the desk.

The soap sits with a rose in the powder room and its' beautiful scent fills the air.

It is too beautiful to unwrap.

Thank you Mary Lou for this beautiful giveaway.

Please go visit her at M is for Maga.