BEAUTY

TO ME, THERE ARE FEW things more beautiful than flowers and butterflies... so when they are together, well... I run for the camera. This little beauty kept me company for quite a while this morning while I was watering the garden. Just thought I would share...

WARM ENOUGH FOR YA?

Well, we are at the roasting stage... it is above 75 when I get up in the morning, usually before 6, so I can go out and water things before I pass out from a heat stroke. This morning, breathing outside is kind of like trying to breathe underwater. I am sure the humidity is about 300%, maybe more! The temps are supposed to be in the 90s for several more days... heat index in the triple digits. Sigh. The ground is dry, a hard thing to believe after months of walking on spongy earth, on ground so wet it sucked your boots off if you stepped in the wrong place. So, I thought I would reminisce a little, and share some coolness with you.Remember when the snow was so deep I had to shovel a place for Punkin to go potty?

Snow Buddhas... I could take a snow blanket for a few minutes. Maybe. Feel better now?

LILIES IN MY YARD (and a few other things)

NOPE, NOT THE LILIES IN THE FIELD, these are some of the lilies in my yard. I have loads of these, they were throw-aways from my previous house… the were just tossed into the edge of the woods when I first moved here, but the woods got cut down and the space they were in got cleaned up and is now mowed…

The rest are in various garden spots around the yard. This one is very small – note my hand under the bloom to give an example of size.

This is another old lily, it has been divided and shared for years. I like the dark color.

Most of my other lilies were gifts, and they all came from Sterrett Gardens.

Even Buddha has his favorite lilies. 

And this is my favorite… I think there is a slight resemblance to one of the ancestors of Happy Happy! Dontcha think? She’s just about big enough to share… 

It is also the season for Hydrangeas. My biggest one is magnificent. But I also love the color on the smaller one.

In the veggie garden dept, I just pulled my first cucumber and gave it to Beatrice and Grenville. It is my policy to always give away my first born, I was taught to do that by my grandmother. Here is a new baby. I love the shape of the leaves and the curling tendrils.

And St Fwankie is standing among some glorious colors this year… he just needed to be seen again.Look at that red!

A FIELD TRIP

FER REAL! A TRIP TO A FIELD! OK, not just ANY field… how about a field of day lilies????? My neighbors, Pat and Dorothy, took me with them on a field trip this morning to Sterrett Gardens, down in Craddockville (VA). I have known about these gardens for years, but have just never gotten there. Sad how that seems to work…Anyway, it is an amazing place, and I thought I would like to share a bit of it with you.

Actually, the first thing I noticed (and appreciated) was the lack of formality.   I mean formal gardens are nice and all that, but, well, as you can see by the pictures of my place, I kind of like islands of vegetation with mixed plantings in them, often with a small tree or at least a tall camellia in the center, or rows of “stuff” all mixed so something is blooming at any time of the year, or is green in the winter and probably has bright red berries.

The next thing I noticed was the hydrangea that is like my new one, I had it on one of my last postings, only, of course, this is much bigger.

I am excited about this.

In my garden, with one exception, you will not find much yellow after the daffodils finish, and never any orange. I will try not to bore you to death with pictures of lilies, but I was shocked when I came home to see that almost every lily picture was of a red lily. Or on the pink side…  

and a token cream color… 

But my absolute favorite was this one.

Is that beautiful or what? This was the first shot I took at the Gardens… and this was before I read the price list.   Lilies are not my favorite flowers, I do have some, but I seldom pay any attention to them. Anyway, here are some shots around the house and into the field. And the “office” where one sits and pays for or places orders for their lilies.

Now you might ask, so how many did you buy? Zero. I may go back in Sept and get a bunch of red ones… but I don’t want to get any now and lose them to the heat of the summer or worry about them while I am away. Now this is the one I really would like to have… its name is Happy Happy. Its list price is currently at $250.00 per plant. I think I will wait on it.  Now that I look at it carefully, it sure looks like the very first lily I photographed, doesn’t it?

WHAT? ANOTHER BLOG????

YEP, due to popular demand - I have succumbed to the pressure of my admiring public (both of them) and have started another blog - POSSUM'S PENNY PINCHING PROJECT POINTERS - which will include all kinds of ideas for gardening on the cheap, building projects for the klutz (that would be me) and other dumb stuff that can save you time and money - or just makes good sense (and cents) - even sometimes scents? (I am so glad I learned English as a kid because it sure can be baffling.)

Anyway, come visit me and my back yard projects at http://possumsprojects.blogspot.com. At least I think that's where it is. Or go to my profile and click on something that sounds like that. LOL!


So many projects, so little time (money) (energy)!