Morning Glory

This morning was hurried and rushed. The alarm went off late. Our pup needed extra TLC. Where did I put my shoes!? The lid to my coffee cup was purposely hiding in the rear of the cupboard. My coat sleeve was that awkward inside-out and got stuck.

Oh, and did I mention the truck had to go into the shop?

So by the time I managed to get out the door, I was already frazzled. I tossed the keys in the truck, got my bag stuck in the door and tripped over a hellebore as I made my way out to the street to meet my ride.

Then I turned and glanced at our chionodoxa.

Ahhhhhh.

It was going to be alright.

Flying Bulbs

2 days and over 18,000 bulbs - and they're all gone.  Every last one was picked up by a resident of one of the hamlets of our town to be lovingly planted in their gardens, alongside the roads and in front of churches, synagogues, schools and bus stops.

Well, probably lovingly at first - and then they'll just start tossing them in the ground.  18,000 is a heck of a lot of bulbs!

Honestly I really didn't think that we would be able to get enough people to take the bulbs and agree to plant them.  They did, though.  I think it has a great deal to do with my DH's gift of gab.  He talked up the planting project from one end of town to the other - and people were really enthusiastic about it.

Now comes the waiting for Spring and hoping that they all bloom their little hearts out!  It's going to be gorgeous.  You gotta love flowers.

The Great Bulb Giveaway

Today my DH and I were bulb sitting.  It was the Great Bulb Giveaway - what all of that money we raised this past summer with the garden tours goes for.  We gave away chionodoxa - glory of the snow.  Little blue flowers that pop up in Spring with the forsythia, making our front yard look like a salute to the University of Michigan Wolverines.

 We had 2 type of daffodils.  The people voted and everyone wanted yellow this year - so I picked these teeny little Baby Moon Narcissi.  So cute!

And then the taller Quail Narcissi.  Very traditional looking, I think.

I had the most fun picking out the tulips, though.  These are Menton tulips.   The catalog said they are the very last tulips to bloom, so even if winter lasts forever (and the farmers are saying that it's going to), the tulips will still bloom.  I love the old rose color on the outside and the apricot inside.

Then, just to mix it up a bit, Menton Exotics.  More apricot, but still blending nicely with the old rose ones.  They should look great together.

Finally, for the War Memorial, I found these lovely Red Impression tulips.  They look like they're a real pure red.  Fitting for the memorial and their red, white and blue theme.

All of the bulbs (and the pictures here) were from Van Engelen Wholesale Dutch Flower Bulbs.  The Garden Club always buys from them - great prices, great product.

I have to say it was too much fun to spend a few thousand dollars on flower bulbs - I love shopping!  But it was even more fun to see all of the smiles on people's faces when they came to get some free bulbs to plant in their gardens.  I was really pleasantly surprised that so many folks came and got bulbs to plant on the roads, by churches, at school bus stops and other public places.  It was exactly what we had hoped would happen.

It's nice when things work out like that.  Especially when it involves flowers.

Sunny Flower Day

Today might be one of the last warm days of the year, so I thought I'd have a little fun with my Jerusalem artichokes.

Okay - that sounds a little strange...

I thought I'd have a little fun playing around with a picture of my Jerusalem artichokes in Photoshop.

Much better...

These are the second to last vegetable from our gardens - the last being the Brussels sprouts, which hopefully will be ready just in time for Thanksgiving.  Even though the Jerusalem artichokes practically take over the entire garden in the spring and I have to weed them out of everywhere like mad to keep them contained in their little section, I keep them around for this fantastic display in the Fall.

I love walking through the parterre and having their sunny flowers dancing in the breeze way above my head.  It makes me feel like a kid again - running through meadows, picking flowers, months of vacation time and convincing my little sister it was her turn to do my chores.  (Sorry sis!)

So when the sun came out this morning and it warmed up like August, I just had to play --- even if it was only on the computer.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I don't know what it is about some of the flowers in our gardens, but they make me want to take out everything from the background except for the bloom.

Maybe it's the brilliant color.  But probably it's the way that the light shines through the petals.  It looks like they're absorbing the sun directly.

This rose looks to me as if it is made out of porcelain.  Its' petals seem so delicate and fragile.  Even though I know that it would take a bit of effort to tear them - and I'd probably get pricked by a thorn when I tried.

I never had much luck with roses before I found this Knockout Rose.  They would get black spot or aphids would eat them to the stem.  I was really good at growing rose canes, not so much at getting blooms.  This one blooms from May through --- well, as long as the weather holds.

All in all, this Knockout Rose lives up to its' name.  It's October and there are still a lot of blooms growing.  Some parts of the bush have gotten a bit of mildew, but the overall plant is thriving.  That's what I like about disease resistant rose bushes most of all.

Oh - and a Midnight Muffin Madness note.  My DH is bringing pie tomorrow (pumpkin - I'll post), so the muffins will resume next week.

Hardy Horse

Our quiet Saturday was not so quiet.  We had a good start - reading, drinking coffee, playing with our pup.  But then things quickly spiraled into busy-ness.

I packed up a quick picnic lunch - sandwiches, chips and water - and we jumped into the truck to head off to the final flower sale of the season.  (I promise I sold more than I bought!)  Then it was off to dinner with some of the flower club members.

Then, since we were on the other side of the county, we had to get some shopping done for those things you just can't get near our bucolic manor.  You know, trickle chargers for the truck batteries in winter and the like.

We also took a close look at a greenhouse.  I really thought that we would get it, but no dice.  My DH pointed out that it wouldn't handle the snow load, so after all of the research and checking and pricing it out, we had to pass.  (And it was on sale!)

Then we stopped to get some frames for our Town Hall.  We had the fundraiser last winter to put lights on 2 spruce trees so we're going to put up a photograph and acknowledgement in Town Hall for all of the donors.  I think it's sweet, but trying to find a frame that is nice but won't look dated 50 years from now was a bit of a challenge.

My reward for all of this was spending 5 minutes at a lovely yarn shop, browsing for some fiber for my next project.  Unfortunately I didn't find anything that was "perfect, just perfect".  (And since my DH was there, it really was just 5 minutes!)

On the way home we were supposed to stop at a nursery to pick up our hardy mums for the Fall planters.  This proved to be too much for me and my DH to handle so we continued the drive home.

Once home, our little pup was a bundle of energy since she was cooped up inside all day.  She demanded some serious attention and a long walk.  My DH was wiped out, so our pup and I went for a nice little 2 mile stroll (pull, tug, walk 2 steps, repeat).

12 hours after we left for the flower sale, I finally sat back down in my reading chair to pick up where I had left off.  My eyes weren't cooperating - they kept closing.

At the end of the day I couldn't help but think about this horse.  She's on her feet all day long - when I leave for work in the morning, when I come home at night - and she has 4 feet.  I've never seen her even laying down for a roll in the dust.  She just keeps going.  No complaints.

I dont think I could ever be a horse.

Marsh Mallows

I found an unexpected surprise when I went shopping, the wetlands were covered in flowers.  I supposed that they are there every year, but I just never noticed them before.

They were tucked into every nook and cranny behind the vines and shrubs.  The bees certainly had no problem spotting them.  They were everywhere - buzzing from flower to flower gathering nectar and spreading pollen.

From a distance, it really doesn't look like there are many blossoms at all.  Just a few flecks of white here and there.

But when you get a bit closer, there are yellows, reds, purple and those lovely white mallows.  

Wetlands dripping with blossoms at the end of the summer season - it was a wonderful unexpected surprise.

Now if I could just get my late summer garden to do that!

Flower Painting

I finally made the time to finish the watercolor painting for the thank you cards that a started working on a few days ago.

 Now all I have to do is decide which ones are good.

Which ones are passable.

And which ones could have been better done by a blindfolded chimpanzee.

The only problem is that right now, I don't have any perspective on them.

Okay - maybe this one.  I like the flower blossoms, but I don't care for the stems.

And this one - I like it a lot.  Especially the little fallen petals.

Fortunately I made extra, so once I get my DH to help me decide who gets which, I can just toss the worst of the bunch without having to paint more.

I think this little exercise has gotten rid of my yearly desire to paint.  It's sort of like when you bake for the holidays.  By the time you're done baking, you don't want to eat any of it, let alone bake anything else - for months.

Let's just hope that my little paintings will be well received!

Containing Continued

I first planted this container in early June.  Now it's overflowing - just the way I thought it would!

It really didn't look like much - sure, it had potential and gave a hint of what was to come, but seeing it all in bloom now.  Cool.

This is what it looked like when it was first planted.  The colors were kind of washed out.  There certainly wasn't any fullness to it (to be expected).  And it was more of a concept than a reality.

But now - 8 weeks later - it is dripping with gorgeousness.  You have to love it when things work out like that.

Collector's Sale!

My DH and I went to the iris and daylily bareroot plant sale today.  The prices are - OMG - so incredibly low and the flowers for sale are - OMG - so incredibly pretty.

I got that really pretty icy light blue iris (second one back).

This is where I buy my irises.  The collector's go out and spend mega dollars for the flowers when they first come out on the market.  The newer the flower, the higher the cost.

My DH picked out that yellow and purple one in the back.  You can see we are going to have to have 2 different beds to put them in.

The collector's fuss and pamper and grow these beauties until they are mature enough to start dividing - sometimes they wait up to 10 years before they divide.  Then they turn around and realize that there's no more room in their garden to plant the same flower (they are saving room for different ones), so they clean them and sell them - really cheap.

I also got that light blue with white falls in the middle there.

Of course, the collectors think of them as just another one of the same flower, but I think of them as a grand shopping extravaganza!

And they toss in some freebies as well.

Some folks don't buy bare root flowers.  They want to see them in bloom at the nursery and buy them then.  Then they take them home and plant them in their garden - and are usually disappointed that they don't bloom as well - or at all - the next year (or three).

This is because the root system isn't acclimated to the new garden.  It's not "established".

The plant from the nursery has been 110% cared for and tended to its' entire life.  It never had to search for nutrients 'in the wild'.  It was served breakfast in bed, so to speak, ever since it was a little cotyledon.  (Those are the first 2 leaves of a plant.)

When the pampered princess gets to their garden, it usually gets planted with (maybe) a handful of time release food, watered a couple of times, and then it's left on its' own.  Well, if it has a lot of foliage, leaves, flowers to gather food for - and if it doesn't have strong enough roots to go gathering that food, it's not going to do well in the garden.

That's why I buy bare root.  It gives the plant enough time to acclimate its' roots to my garden and to grow nice and strong - get established.  Then, when it's ready it will flower.

And if it doesn't...well, at least I didn't spend a couple of hundred bucks on a plant that won't grow for me.

You just have to love the collector's sale!

Water Flowers

We have to send out thank you cards to all of the gardeners who opened their gardens for the tour - so naturally given the choice of either purchasing thank you cards or spending hours making thank you cards, I, of course, chose to make them!

I'm painting impressionistic flowers in watercolors on cold press watercolor paper that I've ripped down to size, and then I'll attach them to the front of card blanks, add a personal message - and voila! Custom crafted thank you cards with original paintings.

So these are my first 2 paintings.  I showed them to my DH and to L-.  They loved them.  I'm a little more critical, but I think they'll do just fine.

I got a new watercolor brush and I'm not quite used to the way it lays the paint down, but I think by the next card, I'll settle into the stroke of it.

And I have 7 more paintings to do - so by the end I should be much better.

Some might prefer the store bought cards, but I think paintings are a really nice way to let someone know how much their contribution meant.

Besides - I find it so very relaxing...and fewer calories than baking!

Relaxing

This hibiscus flower was so lovely today, I just had to share.  I love how flower seems to be using its' stigma pads to soak in the heat of the sun and direct it into the hot pink center of the blossom.

My DH enjoys the hibiscus standards along the iris garden and spends his spring tending to them, encouraging their blooms.  So today when I spotted this bloom, I took a moment and enjoyed it.

Each year we put out a hibiscus or two for him to fuss over.  What can I say - he has a talent!