On A Hot Day

On a hot day (yea summer) this is what you will find blooming in our yard...

Our yellow yarrow is always the first of the yarrow to show it's colors.

I am almost positive that Sweet Pap gave us this yellow primrose last spring.

I love this yellow 'paper flower'. That is what I call is because the petals are as thick and feel like wood chips. Anyone know the name?

This is what you get when you don't uses your herbs fast enough. this is the prettiest little yellow tarragon flower.

We planted these red hot pokers last summer hoping they would bloom last year. So far this year we have three. Pretty good start.

Mark will know the official name for these...I just call them little purple flowers.

Love stella doras. Everybody has them. They make a really nice border plant after a few years of growth.

I was surprised to see this when I went around to the side of the house. Didn't realize it was time for the lilies to be blooming. Now I will have to check everyday to see what colors will appear this year. They are so elegant!

I started this from just a little twig from one of Betsy's knockout rose bushes.

Here is a blanket flower I had no idea I had. Mark kept telling me that is what it was. I was sure it was a poppy. I guess I learned my lesson, Mr Green thumbs knows his flowers.

We will soon be overrun by black-eyed Susan's. I'll harvest seeds in the fall if anyone wants some.

I wasn't so sure this clematis on the bed springs on the barn were going to make it back this summer. Seems Mark went on a little trimming spree and cut some of this clematis back. you don't cut some varieties of clematis back. Just leave them alone and the new growth uses the old dried stuff as a trellis. So far so good...keep your fingers crossed.

Now to be outdone...the sweet peas are getting a little plump. Sure wish Ellis was here to help me pick and eat them. Wonder if they would travel very well to CO?

A Rainbow of Color

I am hoping one day to have a clematis of this color. This one is at Ms Renee's mailbox and it is beautiful. I was worried when their mailbox got hit that it wouldn't survive. I think this year it has moor blooms than ever! It is way prettier than the picture believe me.

Mr John has the artistic eye of the neighborhood. He is able to mix colors and do things that you can't imagine. This is just one of the colors that he has at the mailbox with the clematis.

I was trying to take pictures of all the newest blooms in the yard. Yet when I edited these pictures in Picasa I found an added element...a water droplet.

This pink primrose came all the way from Papaw's garden in WV. He loves his primrose. We have some yellow ones too but I can't seem to find them yet.

I should know the name of this. Everyone has one in their yard. They are not my favorite and this is a really little bush. But it does add a touch more color.

I am so proud of these little peas...they are just starting to blossom. Noe is the deer will just leave them alone. I sure wish Ellis was here to help me pick/eat them.

I was out working in the rain yesterday while the kids were sleeping...cleaning up the ivy when I thought I needed a little trip to the bus stop flower bed. The daisies are going crazy. Then I noticed int his picture that just one of the blooms was still all balled up...just waiting for the right moment to bloom. Sorta looks funny to me.

Mark bought an arrangement in Hillsboro and this was just one of the flowers in the bunch.

This was another one.

This peony is so full in bloom that it weighs a ton ...then add the rain and it is having a hard time standing up tall. A little droopy even with the peony cage.

I found this little stella dora tucked in the green yesterday. It is the first of many, many stella dora blooms.

Beautiful Buds

This white rose is usually the first rose to bloom. But this year it comes in at a close second.

I posted the buds from this clematis a few weeks ago. And I think it has outdone itself. I just hope they hold on for another week so everyone can see them at the graduation party.

We have wondered what this little dainty pink flower is ever since we planted it. I can't remember where we were but I found one and read the card in the pot...mountain laurel.

And how awesome is the knock out rose bloom?

Finally a bloom.

I have waited patiently for this Cincinnati peony to bloom. Each day I peek at the big bud hoping it will bloom. With all the rain and a little bit of sun over the last few days...finally. And I am loving it!

Mother's Day Blooms

Log Cabin Plant Sale

This morning Mark and I got up early. Mark traded an early morning for a late morning so we could go out to breakfast and the plant sale at the Log Cabin in Anderson...all for me for Mother's Day. You might see some of these growing in our yard next year.


Actually, these are our clematis that are blooming on the front porch...from the underside.

This one is for you Andrea...remembering Daniel.

Flowers Busting Out All Over

The daisies are about to take over the 'bus stop' flower bed. And we think something might be sleeping in them at night.

Finally the big buds on the porch clematis are blooming. Absolutely beautiful...better than I ever expected.

And just lookie here...three different colors of clematis blooming on the ladder. Where did that third one come from?

I think I found this seed on FreeCycle.org. Someone had hyacinth bean seeds to share. I needed a climber and this sounded just like what I was looking for...and they were harvested in this ladies yard and she was sharing with me. I sent Cassie a few of the pods. Hope they can stand the crazy weather in CO.

Some Purple I See

This is the center of the purple clematis blooming on the lamp post.

Hey, Ms Yvonne do you recognize this chive bloom?

I love the combination of the pink and purple clematis on the ladder. The reflection in the mirror is nice too.

Ms Renee, jsut look at how many blooms you clematis has on it now! Beautiful!

I am not sure but I think this might be one of the iris that Ms Yvonne and I dug up down by the lake...before we knew that it was against the law to dig flowers up on the side of the road. Oops!

This is the first bloom for this iris this year. It is one that we planted on the wall be rebuilt last fall.

The Good Gardener

A friend of ours is the paster of Walnut Hills Baptist Chruch. He writes a blog called Parable Please. I asked if I could reprint this on my Gardening Blog. So with his permission...enjoy!

Monday, April 19, 2010

The Good Gardener
It pains me to look out my front door in the spring and summer.

Most days, I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Not that I have a problem with the neighbors.

I don't care about teenagers' cars parked in the street. I'm not concerned about any litter that has found its way into my front yard.

I don't even get upset anymore about people who drive way too fast down our cul-de-sac street.

The reason I hate to look out my front door...every single day in the spring and summer...is because I know what I will see popping up in my garden – WEEDS!

I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate weeds!

No matter how hard I work at trying to get rid of them...no matter how many times I send my son, Jordan, outside with weed-killer in hand...they just keep coming back.

I pull them. They come back.

I spray them. They come back.

I cut them. They come back.

I dig them up. They come back.

Just when I think they are all gone...when I finally feel that I can rest from my weed-whacking...just when I start to feel pretty good about how our garden looks......I take a peek out of my front door and there they are, popping up again!

It is a never-ending battle that I just can't seem to win.

In a way, weeds remind me a lot of sin.

Just like weeds, sin keeps popping up in my life no matter how hard I work to get rid of it.

I try to pull out sin by the roots, promising myself that I will "never do that again."But it comes back.

I try to spray out sin by sheer willpower, striving every day to do and say only the "right things."

It comes back.

I cut out sin by praying for help to "be stronger the next time."

It comes back.

I dig out sin by filling my free time with spiritual pursuits.

It comes back.

Like weeds, when I think I have overcome sin...when I finally feel I can rest...when I start to feel good about how well I am doing......there it is again, popping up in the garden of my life.

I just can't seem to win this never-ending battle against sin.And the truth is, I can't win it.

I have a sin nature that is a part of me, no matter how "good" I try to be every day.

There is only one way to get rid of these weeds of sin...I have to seek God's forgiveness through my faith in Jesus.

Here is how Paul described it in his letter to the Roman church..."What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it...I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't do it. I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway...something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time...Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions...Those who enter into Christ's being here for us no longer have to live under a continuous black cloud...The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." (The Message, Romans 7:15-25, 8:1-2 selections)

The good news is that some day, I won't need to worry about the weeds in my garden anymore. When Jesus comes again, He will create a new earth which I believe will be without weeds.And I will live with Him there, in a place where sin is gone forever too.

Pastor Greg

Finally Some Sun

Seems like this Blue Jay had the same idea we had today...fuel up for the Pig at Noodles. I got lucky, my camera was with me and I was able to click off a few good shots.

This clematis finally decided to bloom. Ms Renee planted it I think two years ago...her attempt at yard work. I think right after this she got poison ivy and decide that yard work was not her friend.

On the way out the side walk this morning I found the hydrangea leaf trying to make its way up thru the hosta at the front sidewalk.