. Wednesday, November 7, 2012 .


What? Roses In November?

. Wednesday, September 19, 2012 .
Do you think they will turn red before the first frost or should I make fried green tomatoes.

Saving these seeds for next year.


The rabbits getting a treat of a stem from the sedum.  They love it!

limelight hydrangea

Never realized we had any of these.


Walk Around The Yard

. Friday, September 14, 2012 .



September Blooms

. Thursday, September 13, 2012 .
...well, at least for me!  Does anyone know if these guys can sting?  And what are they actually called...other than bees?



According to the book that Ellis just got at the library...Kids Discover (Vol22, Issue 6, June 2012)...this is a bumblebee.  These bumblebees are slower than honeybees and rarely sting.  They look fatter because of their hair.  They only make enough honey to feed their young.

According to Lester Peyton, the Front Desk Naturalist and my new best friend at the Cincinnati Nature Center...the bees above are Carpenter Bees.  This one is a male and he can not sting.  The females sting (on occasion using their ovipositor (egg layer).  going to have to look that one up

The males have the white face.  And you can tell the difference between bumble bees and  Carpenter bees by their abs.  Carpenter Bees have shiny hairless abs while bumble bees have hairy abs.  Bumble bees both male and females sting.  

I can just see me now checking all the abs of any bee that comes into the yard.

Backyard Friends or Foe?

. Wednesday, August 22, 2012 .
We are on a septic tank for all the things that run through the piles in this house.  First a well in WI now septic in OH.  Guess I will just have to move back to WV to get city water and sewer!

Look what I found growing in the dirt that needs to be tilled and moved around the new tanks and stuff they had to do to get us up and running again!  There are actually four of these lovelies growing and blooming plants.  I'm thinking they could be yellow squash or zucchini.  The rebuilt has stopped until these can be harvested.  I just hope that all the deer that seem to all of a sudden to be hanging around don't find them.

Growing In The Muck

. Friday, August 10, 2012 .
....that anything growing outside these days could survive the heat and humidity.  Please understand these are the survivors...I wouldn't ever show you pics of the other flower beds in the yard!
First year for these.  Love them under the bottle tree.

One of Mark's Beauty Berry bushes has berries.

Volunteer sunflower

When I was cutting grass i was shocked to find this lone gladiolas.

About now I wish Icould grow raindrops!

Hard To Imagine...

. Tuesday, July 31, 2012 .
I was weeding the other day, when it was about 500 degrees and thought to myself..."there has to be an easier way to keep these weeds out of the cracks between the bricks."  And low and behold that night I saw something on Pinterest...in the very wee hours of the morning.  That crazy site is wrecking my sleep pattern!


Simple...sprinkle it where you don't want the weeds...it messes up the PH in the soil and nothing is supposed to grow.  Anything not to have to weed between the bricks. I sprinkled it in two places...under the pergola and in the brick pathway to the fire pit.  The weeds look like they are starting to die.  So I picked them out of the path and left the pergola bricks alone...so I have something to compare.  So we will see what happens!  I'll keep you posted!



Well We Will See

. Wednesday, June 20, 2012 .









Starting To See Lots Of Color

. Monday, June 18, 2012 .
The birdhouse on the fence are coming along rather nicely.  If I can just keep the squirrels from knocking them off every time the jump on the fence!.  And by the looks of things we might have some black-eyed Susan's soon.

And we have a rather creative new addition to the hosta bed.  Doodles kept it a secret this year!  I love my new frog...just have to come up with a name for him...Jaden or Sally, what is your vote?

Newest Collection

. Monday, June 11, 2012 .
Betsy found a note stuck in her front door yesterday about a free garden tour.  On the brochure was written 'a must see!!!'  Well, we must go see it.  Off we went with our brochure, cameras,a gardening hats and GPS in my phone.  Oh and we were not disappointed at all.  As a matter of fact, we tried to get the family to adopt us...you'll understand when you see all the shots we got.  I wish I had gotten more but we were to busy talking to the owners.
Even before we say all these chickens I knew I was going to love the place.  We are in Anderson Township...land like this...OMGosh!  I have died and gone to gardening heaven.  We drove off the paved road to a gravel road covered with a tunnel of trees...the driveway of my dreams.

Every last on the place was labeled!  I know that took years to do.  I've tried to do it but my permanent marker always seems to fade.  The answer...get a label maker!

seating and music everywhere

Mimosa

A bamboo bed that made a very comfortably cool path to the chickens....yes chickens....in Anderson!!!

love it!


All the chickens are names and they all begin with the letter T.





Great idea!  I keep mine in a mailbox near one of the flower beds.

needing one of these

Goodwill here I come on Saturday...Senior Citizen Day

pot boy








Trying to figure out how I can talk Mark into putting in an outdoor shower.

Gotta find some old mailboxes.  Betsy and I cam away with not only great ideas but some of those seeds in the mailbox.

The story behind this garden....The owners son and daughter-in-law lived here in the 2,000 square foot house first.  Then they got pregnant and the now owners decided it would be a good idea to just do a house swap!  Can you imagine!  The now owners had a house that was 4,300 square feet.  Six year later they have added on to the house doubling the size and created a wonder garden haven!

Yes, it is a MUST SEE!

Garden Tour House One