All Things Garden!

Oh boy - it's been about a week since I last posted.  Shucks, it's hard to keep up with things when the weather is nice! 

I have been spending most of my time outdoors planting, and getting my gardens and yard up to snuff.  I am pleased to say it is really starting to look lovely.  We had all that rain (which we really did need) and now we have had a good amount of heat - so things are really start to grown and spread.

Last night I spent about an hour watering everything and because it was such a beautiful evening, and there were no mosquitoes around, I took some time to really take note of my plants.

I discovered that my climbing rose, which has tripled in size in the past month is covered with buds.  It is about  3 yrs old now and really has been slow to grow, and never had much in the way of blossoms.  I think this year will be much different.

My 2 peonies are not going to be as nice as usual.  They both don't have many flower buds at all, and usually they are so heavy with blossoms that even the cages can't hold them.  Wonder if this is just a peony thing, or if something is different with my plants.... hummmm???

I have discovered the bright red Lilly Beetle eating my lilies.  My neighbour pointed them out to me last year in her garden, and at that time they had yet to appear in mine - but theyare there now, and they are really doing a number on my plants.  They appear early morning and evening, and are neon red (if there is such a thing), but if they turn upside down they disappear on the plant... they really are clever little devils.  Best to remove them when you see them, and like my neighbour suggests - take a rock to them, or they will eventually wipe out your lily bed.

I added some different things to my perennials this year.  Bee Balm - which is gorgeous red when it blooms... not a colour that is easy to get in the garden.  I also have a small area where I have planted only blue and white varieties of plants (mostly blue).  This year I added a Sea-Holly which is very different in that it doesn't really bloom, but the whole plant is silver-dark blue all season long.  I am excited to see what it will look like in a month or so.

I also added some Herchera  - these come in so many colors but are nice as a border plant.

I have a sizable herb garden started on my patio (all in pots).  I hope to be able to harvest my own herbs for cooking and teas all summer long.

So now that you know what I have been up to, I hope you forgive me for not being here much.  The weather is just too lovely outdoors to spend much time indoors on the computer... but there are always rainy days - hopefully I can make better use of those too!

Enjoy the beautiful sunny days...