Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Brooch #10 and hellebores

Brooch #10 was not going to befall the same fate as brooches 8 & 9... So I kept it simple. Hard to crack a pearl...






Kind of nice and minimalist...


And I just had to share a bouquet of hellebores from my friend, Debra's garden... Spring at last!




Monday, April 9, 2012

let the gardening begin...


My gardens have been in a sad state since last Fall when I told them I was done, they could put themselves to bed... This Spring, when we've had a nice day here and there, I had other things to do, mostly spend time in that little basement studio. Today I finally got myself out there and boy am I feeling it!
Noticed lots of little things in bloom, especially the Akebia vine with it's heavenly scent...

 
Usually blooming in March, it's a bit late this year most likely due to the cool weather we've had.


It's evergreen, with a very pretty leaf. The flowers consist of small flower clusters and an occasional larger single flower. I think it's the male and the smaller ones are the females. The scent is really lovely. I get a waft of it every time I walk out the back door and if the weather is warm enough, I can open the window and let it in.


Most of the daffodils are gone, but tulips are still hanging in there, in fact I had tulips come up this year that I know weren't there last year, and no, I didn't plant any last Fall. The last time I bought a bag of 100 tulips at Costco and never got them in the ground I learned my lesson... bad me.




I really couldn't tell you what these little guys are. The were bulbs that I planted some years ago and they really multiply, so be careful, I have to dig a bunch out every so often to keep them from taking over. And the kaffir lily is the same, but easily managed. I've given them to people all over my neighborhood. Around here, you'll get blooms all year round and they look kind of like miniature gladiolas or iris. Very sweet with an insane deep salmon color.


I cut back the ferns and already see the fiddleheads emerging. The hostas are coming up and looking good. I love the colors in this little clump! It's amazing what you can find when you pull away all the debris...


The always reliable bleeding heart planted below the akebia trellis and one of a few camellia blooms that survived my husband's "pruning". 


And last but not least...well, I actually got this done first thing today and that's probably why my knees aren't working so well right now... the vegetable garden. Planted in the strip between driveways, but getting great sun, I tilled, amended and planted onion starts, and spinach, lettuce, chard, and snow peas from seed. About a month or so later than I had wanted, back then when I was doing my taxes...


Flores wasn't a huge help. Every time I got down to put the seeds in the ground, he'd put his nose in my ear. But he was nice company... Happy gardening!


 

Friday, June 10, 2011

a bit more in the garden...

I'll get back to jewelry soon, but today I'm taking most of the day to prepare for my oldest daughter's graduation from college tomorrow. Cooking mostly and figuring out what I might have to wear that hasn't seen hard time in my studio! But I took the camera out because the garden is just looking so promising.























Clematis Nellie Moser has been abloom for weeks now and I see the hollyhocks are coming along nicely. An old peony that was here when we bought the house in the early 80's has a bloom. A branch from the Ginko is to the left. This is the side yard.



This old fashioned rose is called "Evelyn". It smells great!  Also in the side garden.


My big, unruly peony in the front garden. Fantastic for cut flowers! The little purple flowers on the right are native orchids.




Heuchura in the front garden. And one of Marta Farris's pear sculpture's in the back garden. I picked it up last October at the Local 14 art show at the World Forestry Center in Portland. I bet she'll have more this year...

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mystery Peony

















This is my earliest blooming peony. I rescued the tuber from a neighbor's yard prior to them laying sod over their flower garden several years ago. It's quite large as you can see from the next photo and has only ever produced 2 blooms for me. It's quite stunning so if anyone is a peony nut out there and knows the name of this beauty, I'd love to hear it!




















measuring about 6" across


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Spring has sprung

Walking around my sadly neglected yard today, I realized that we are well into Spring, even if there are a few hours of winter yet to traverse...

The hellebores have been blooming for a while but they're tucked away and often go unnoticed. Note to self: find a better spot for them.

The bulbs are doing their thing, happily without my help.


And the camellias are becoming quite showy
oh look, a pollinator!


Happy to see the sedum Autumn Joy poking up,
and the huckleberry will produce a crop for the birds again this year!

I have to say that I'm most excited to see all of the peonies have survived neglect and will be spectacular again this Spring!
(one of 6 peony plants, all of which I can't live without!)

I promised my yard that tomorrow, if it's not too hot and not too cold, and if it's not raining, and just as soon as I get the stones set in this pair of earrings I'm working on, and of course put off doing the taxes for another couple of days, I'll come out and pull weeds, trim branches, clear out the dead stuff and prepare the vegetable bed. I really, really will.