In The Garden - April 23

We've had a beautiful, albeit unusually dry spring. Most years, spring is my favorite season as the yard looks wonderful without much effort. This year is no exception!

A shot of the new clematis (montana rubens) growing on the new pergola.  This is only one year's growth!  I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this variety years ago for the other side of the pergola.

Close up of the Clematis montana rubens flowers.  They are quite lovely, I think.  And, they're also lightly scented.  Very nice!

Another close-up of the clematis.

Full view of the lilac near the garden fence.  So far, I am really happy with this shrub.  I knew when I planted it that I would need to keep up on the pruning as we have no need of a 12 foot tall behemoth in this spot.  An annual renewal pruning has thus far kept the plant in bounds and kept the flowers within sniffing distance of my nose.  And Peri's nose, too...notice the blooms near the ground.  I've found Peri standing there sniffing flowers several times.  lol.

Close up of the big lilac spikes.  And the fragrance - c'est magnifique!

A 'Dukat' daffodil in a pot on the patio.  I'm really pleased with these.  Bought on sale at Lowes last fall.

My renegade species tulips by the steps from deck to patio.  They are everywhere this year!  No one would know that I dug up about a hundred of them last year to give to Nathan and Carin.  And the flowers are much bigger than most years.  I think I started out with five tiny bulbs of each color (I also have yellow ones that bloomed a few weeks ago.)  I'm still looking for some bulbs of the lavender color of species tulips.  Would love to have some of those, too. 

Unusual Guest

This morning, as I walked past the sliding glass door in the family room, I noticed something white flying across the backyard.  At first, I thought it was a plastic bag drifting along on the wind.  I was wrong.

Not my best photo, I know, but I was shooting through the sliding door, on a rainy day, in cloudy conditions.  lol.  Excuses aside, what a treat to see!  A white dove!  She was all white, no markings anywhere that I could see while he is a soft grey brown.  At least, that's my best guess as to gender as the grey brown bird was considerably bigger than the white one.  They only stayed in the yard for around a minute, so I'm glad I took my none-too-perfect picture when I did.

In The Garden - April 12

All of a sudden - Poof!- it's spring around here.  Everything's blooming, everything's growing and if it's not doing either, it's time to plant it or prune it!

There are dozens of these little pea plants.  They look so sturdy and green against the brown soil.  Can't wait until they start producing those yummy peas!

My very disappointing asparagus bed.  With about 50 square feet of asparagus bed, I'd hoped for more than 3 spears at a time.  Grrr.

Looks silly, I know, but this method has been working pretty well for the last  couple of years.  After laying the beet and carrot seeds in the bottom of an appropriately deep trench, I fill the trench with sand.  The sand doesn't crust over like our soil does so that the seedlings don't struggle to come through.  I still add a few radish seeds to each row to help mark the row and because I like having a few radishes at a time.

This is a good news, bad news, pic.  In the foreground is the incredibly productive Italian soft-neck garlic that I planted last fall.  Every single clove produced a plant.  They're growing great and will be an awesome addition to my salsa and tomato products.  The bad news is the elephant garlic that is fizzling in the middle of the bed.  I planted 12 cloves and only two came up.  That is really disappointing.  Behind them are the onion seedlings that I bought at Lambert Floral last week.  They have the best onions! 

My 'Rutgers' tomatoes are staying warm and cozy in their walls o'water.  The temps have dipped to 28 since I planted the tomatoes, but they didn't even notice the cold.  I also added two 'Early Girl' tomato plants (again from Lambert) to the bed.  Those will be my own 'put tomatoes on everything' crop.

Close up of the Korean spice bush.  So beautiful and sooooo fragrant!

The Korean spice bush in all its spring glory.  The fragrance fills the back yard.  I've even caught Peri sniffing the flowers.  lol. 

We had an unusual 'snow' storm yesterday.  All these petals on the deck in the back yard came from the Callery pear tree in the front yard.  The air was thick with the petals, a kind of sweet spring blizzard.  The street in front of the house is covered as are the sidewalks, lawn and cars.

Finished - ish!

After about three months of daily effort and over six months of planning and researching, the living room/hallway is done!  At least, the painting is done.  I love it!

The new wall color is 'Belle Grove Buff' which translates in real life to 'just about the color of dry beach sand on a sunny day'.  Here are a couple of shots that better show the contrast with the 'Ivory Lace' trim...

I used Valspar Premium eggshell paint and, as always, love it.  It goes on smoothly and dries to a really beautiful finish.  The chicken pox were well hidden with the first coat, but I applied a second coat anyway to ensure durability.

Still to be done:  blinds in the bay window and a new coat rack on the wall behind the door.  I'll also be warming up the sewing machine this week to make valances for the family room and kitchen.  It's only been a year since I decided to do that!  Quilt Etc. had a great sale last weekend so I was able to get the 'Sassy' by Moda yardage that I'd been drooling over at a great price!  More on that later....