Bouquet........and Barbecue.

For company we needed a spot of color on the table.  I brought in the last of the peonies and also a few of the hydrangea.  Some hydrangea are still partially green and haven't turned white.  My wife turned it into a very colorful bouquet.  The hydrangea leaves really add to the arrangement.  I have never brought them inside as a cut flower before so we will see how well they do.

We  had burgers and brats with all the other good stuff for a great picnic on the patio.  Andy and  Patricia , our son and his wife from Chicago, were our guests and we had a great time.  It became too hot by late afternoon so we came inside and sat at the dining room table for conversation and a cup of coffee.  It was cool in the house so the coffee was good to end the time. The birds at the feeder did a great job of showing off by eating at the feeder while we all watched.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

My Macro World...........

Hydrangea

I really don't know the time when these turn white but I really don't remember them being in a green stage at first.  I transplanted one of these here in the front of the house 5 or more years ago and they have really spread out to be mature plants.  It is the traditional old fashioned white one that you see around a lot of the older houses planted along foundations.

I received a note from a high school graduate friend of mine yesterday.  She was asking me to consider letting her bring her garden club tour bus to see my gardens.  I was flattered but very embarrassed.  I plead innocent to the fact that I have shown off my gardens somewhat.  I also confess that I am a better macro photographer than I am a gardener. I have lots of nice plantings that look good together as I do understand good design.

 What I don't have is the ability to have a great lawn and to keep my gardens weeded.  The creeping Charlie owns my yard and I just don't have the time or money to deal with it right now.  Also my garden flowers are not all planted in groupings.  So I may have an iris blooming here and 10 yards I will have another.  My orchard area is planted with stray things that have no organization other than I have temporarily planted things to get them into the ground and I will move them elsewhere later.

I will not have the summer to get my yard and garden in shape and I am sliding into another job right after the last day of school.  I haven't planted my perennials for this year and I may not as I am too tired, lazy, busy to maintain them and keep them alive.  I will plant zinnia's as they are easy to maintain.

I might send her a slide show of all the photos of my flowers so she could do a presentation with them.  My macros seem to be cropped so you can't see the glaring weeds or creeping Charlie or bad gardening skills.  I also don't have a drop of mulch to make my place look better.

My red peony bushes are now taking their turn to be in bloom.  I have them planted in three different locations but one of them is being crowded out by an old fashion rose. It has only a couple of buds on it this year so I will move it after it blooms.

The smaller rose has many blooms on it this year.  The one on the right is one that is just opening and the one on the left is fading away to the dropping of its petals stage.  The brown from the freeze in April is visible on all of my roses.  When I clip them back after blooming the new ones will not show any damage.

My mock orange bush is an old one.  It has grown to be so large.  It was better looking when I first moved here 30 plus years ago.  I will probably start removing a third of the mature branches and see if I can get it to be a smaller bush.

I am a floating sub today, working in the special education room in the morning and then will be reassigned to another job in the afternoon.  I haven't had a tech day for quit a while as bad spring allergy colds are hitting the staff and students.  There are a lot of track meets and golf meets that take teachers away from the classroom also.

Thanks for stopping by my post today.

Hydrangea in the fall........

The hydrangea continues to be a showy plant in the fall.  I really hadn't noticed it but while I was out and about looking at all the red colored leaves I saw this great yellow and green pattern.

The brown colors of the blooms are also very nice to see against the green leaves.  We were very cold last night, below freezing, and it isn't going to warm up much today.

A grain wagon sits abandoned without it's wheels.  I don't know the story as to why this is not on it's wheel base but there must have been a reason. There are two different wheel setups out there on the farm but both are without a rack or wagon bin.

It sits next to the barn door and the trees have grown up in front of the barn's two north doors.  No entrance or exit will be taking place until some serious tree trimming takes place.  There are other doors that are open on the south end so one can enter the barn.

I am a shop teacher today and it is cold out here.  It takes time to get the heat from the large shop repair area into the classroom.  One has to put a fan in the door and circulate the cold air and hot air until the room is warm.

It seems to be a bad start of a Monday for me but things will get better.  I have a good class right now and the rest of the day should be pretty mild.  The students are given study hall when they have woodworking to do as the teacher wants to be here for their construction work.

I return to the farm one last time today after school as to help ready the place for final inspection from the city.  We needed to clean up some things so they would meet safety codes even though it is a farm and not directly in a housing area. The farm does sit in the city as they captured the whole area many years ago to call it their own. There is another farm to the south of us and farm land to the west of us also.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday.