Monday Morning......Moments.

I have lily of the valley.  We moved in last year at this time and I really didn’t have time to appreciate this crop. I even thought this year earlier that I may need to being some lily of the valley down to the new place.  Well I have taken notice and I do have and almost invasive batch of it.

One of my new daffodils is the two tone one.  It really is one of my favorite kinds.  I had a variety of bulbs so I really didn’t know if I would get a chance to have one of this color.  I am pleased to see that I have. Blurry shots are typical for my camera when the sun is so bright this morning but I think the shot does represent the flower good enough.

Out front in the house I have a variegated vinca-like vine.  The flower does look like a larger form of the vinca that I have with plain green leaves. It grows in a very restricted area by the front steps but at this point I don’t know where I would move it. I have a geranium variety there also that really does crowd it out.

I have three of these mound shaped plants.  They did leaf out with a soft leaf and the flowers remind me of phlox. The grape hyacinths are still blooming as the rains kept them growing.

The mourning doves continue to court each other and I await to see where they will nest.  They definitely will have fertilized eggs when the eggs get lain in the nest. I figure that if I keep the water out there and some seed at the tree feeder they will stay in the area. They love to walk the rails of the fence and to still sit on my deck even though I moved my feeder away from it.

It is Monday and I have lots of things that I can do.  I guess I will see what I get done by the time the sun sets.  I noticed my neighbor’s to the NW have put in their tomatoes. I need to buy some plants.  The yards are all mowed now and weed eating needs to be done. We will have a warm day with sunshine and that is good.  I hope everyone is well out there and thanks for checking in on my blog.

Sunday....

The bradford pear trees are best looking with the blooms and ten leaves. I am trying to record images quickly as the white flowers are starting to fall to the ground already.

My neighbor took his down. I guess he thinks it is too much work to have them.  He asked me how I could stand the bad smell that they give off.  He was shocked to know that I didn’t smell anything bad about them. That was the second conversation with him that was suggestive that I  needed to get rid of them I guess I can put the flowers up to my nose and the smell is different but not a bad smell. The neighbor two up from me has his two trees growing and he added more trees last summer of different varieties.  Originally all the owners were required to plant two of them but after 15 years they have been thinned out. I have to say that I won’t have a plain, treeless or flowerless yard.  Those next to me will have to just get used to it.

I do admit that my two are different in size and they look funny because neighbors on both side have cut their trees down. Once my burning bush and the locust tree leaves are out the whole area looks good. The locust tree unfolded leaves the past two days and that will be fun to  photograph.

Down on the ground the hosta plants are really taking off and showing off. All of the hosta plants that I moved to the new place have come up and will be established for good after a summer of growth. This is one of my favorites even though I like the others.

We are going to have another good day.  The sun shines and the need for a coat is gone.  I like the short sleeve weather and wearing shorts is a great thing. I do think the weather is so good that I will have to mow the yard more than once a week. The good rains have blessed us all.

I wish you all to have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday Showings.....

The multi petaled tulip did finally open up to be almost a rose instead of a tulip. It took a few inches of rain to get it to bloom out.

The one of these that I brought inside really has not opened up like the ones that are outside. I brought the yellow tulips from the old place.  I cut them and stuck them into my water bottle so they would not take a hit without moisture.

Spring has come late here and at the old place there are a lot of things that are behind in development.  The lilacs are not blooming yet and a lot of the hosts have not shown yet. The honeysuckle is behind too.  It will all catch up now that we are having normal temperatures.

We have been to the bookstore in the morning and I have to finish my mowing this afternoon. The neighbor hood is a buzz with everyone trying to get their yards mown for the first time in the season. The grass is not all up yet so the level of the grass is not perfect at this time.  By next week I am sure that it will all be grown up evenly.

It is good that it is the weekend and the weather is good. I now have plenty to do outside and  it makes things pretty busy. I hope al are well.

Tornado Country.....

It was an exciting afternoon yesterday as we had weather sirens going go in numerous areas of the town.  We have our own town siren and then there are a couple more south of us and north of us. This is the unaltered photo of the look of the tornado scare that was west and north of us. The colors of the tree are a subtle green but everything really looked black and white. The whole evening was filled with storm warnings from the television set. By late evening the warnings did all settle down and it was quiet outside.

The morning sky looked like this as things were clearing away from our night before activities.  I did see that we gained and an inch and a half of rain through all of it and we did need that. The total of about 3 inches we have recieved the past few days are really great. Because of all the rain of the past few weeks north of us our local Saylorville  lake is filled to the brim.  The rains of northern Iowa do end up in the Des Moines river that dumps into our lake. The spillway keeps the Des Moine River filled for its path stretching further south.  I have been noticing a lot of tree debris in the lake and huge logs that have joined the mess.  I did see pelicans on the lake this morning as I visited the old place. I am thinking that they are going to start stay down here rather than flying north.

Our grass at both places does look this good.   I mowed up at the old place the outside surrounding yard of the house.  I will return another day to finish the back yard and side orchard area.  I need to mow the yard at our home now but wait until Saturday to give it a chance to dry out good.

We get to enjoy some of the flowers from the old place when I remember to pick them. I try to leave some in the yard so that it doesn’t look so plain in the garden areas.

The colors are mostly yellow now in the garden but one smaller one has the pink and green colors.   I did dig up an iris and moved it here.  It was an old fashion one that was growing out in the old raspberry patch.  It rarely bloomed so it will perk up in a new garden area.  I decided to move some phlox also. I have a lot of the flower at the old place and I don’t like how it invades everything.  I will find a place where it can be kept away from other things.

A mild spring day is welcomed after all the storms.  I think I need to rest for awhile now before I move on to other projects.  Thanks for checking in on me.

Things for Today.......

The rains come and go.  Our evenings seem to be the tie that all the lighting and thunder take place. The storm fronts seem to come in at a diagonal and pass over quickly.  We were fortunate to not have any tornadoes form even though the conditions were right. We are cloudy again this morning with the chance of storms in the afternoon.  The grass has grown in height to make the first mowing to be a very difficult one.

Bradford pear tress are wonderful. On our street a lot of people cut them down. Our property was spared because the guy who lived here for 13 years was a gardener and appreciated them.  Other streets in the development have these trees lining the streets completely but ours is not like that. The rain and wind did not seem to bother the blooms at this time.  I do know that they will fall quickly once the tree things it is time to move on to the next stage.

I do think I am close to being focused with this shot.  I take five shots and only one resembles a focused shot. The white flowers are hard for the camera to capture.

This is a mature bleeding heart plant as it is a large plant that comes up quickly and grows to be a big plant. I didn’t move the one at the old place as I thought it should stay for the next people living there.  No, I have not sold the place yet.

The package says it is a double leafed tulip. My package shows it to be a pink flower but this is not pink. I don’t think they have opened up enough to look good. I had numerous bulbs and they are blooming later than most of the tulips.

It is a day of working around the weather. I have my plants in the basement all moved outside now with the rains watering them now.  Three different hardy geraniums and the agapanthus have been freed from the basement. I really don’t have plans for today but I will figure things out as I go along.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday’s Wonders.....Not.

The bunny and the goose look like they are looking at each other. At first, it looked like the bunny was worshiping at the goose altar.  In reality the bunny is eating quickly off the tops of the tall grass.

I could not see him very well at the back of the yard but when I zoomed in I could see why the grass was better there. I could see that he wouldn’t have to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden to eat vegetables with so much grass is growing.

I did get one more photo of the rabbit as it moved over to the area of the blue spruce. It will be interesting to see if any batches of babies show up in this area. There are great white hunters in my neighborhood so I worry about their lifespan.

The photo is entitled “Three Trees and a Bush” with the view from our front door. The two bradford pears at different heights is shown along with the locust tree in the foreground. The burning bush is on the right with leaves forming now with the warmer weather.  I was digging in the garden yesterday and I can attest that the soil is still very cold and has not warmed up.  I had a chunk of my clay soil in hand trying to crumple it and it felt like it came out to the 40 degrees F. refrigerator.  We have a week of 70s forecast so the ground will warm.

We started out cloudy this morning after the rain in the night.  I guess we may have more rain late this afternoon. I will now have to mow everything with the moisture triggering the grass to grow quickly. The rain has sure helped out with the flowers.  I have some peony plants that I moved to the new place and they are sprouting up many stems as if they have always been planted there. I am sure they like the clay soil.

The backyard daffodils ended up being normal looking, even though the first bloom in this bunch was deformed.  The trumpet to the bloom is so fascinating of a shape.  I remember seeming my first blooms when I was a kid on the farm.  The former owners had planted them and they would come up among the weeds and grass out by the farm well. Seeing them pop up among the grasses was so magical with its perfect form coming up out of nowhere. This is the variety that we had on the farm back in 1955. I really don’t think the daffodil multiplies as it stays in the field but I will know if there are more the three as the years go by.

Traveling off on an errand around noon time so we will be out today. Dodging the weather does work if you keep an eye on the radar.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Spring Rains.....

Roving photographer in the back yard is reflected in the window.  I don’t wear hats but I have for the last few days.  It is cool enough to wear a stocking hat but I think it is dumb-looking to wear one in April. I like the double images caused by the double paned window.  We have yet to replace those curtains. We did not pick them out and I will never like them. Right now they are not a priority and they serve their function without good design.

The Canadians are moved off to the lawn for now making them statues and not lawn ornaments.  My neighbor now puts out one of his duck decoys in his flower garden.

I will need to mow in the back yard and I guess I decided to simplify my life for a while by storing them there and not move them around in the yard weekly.  I can change my mind.

I have not seen a single leaf sprout on the pruned back shrubs. I don’t know if it is getting ready to put out new branches or if they will leaf out and grow.  Time will tell and then I will know. I have seen magazine articles about this shrub and they show examples of how the cut them off to the ground each fall.  I maybe should have done that but the dogwoods were so overgrown that this seemed like a good short height to leave them at.

We are having a rainy morning and the leaves are just popping out as it rains.  I have a maple in the back yard where the buds just opened up this morning because of the moisture. I am anxious to get the trees leafed out now as the bare branches look out of place in the spring season.

In the planting of these last summer I had to clear away about six inches of the river rock.  I then found the clay soil under it and dug my holes for the single hosta plant.  It was a blind faith practice that I use a lot and look at what it is doing. This is one of my favorite kinds of hosta and it is really going to be a showy plant.

When it stops raining I need to start cutting off the dead heads of the roses in the same location. They will bloom if I don’t but I think it is a cleaner look if I get the dead stuff off of the rose bush. If I were keeping up with the Jone’s, I would have that job done already.  The neighbor was out working this morning before seven o’clock clearing and clipping in the early morning hours. I was just getting up and taking the dog out.  It did start raining within ten minutes after that so he did get rained out from his garden work.

A welcomed rain is suppose to happen for a few days.  I can already see the green in the grass becoming bright and healthy. It is great to see after the long winter that we had.  I know that mowing will have to start but I do know hot weather follows and slows all that growth.  I will see the new planted peonies really jump start now and the iris is getting taller too.  I hope everyone is doing well out there and thanks for stopping at my blogspot.