Hooray, It's Snowing!

Normally, I would not be all that excited to see the snow falling. Remember, I am a warm weather girl. Today, however, I am welcoming the snowfall. It is covering up the neighbors ENORMOUS, BRIGHT, playground set and I am loving it. Looking at white is a wonderful change from the yellow, blue and red that I had been staring at for the past two weeks. I realize that I am being onery about this and that I need a little attitude adjustment but it is still bugging me. I'm working on it though. Meanwhile I am happy, happy, happy to see it snow.

A Little Greedy I Suppose

I confess that I am a bit greedy. We are so fortunate to have such a large and tree filled yard that when it's summer and the leaves are full we don't see anything from our home except nature. I love it. Mountains and trees and flowers are what I see when I look out the windows or step outside. That is until now. The neighbors behind us (who by the way are very nice and whom we like a lot) decided to put in a play set for their grandchildren. There is nothing wrong with that idea. We do everything we can to make sure our grandchildren want to be at our home too. The problem is that they didn't just put in a little playset - they put in an enormous one - two stories tall. And as if that isn't bad enough, they placed it as close as possible to the fence that separates our properties (a see-through, chain link fence!) so that it is visible from most rooms in our home and each time we drive up our drive-way it greet us. AND as if that weren't bad enough, it's not a natural wood or blend in with nature kind of color. It is bright royal blue, bright fire-engine red and bright sunshine yellow. As I said, I know that I'm being greedy but I am pretty sad about this new addition. It really changes how things look from our home. I guess I'm just going to have to learn to live with it.

Can It Really Be November?

I am sitting here looking out the window as I type this blog posting and seeing beautiful fuchia colored mums blooming and burgandy colored Bouganvilla blooming as well against a backdrop of emerald green grass. One would think it was mid summer instead of a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. I am not complaining, I am absolutely loving it. I know that it can't last forever but while it does I am a happy soul.

The Leaves Hang On

It is hard to believe that today is the 5th of November and there are still some trees that have most of their leaves on. I am not complaining about that - it's always a bit sad when the leaves have all fallen down and only the bare limbs are visible for the next 5 months or so. We have been blessed with some incredibly beautiful, mild weather the last few days. It was 72 degrees today and it felt like early September - I loved it. We went to see our little grandson play a football game and it was so pleasant to sit out and just relish the day and the entire experience.
His team won, by the way, and he scored 4 or 5 touchdowns - he's a pretty awesome player! I know that this weather can't last forever but I am definitely going to enjoy it while it does.

A Large White Blanket Covers The Ground

okay, I guess my gardening efforts for the year are pretty much done. It has been snowing for the past couple of hours and there is already a nice, thick blanket covering all the unharvested leaves. We wanted to leave them out for the grandkids to play in (which they did and had a great time) but unfortunately we didn't get around to bagging them yet. It is going to be a soggy mess when we finally do get to it. I just bought some tulip bulbs yesterday that I was anticipating putting in pots for spring blooming. Guess that plan will have to be put on hold for a while. I am gazing out the window and while I have to admit that it is beautiful I still am so not ready to say goodby to the good weather. Oh well. What's a person to do....

Enjoy The Day

I am trying to enjoy the beauty of this day as much as I possibly can because it may be the last nice day of fall for some time. Probably for certain it will be the last nice fall day while there are still any leaves on the trees. The forecast for tomorrow is SNOW! No, I am not thrilled to hear that but it is coming anyway. So I'll feast my eyes on the remaining golden leaves that cling to some of the branches in my yard and not think about tomorrow.

p.s. I did buy two and a half dozen pink tulip bulbs today that I intend to get planted before winter really does set in. They will be such a plesant pick-me-up when they bloom next spring...

Piles Of Leaves

Yesterday was raking up the fall leaves day. Today they are in huge piles throughout the yard. We purposely did not pick them up yet because today the grandkids will be over to jump in them which is something that is not to be missed. Seeing the sheer abandon with which the little ones skip through the leaves and throw them into the air is delightful. We expect to have four little people making showers of leaves later this afternoon (please don't let it rain!) How I wish the other four little ones could be here to join them. Most of the leaves have now fallen from the scrub oak trees and I am always a bit sad to see the tail end of the season. I know that there will be beautiful winter days ahead so I'll have to focus of that. Not, however, until we see the very last of this incredibly beautiful fall.

A New Look For The Yard

The emerald green grass of summer is now completely covered over by the beautiful copper, gold and brown leaves of fall. Since we have a large number of trees in our yard, we have piles and piles of leaves. They are a pain to rake up and discard but they are gorgeous now, covering everything. My adorable grandchildren came over this afternoon and threw leaves at each other and kicked them into the sky, running and laughing the whole time. It was so much fun to watch them thoroughly enjoying themselves in the bounties of nature. I've mentioned before that I am not thrilled that the wonderful summer season is over. Next week I believe it will be time for the clocks to be set back and that will mean that it is dark before 6 at night. Ugh. I loved the summer nights when it doesn't get dark until almost 10 p.m . Well, I had better get used to it - in another 6 weeks it will be dark around 4:30 in the afternoon. That is so not good.

Eden Is Moving Into The Fall Season

Those hot, lazy, wonderful days of summer are behind us now and we are at the beginning of the changes of the colors for fall. I actually love this time of year even though I hated to say good-by to summer This season is not only gorgeous but the cool, crisp air is also invigorating and makes one want to stay busy. It's a good time for me to re-organize the basement (for the upteenth time) and want to make soup and bake cookies, etc. The only problem is that this season doesn't last as long as I would like it to. It would be alright with me if it stayed for three or four months.
Meanwhile, I intend to enjoy every one of these beautiful, colorful, glorious days.

Fall Plantings

I'm enjoying the last of the summer flowers and they are gorgeous - especially the geraniums which seem to like the cooler weather and are glorious. Soon, however, they will be gone and we'll have to wait until next summer to see those beautiful blossoms again. Meanwhile, I am putting together a couple of fall containers filled with interesting tall grasses, orange flowers and ornamental cabbage. They look really cool for fall. Now it's almost time to get out the scarecrow and the basket of pumpkins. I hope time doesn't fly by too quickly - this is such a beautiful season.

Picture Perfect

I took a stroll around the yard this morning just before the sun came up and everything looked so fresh and beautiful. I know it won't be long until the weather changes and things will begin to look entirely different so I grabbed my camera and took some pictures of the gorgeous white phlox plants and the cheery, pink geranium plant. I'll print these photos off and display them in the office where I can look at them frequently (especially when the snow begins to fly and the flowers themselves are long gone). Thank goodness for the beautiful summer months so full of color and warmth and thank goodness also for cameras so that all this beauty can be captured to enjoy over and over again.

Success!

It worked again! I was able to leave all my hanging and potted plants in containers with an inch or so of water and for the most part they stayed damp enough for the five days that we were out of town. The wind blew over my two new fall plants so they didn't look so good, but all the rest survived quite well. I'm glad because I think they'll stay beautiful for another six weeks or so (if the weather cooperates and I'm hoping that it will). I'm not really looking forward to the leaves starting to change color because then I know that the summer season really is over but everything does look so glorious when the fall colors are in full display. I do love the fall season it's just the fact that I know that winter is following so close behind that bothers me.

Summer Season Is Fading Fast

Tomorrow is the last day of August - that means that summer is almost over and that is sad for me to even contemplate - I do love summer! The other thing about that is that I'm having to toss out quite a few more of my hanging plants (especially petunias) because they are doing so poorly. The Geraniums continue to bloom and look gorgeous and next year those are the only hanging plants I'm going to buy. I know that we still have 6 weeks or so of nice weather and I intend to enjoy every single day of that time because I know that winter will be right on the heels of those gorgeous days.

and again...

Did I mention that my spelling was atrocious? I really do know how to spell the word" actually". I'm signing off now before I make any more blunders.

A Hint Of Fall

We have had some unseasonably cool weather of late and it has been very refreshing. Not that I'm in a hurry to see summer end, I definitely am not. I have to admit, however, that cooler weather seems to appeal to the yard and garden. The intense heat and unrelenting sun took a toll on the annuals this year - they have been looking pretty sad, but the last few days have given them a bit more perkiness. The Bouganvilla is still without its' beautiful blossoms. I have noticed that every summer there is a "dormant" period when the blossoms fade and we have only the leaves to enjoy for a few weeks until new little blossoms spring up again. I'm waiting for that to happen - it is such a cheery and showy plant, I don't want to miss a moment of it. Winter will be here all too soon and all the blossoms and leaves will die. In the meantime, perhaps I'll try "talking to it" and hope that it will respond!

A Jolt Of New Life

Here it is, mid August and my flowers are looking pretty heat-worn and straggly. This is not acceptable because there are still at least another six weeks (how sad that summer has flown by so quickly) in which they should be blooming and looking beautiful. I realized that it had been quite some time since they were fertilized and decided that maybe if I gave them each a shot of the blue water that might bring some new life back to them. I sure hope so because their season is fairly short as it is and I don't want to lose a day of their beauty.

Strangle Hold

In reference to the garden what do you think of when you hear words like strangling, invasive, entangling and choking? There are a lot of weeds that tend to make a lot of work for any gardener but one of the worst for me is the MORNING GLORY. How did that obnoxious weed ever get a title that has "glory" in it? It has found it's way into every flower bed in the yard and crept up and attached itself to dozens of stems in the daisy patch and entangled itself throughout the lilies and the phlox. It is a major pain. I can't seem to rip it out without taking some of my gorgeous flowers with it. Perhaps I let it get too much of a hold before I started noticing it this year but hopefully I've learned a lesson and next year I will make a more valiant attempt to stop it in it's tracks before it spreads like wild fire.

I'm pretty much done with petunia's

Okay, I've decided that I'm pretty much done with petunias. They aren't my favorite flower to begin with but I do love all the briilliant colors they come in and I've always thought they could "take the heat". Now I'm not so sure. Two of my huge hanging baskets (they're not cheap to buy!) look completely frazzled and near death. I don't know what the problem is - too much water, not enough water, insects.....whatever. Anyway, I am going to have to toss them out and I'm pretty bummed about it. It's too late in the season to invest any more money in annuals that will be dying out in the cool temps that are coming up sooner than I want to think about. The plants that still look vibrant and beautiful no matter how hot it is, or how dry it is, are the geraniums. Next year I definitely will concentrate more on them. (besides that, I was able to "winter" 5 or 6 of them from last year which saved me a bunch of money this season!)

Hot......Very Hot

Wow - we are definitely into the hot days of summer - yesterday it was 102 degrees. I am not complaining (sweating, but not complaining) because I know that summer goes by all to quickly and then the long, cold winter will be here before we know it. The flowers are looking a bit fried however, and I can't forget to water them on schedule or they'll shrivel up and die in this heat.
The daisies are still standing tall and perky and the phlox have started to bloom. Beautiful!

Too Hot For Gardening

I had intended to go out and deadhead some blossoms on the geranium plants and the petunias but after being outside for only a few short moments I thought better of that idea. Talk about HOT! It's supposed to be 103 today and it feels like every degree of that and then some. I'll make sure to give an extra douse of water to the plants tonight because they'll need it to try to survive these very hot temps. Meanwhile, instead of broiling out under that hot sun, I've decided to come inside where it's nice and cool and have a cold drink and maybe write a little blog.....

I Don't Do Lawns

I haven't mowed the lawns for years. I used to do it occasionally when we lived 0n a much smaller lot, but this yard is close to an acre in size and a huge portion of that is in lawn so it's way too much of a task for me. However.....my husband has been ultra busy lately with a ton of "extra" projects (ie, helping our son and his family move from Arizona) and I'd really love to take a few days and get out of town but I know we can't leave until the lawn is moved (it's getting very high again) SO, I tackled it this morning and I'm paying for it now. I took it in stages, knowing that it would be a killer to try to do without breaks, but it was still a huge task. (and to be honest, I only did about a third of it) It's times like these that I am especially grateful for all the things my husband does (things that I unfortunately take for granted too often) I don't think I'll be too excited when the next occasion comes to mow lawns again. maybe it won't come for years again......

What A Deal!

Did I ever get a great deal the other day!! I happened to stop at this out of the way, hodge-podge store downtown and ended up being in the right place at the right time. They had just received a huge shipment of BEAUTIFUL annuals in hanging baskets and in 12" pots and they were marked at incredible prices. I purchased some of the most gorgeous zinnias (pink ones and yellow ones) that promise to give awesome color clear until the late fall. I also picked up an enormous, red geranium and a cheery hanging plant (I'm not sure what type of plant it is, but it is so pretty!). I made out like a bandit!!

It's Official!

It's official, daisy season has arrived. Oh how I do love this time of year, perky white daises are standing tall all over the yard and it is quite a sight to see. They have to be among the most cheeriest of all flowers. Looking at them just makes you feel happy. One caution though, even though they look wonderful, they don't smell great. It's like a dirty trick....you cut a bunch of daisies to bring into the house and you notice this really pungent, unpleasant aroma and sure enough it's coming from those adorable, white flowers. I'm going to enjoy the daisies, but just from outside this year.

Where Have All The Crickets Gone??

One of my favorite things about summer nights are the crickets. Laying in bed with my window open to the sounds of a symphony of cricket "chatter" is so relaxing. That is, it always has been until this year. It is now July 6 and still there hasn't been one cricket to be heard in my yard. I don't know if the snake population (I've seen a few over the years but don't know how many inhabit my yard on a full time basis) is detrimental to the little critters or not but if I have to pick between the two, I'll take the crickets any day. Here's hoping that some of them turn up soon.

Overkill

After 3 weeks off rain the lawn was looking exquisite. Emerald green would be the color to describe it; absolutely gorgeous. That lasted for about another week and then the hot temps and scorching sun began to take their toll. My husband (who is also my ever faithful gardening helper) decided it was time to fertilize. Oh-Oh. Now there are yellow patches here, there and everywhere on the lawn. An interesting look, but not exactly what I had in mind. Oh well, that's the story of life isn't it - too much or too little so much of the time.....

The Changing Garden

Almost daily now the garden seems to take on a new look. The flowers that bloomed a few weeks ago are now spent and dropping and beautiful new varieties are springing up to take their places. The white peonies (that were transplanted from my grandmothers yard to my mothers yard and then to my yard) were gorgeous but right after they blossomed the 3 weeks of rain came upon us and they didn't stand up to all the water very well. Hopefully next year they'll enjoy a longer season of being the most beautiful flower in the yard.

Loving it!

After days and days of rain, the sun has finally poked through and it is glorious! I know that we need the moisture, but enough already. The grass and trees and flowers need sunshine as well, just as I do. This morning my two darling granddaughters, ages 4 and 5 were out helping me pull weeds (along with gathering worms, rolly-pollys, flowers, etc) and it was great. It seems so much nicer to be outside in the sun working in the yard than to be inside doing just about anything else. It is such great therapy and I am so addicted. Now if the weather can just cooperate for a bit longer so we can string a few sunny days together, that would be awesome.

Hidden Dangers

Another drawback to the extra long grass in our yard is that it can conceal many things such as toys, rocks (unappreciated by the lawnmower) and other assorted treasures. There have been times when it has concealed things I definitely DO NOT LIKE, like spiders, bugs and snakes. Last year I actually had a snake crawl across my foot when I was walking across the grass.
Not Good. This morning my daughter-in-law returned from her early run only to be greeted by a 2-3 foot snake on our front porch! We all love nature but that's a little much I think.

Is Our Grass On Steroids?

How can the grass possibly be growing at such a fast rate!! It seems we just mowed it yesterday (o.k., maybe it was a couple of days ago) but already it is practically ready to cut and bale. I suppose it's a natural result of the recently applied fertilizer, hot sunny days and ample watering. I'm not complaining, I'd so much rather be working out in the yard (even with the grass knee high) than I would indoors doing housework. However, if it could just grow a bit slower I might find time to do some of the other garden chores that need attention. I guess I'll just have to start getting up earlier or going to bed later. hum......