Flower Arrangements

Our latest trip to the flower farm (about 2 weeks ago) produced several tulips, blue bachelor buttons, a few poppies, purple lunaria, and some yellow daisies.

 Not the prettiest form, but I like the colors together and the vase.

 All in all, a cheerful little arrangement. The pink tulip I cut from our flower bed to complement the pink poppy.

This one was definitely a hodgepodge--all the ones with really short stems.

I had a little helper with the arrangements. :)

 My favorite.

I really like the color combination.

The yellow daisies throughout give it some uniformity, as do the tall stalks of purple lunaria.

Then the lighter purplish-blue bachelor buttons add interest without distracting. 

After I was done with this one and stepped back, I realized that it needed to be in a much smaller vase.

I always tend too big on that account, and it was painfully obvious this time. They looked stuffed in, instead of having a little stem showing between the top of the vase and the bouquet.

I'll have to keep that in mind for next time and go with one smaller than I think I need.

Maybe I can go back to the flower farm when Brenda gets here next month. I'll bet she would love it!

And perhaps check out some books on flower arranging in the meantime. :) 

Flower Pots

My pots are a little different this year, partly because I needed to use what I had grown from seed, but also just to mix it up a little and see what happens.

On the left: wave petunias, around the edge, with a basil plant in the middle.

Right: yellow marigolds in center, 4-5 cosmos on the edge, plus 3 wave petunias.

The pot with the cosmos looks a little strange right now. They are much taller than the marigolds. I'm hoping that the marigolds will grow bigger and it will balance out in the end, but we'll see! The cosmos were so floppy, I didn't feel like they could be in the middle. I may yet add some small-flowered filler plants.

Wildflowers on the Slope

I have been delighted to find several wildflowers growing on our back slope, without my intervention!

The grass is so long on the slope, that it's hard to see anything from far away. I actually trimmed it down around my apple trees, so I could see the violas! It's too steep and bumpy to mow.

Maybe in a few more years there will be enough flowers growing that the grass will not thrive quite as much. I don't mind it too much--it makes the slope pretty and green right now, but I know in the fall it all dies off and is just brown and ugly (see pictures from last fall when we moved in.)

I'll have to take more pictures when these bloom, but here are a few:

 There are several patches of this kind--I believe it's a daisy of some sort.

I knew these must be different when I saw them springing up in several places.

Then just last night I was paging through my "Wild Flowers of the Pacific Northwest" book, and happened across them. They are lupines! I haven't figured out yet which subspecies. I'm looking forward to pretty purple flowers!

 Biggest patch of lupines, just down from the far-left blueberry bush.

I am delighted to see so many, because I thought we had killed the only one (pointed out to me by the previous owner), when we dug out the garden beds.

 Another patch of lupines, and on the right--some kind of berry vine.

My guess would be blackberry, but I don't know for sure.

It has rooted on both sides of the chain link fence, and as you can see, its growth habit is along the ground instead of upright.

This picture isn't as good, because I was already in my skirt for church, (and my garden shoes), and I didn't want to get muddy climbing up there!

 You have to look closely to distinguish this one's feathery fronds from the surrounding grass.

I'm not sure yet what it is. It may be from the wildflower seed I sprinkled around early this spring.

So far it's the only one of its kind on the slope.

And then there's these less-than-lovely plants.

I've got 2 or more in the back flower bed and I've seen at least one of the slope.

Leaves look too grassy to be milkweed, but it has a milky white sap or latex oozing out in several places.

It looks like it's about to bloom, so I'm waiting until it does to see if I can identify it before yanking it out.

I'm pretty sure most white sap is poisonous and I wouldn't want the kids getting a hold of it.

I should probably just yank it regardless, but it is also tangled up with the irises, which are all blooming right now. I have not yet run across it in the Wildflowers book. :)

If it was a native plant, beneficial to butterflies or something, I would consider leaving it on the slope, and warning the kids away from it. But we'll see.

Garden Boxes and veggies waiting

 The beautiful sunny weather yesterday made for some good wall-building!

Jason was able to get the top two levels done, except for the capstones (which will make for easier walking).

Now all we need to do is get the dirt in them--maybe on Wednesday he'll get the big tractor back and we can transport our several yards of dirt from the front yard to the back.

Here's what's waiting to go in them:

Basil, grown from seed

It's looking pretty sickly, because I planted it in this tub before our trip--knowing that it had no holes in the bottom to let the water drain out--but figuring it would keep them from drying out while we were gone.

Yup, you guessed it. I think it rained the whole time we were gone.

They were in 3 inches of water when we got home. So we'll see if they survive that little experience or not.

This little tangle is beans, grown from seed, and purchased tomato plants.

Beans aren't going to make it (see earlier posts on that fiasco), but I'm really hoping the tomatoes will pull through. I've got a 4-pack of Gold Nugget, a 4-pack of Roma paste tomatoes, and 2 individual Cougar Reds. I will probably direct seed some more beans.

By the way, I found my seed box from Springfield! Hooray! So that gives me a few more options, as well.

These are the two pumpkin plants, grown from seed, that made it.

As you can see, I got them potted up to the bigger size before our trip (with drainage holes, thank you very much), and they look the healthiest of all so far.

After we get everything here planted, I'm planning to purchase or direct seed squash, cucumbers, peppers, beans, possibly some corn, and sunflowers.

Back Flowerbed and Apple Trees

 I'm thinking more and more that this mystery plant must be some kind of geranium.

The pink flowers look a lot like geraniums.

 Irises are blooming!

I just love how they smell. They always remind me of my Grandma Fuller--she used to have 3 or 4 rows in her garden, just for irises of all colors.

 A couple tulips hanging on. You can see the marigolds I planted out.

And all the weedy jungle going on.

 Borage planted out, and thriving.

Irises, tulips, and big ugly weeds.

 Back apple tree--a few blooms left.

This one being more in the shade, it bloomed about a week later than the front one.

I'm hoping there's enough of an overlap that it will be pollinated still.

 Still lovely and cheerful.

Raspberry bushes.

I was trying to show that I had done some weeding at least, but the joke's on me--

this picture doesn't show the ground!

Mystery Bush Revealed

Azaleas

 There's 2 on the street-side of the east fence. Just one pictured above.

This is one too: backyard, northeast corner of the fence

(same shown below)

They're all blooming on only the bottom third of the branches, and look quite twiggy.

I think all three need a good pruning.

They will probably also all need to be relocated before landscaping projects take them out.

Now that I know what they are, maybe I can find a place for them.

Some options: 

1. on our back slope

2. side of our driveway, one the pile of junipers and debris is gone.

3. next to the shed once it's completed

Side Yard Blooms

 Actually these diminuitive tulips are in the front flower bed, between the scraggly bushes.

I just never see them because of the large evergreen shrub blocking the view.

 So these tulips turned out to be red, after all.

 Some other flower--we'll see what it turns out to be.

 These pretty tulips are still going strong, and even that one daffodil is hanging on.

Pretty sure these are daisies...along with the juniper that still needs to be taken out.