Working outside

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day after the recent rains.  Everything is growing like wildfire and there was grass to be mowed.

My gold and burgundy Asiatic Lillies are blooming at the end of the trailer,

and

 this is an odd Lily that I bought at Wally World a few years ago.  It's coloration reminds me of sidewalk chalk.  I thought I had dug up all of this to move last Fall, but some of it remained behind and came up again this Spring.  That's a good thing, because I never got around to replanting the bulbs I dug, and they didn't make it !

Looking at Betsy's blog today, I was inspired to set my round pavers into the ground at the back steps.

 I've had them sitting there on top of the grass for probably 2 years now, and she made me realize that it would be easier to mow across them than around them !   I did not think about trying to level them, and I found afterwards that water wanted to pool around them, so I've tried to channel it away.

I've added moss in between the stones;  I hope I've improved that area.  Thanks for the motivation, Betsy.



This section of flower garden is at the edge of my yard, against the woodline.  I bought composted manure and top soil to add to this shade garden this year.  I tilled in it roughly a few days ago, just trying to loosen the soil around the things that are already planted there.

 Today, I sprinkled the manure all over, and then the topsoil.  I planted some Petunias that I found on clearance at WalMart, even though they say that they prefer full sun.  I hope they do well there. It gets maybe 4 hours of direct sunlight per day this time of year.  I've been playing around with that area for 4 years and never quite made it into a GOOD flower garden.  I added a Coleus near the back where it is shadier,  and a Hydrangea, lately.

Hubby provided another 12 Miracle Grow spikes for shrubs and trees, so now all of the Rose of Sharons, Crepe Myrtles and other things are fed.  I treated the Hydrangea with the Bayer product that I bought for Black Spot disease, as it had started again.  The rose bush was treated on May 10th.

Yesterday I got all of Jen's Contrary Wife quilt top cut out after having to replace the background fabric.  And, today I received another project from Joide, with 2 more quilt tops to piece.  These two are couch-size, so I am looking forward to doing them, but first comes the queen top for Jen.

It's raining ! Praise the LORD !

And it is supposed to continue throughout the week, which is good timing because I have another commission to work on for Jodie Ann.  It will be a quilt top using the pattern, "Contrary Wife/Ornery Husband.

 It takes rain to keep me from doodling around in the flower gardens all day !

A quick tour this morning produced a few pictures.

This Lily is one that was here when I bought the place, but I think that this is only the second year that it has bloomed although this is my fifth summer here.

 The color of the orange is SO GORGEOUS, just a bit different from Tiger Lillies.

Hubby's garden plants are growing well with the exception of the little okra seedlings which don't seem to have changed much this week.

The tomatoes have bloom on most of the plants.

 The squash is blooming this morning, and has little baby squash all over the place....of course, we usually lose the first few to rot, and then they start to produce good, big specimens.

The cucumbers put out little 3/4 inch baby cukes, and then began to bloom.  He has put out SO MANY that I hope I'm able to can a few jars of the sweet pickles using the recipe that I tried two years ago.  They were a refrigerator pickle recipe that didn't have to be pressurized.

I love my blogging friends !

I remarked in my last post that I couldn't post some pictures from my camera because it wouldn't let me copy them to my SD card.  Lovely fellow blogger, Maggie, commented that I might have a USB cable that came with my camera to transfer directly to my computer.   I thought that I had looked for one before, but I took a chance and found the box, and sure enough, there it was !

Hooray.........photos recovered !   Thank you Maggie Ann !

Now here are the photos of the Roses.  I'm so glad to recover these photos since the bush with the pink roses had more blooms than in any year that I've lived here !  And now, half of them are spent and have dropped their petals, so there was no chance to retake the pictures.

I just threw in this picture to show
 the Daisies and Coreopsis that I have
 started underneath my maple tree.
   Love it !

Where does the time go?

It's nearly the middle of May.......phewwwww, zoooooom.......gone !

I can't seem to get myself to do ANYTHING in my sewing room.....I'm constantly outside doing some little thing in my yard.

I have a few new flower photos, but my camera kidnapped the latest shots of my Rose bushes and won't let me have them back.  We want to purchase a new camera, but the ones I've looked at in our local Walmart store don't seem to have a place for a memory card.  I know it's been over 10 years since we bought our digital camera, but what am I missing?  How do I get the shots onto my computer without an SD card?

Purple Salvia

Sweet William

More Sweet William

Double Knock-our Rose

Bearded Iris

Siberian Iris

Siberian Iris cluster

Knock-out Rose

Old-fashioned Rose