A Busy Bumble

Volunteer Flowers

Geum doesn't seem to be a favored garden plant 

although maybe people like it more than I realize?

You tell me, do you like the geum?

They remind me of a yellow flower from my

childhood and when I looked for it I found it really

was a wild geum; geum macrophyllum.

This one is growing (volunteer) next to my fig, right now

it is bigger than the fig!!!

Here is a poppy that came up at the end of my pea bed while the

geum is at the other end of the bed.

This is my pea bed, the twig was for the peas to hold on to.

Apparently the weigela decided it was going to flower

even though I'd cut it off the plant.

I like the volunteers, they always add something

new to the garden.

It Is a Bug's World

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend,

mine was mostly lazy which sometimes can be a

really good thing. My back gets rather tired 

with all the time I spend in the yard and it seems

the tasks are never ending.

It was such a relaxing weekend

I forgot about the blog, today's post

is a bit late for that reason.

My Favorite Space....

...for now anyway.

Weigela and Centaurea, when I planted these together

I had no idea how great they would look.

This is my favorite space in the yard at this time of year,

well for almost all of summer I love this area but when

these are blooming it is even more fantastic.

Just for the fun of it a total contrast, can you see all the pollen 

on that tree!!!

I was going to do a Saturday's Field Trip but I forgot this was

a holiday weekend so next Saturday I will post a field trip.

Have a wonderful weekend, be safe and enjoy your life.

The Clematis Blooms

My evergreen clematis died back last summer

and this year it did not flower this spring but the other

clematis is flowering and I am happy to see it.

Of course I do not know which variety it is

but if I would ever go through my stack of plant

labels I one day may actually be able to

id more than a few of my plants!

Columbines

I honestly cannot have too many of these flowers.

Plenty of Pretties

I swear it doesn't matter what color they are, I love them
but I mostly prefer these little ones.

Which name shall we go by?
Pansy, viola does it matter?
Well in my little ole space I call the larger

flower ones pansy and the smaller ones viola/violet. 

I am warning you right now there are more than

a few photos. I can't help it, I take lots and lots of photos

looking for the right one and then I end up filling up

my computer and there are lots of right ones.

What about you? Do you take a lot of photos,
Or is there something else you "hoard"?

One of the garden mates.

These little ones look a bit ragged, something ate well.

Cute as a Button!

Is it wrong that I like to use exclamation points?
I find life exciting even with all it's troubles, 

so much beauty to be seen in so many places

and so much to love.
I feel like a kid sometimes with my

use of the word love and the 

exclamation point but it is how 

I feel - excited and happy to have seen 

such a cute little button flower in such 

a beautiful area and I feel blessed to

live in such an area.

Here is the cute as a button flower and
do come back Saturday for a field trip.

Saturday's field trip happens once in awhile-

usually after we've been on an adventure.

I love adventures!

(insert your childlike enthusiasm for something and you will get it)

This is a bit of a fooler, a trickster. 

The blue flower was growing on a tiny stalk with

hardly any noticeable foliage, the foliage you do

see belongs to a different plant - A wild strawberry.

I tried to id this and it seems as though I should know what

it is but I can't seem to think of it.

 Hopefully someone knows and tells.

A LA Flowers

Aren't these pretty little flowers?!

What plant do you think this is?


If it were me I'd probably puzzle over it 

a bit then do a search.

I'm not sure if I would figure it out or not!

Red twig dogwood flowers aka cornus sericea.

Happy weekend to you.

Mushrooms!!!

These fun guys were growing hidden away

at the arboretum. Pretty color on fun guys always

screams to me STAY AWAY!

I don't actually know much about mushrooms

other than to not eat them unless they came from 

a grocery store.

Of course people hunt wild mushrooms

and I'd love to be one of them but I just

don't know much about them as of now so

I just assume they are all poisonous!!!

Beautiful Flowers

We saw these at the Seattle Arboretum,

I think they are tree peonies.

Yellow tree peony-  Paeonia lutea  (and I can't read the rest!).

This is a bit blurry, sure do wish it had been a better 

photo of this beautiful flower. 

Blue Potato Bush

My daughter and I had spent some time wandering

around one of the local towns, an outing for 

gluten-free food and coffee.
We found both in Ballard along with this

beautiful plant.

I was surprised when I first saw it, I thought

they required heat and protection.
Then I realized that the location was rather

warm as it was surrounded by

gravel and brick.
~

I've come to realize that just

a few minutes south of our home it is

warmer then where we are located at.

This just means my micro-climate

isn't the warmest for gardening.

I would not be able to grow this plant unprotected

in our yard. We saw an artichoke plant

in the same area that was quite large

and loaded with artichokes.
My artichoke is growing larger but no buds yet.

~
I feel like I should place bricks around my

plants now, although not practical!

~

I should mention this plant is part of the nightshade family -
it isn't edible and any berries it may produce are not
edible and is generally considered poisonous.
The flowers are quite similar to the potato flower
and I am assuming the name of the plant
comes from this.

A Very Pretty Volunteer

This popped up last fall in this planter on the front

steps, I left it to see what beauty awaited me.

A Different Way

I like to use different things in different ways,

a repurposing if you will.

I've always thought that I'm a tiny bit of pack

rat but not real bad or anything, there are no huge piles

of things to fall over and crush me (hoarding at it's worst).

My family comes by it naturally, my Grandma raised her children

through the Great Depression and she taught her children

and her Grandchildren to reuse as much as possible.

Sometimes I set something aside without knowing

what it will become. Sometimes it becomes nothing

and I send it on it's way but every once in awhile I

think of something....

A coffee bag.

Our lilac has to be trimmed once a year as it grows right

up next to the house. I saved the trimmings and this 

is what I made.

Hoop House is A Success

Back in February we put up a hoop house,

you can see it here.
The seeds came up decently and they are

far ahead of similar plants without the protection.

About a month back I planted seeds in an unprotected

bed and they are barely an inch tall so if I'm comparing

the 2 then the hoop house wins!

It was past time to weed in there, the grass clippings

are placed between plants to keep the

weeds down and to feed the soil.

When I put this garden bed in the soil was, well 

it was somewhat missing. Digging out the grass takes

away a fair amount of the soil and we replaced it with

potting mix because that was what we had!
Maybe not the best choice, I think aged compost

may have been a better idea but then I would have

had to head to the store and I didn't want to!!!

Things seem to be growing alright but it does tend to 

try out a bit. When these spring veggies are done 

the peppers will go in here, I think that will be 

a great success! 

Amazing color on these 2 veggies, purple kohlrabi
and beets!

In a neighboring bed peas were planted, I'm thinking

I should have covered them with floating row

cover as the growth has been slow and the soil

is still cold.

BUT WAIT - our temps are to hit almost 80 this weekend,

warmth arrives a bit late!!!
I expect the soil to warm up on it's own now

and the peas to shoot up like rockets!!!!!