The garden sure is doing well......

My front garden that I planted a mere 3 years ago is lush and full of life. Not only ants and spiders that like to dwell there...but all the wonderful colors of the flowers that I've planted and have been given as well. It sure is nice to sit in my front yard on my bench and sip on a tea while the neighbors walk their dogs and I am gazing at my workmanship. I feel as though it's a "Baby" and I'm so proud to show it off when people are walking by and say, "Wow...sure is looking good" As they probably remember it before all the plants and hard work went into it. When it was a bare yard that the school kids used as a "path" to get to school each day. Here are a few pictures of the garden as it is today May 31st, 2009.

Taracotta


Here are a "mesh" of snow in the summer and baby blue eyes that decided to "Co-mingle" LOL It doesn't look that bad and so I won't try and separate them.....YET! LOL Right behind them is a mass of lovely geraniums that will soon bloom a sea of purple....


Here is a closer look at the greenery of the purple geranium...given to me by my friend Crystal


Here are the beginnings of my favorite flower in the garden....it will soon have stems that will shoot off several deep red lilies....I just love these.



Here are the "yellow loosestrife" that will soon have the yellow bell flowers swaying back and forth from the long green stems....they multiply rapidly and in three years they've been given away, separated and I STILL have a ton. LOL


Here is a side view of my front garden. It's grown beautifully in 3 years and I couldn't have asked for better results from ALL my plants in those years. I guess with a little TLC and of course sun and water...anything can happen! LOL


This is the view from my front door area...I will see the tall Yellow loosestrife show their bells soon and it will be a wonderful view from my livingroom...just as the dwarf forsythia (which has now shed it's flowers and is going green) to the right of the loosestrife showed me it's wonderful yellow flowers for a few weeks earlier in the month.

Wow...has it really been that long! Spring is Here

Oh how I love looking out my window in the morning with my cup of tea in hand and seeing my yellow forsythia bloomed. It's a wonderful VIBRANT yellow. It's the only thing in my garden right now with color other then Green. Soon though...there will be reds, blues, purples and more! I love color. I have gotten my husband to agree to a back yard makeover this summer. He leaves for 6 months on ship (he's not navy, but flies with the sea King helicopter)in October. Yikes. I want this makeover done before he goes. Should be fun. I'll post lots of pictures of the beginning to end. In this post I'll show you the "before"...it's got NOTHING right now. Here are a few pictures of spring at my home.

Taracotta

Here's my dwarf Forsythia bush in the first part of April 09



Mid April it started to get some blooming....



Now today May 4th, 09 it's just wonderful...and more to open I'm sure.



Here's a closeup of one of my Hens from my "hens and chicks"



This is a picture of the before (this is what I want to work on this summer) privacy along the back to stop the school kids and people walking by seeing into my back yard. Greenery and then eventually more flowers for this long stretch of fence.


It runs the full length of my backyard and really needs some "appeal" I'm thinking of an evergreen to keep the privacy all year round!



UPDATE.......
This is a few pictures of the Dwarf Forsythia after it completely finished flowering...it was the only bit of color I had in May (other then a few Violas/pansies)



Here is a view of my garden from the front door...as you can see my neighbor across the street has a "full sized" forsythia that blooms around the same time as mine. This picture was taken around Mid May....

"Berry Delight"

This is a blue jay painting that I painted up last night and finished it off today. Storm day for the kids and so they've been playing in the basement while I've painted all morning. I love how he turned out. Now on to a bigger canvas....I think that I have the passion for birds now...LOL

Taracotta

Out with the old and in with the new!

I had a painted cabinet as my end table for several years now...painted it while I lived in Virginia and got tired of it as I'm going for a different look in my home now, no longer "cutesy" but Colonial (lots of black furniture) and less clutter. I saw a black bottomed end table at my favorite country store in town that I KNEW would go with what I had in my livingroom better then the blue and tolepainted cabinet I had orignially. Here's the new end table that with my gift cards from my favorite store I purchased the other day.

Taracotta

The sounds of the Chickadee ring through the air

Often times when I am visiting my parents at their home down the valley (they live out in the boonies) I have the pleasure of seeing these little guys up close. My parents feed them and many other wild birds in the winter and I've grown fond of their cute little faces and their "chicka dee dee dee" songs. Here is a painting I did up today of one that has landed on a branch for a berry treat.

Taracotta

Flight of the cardinals

I know it's been FOREVER since I have written here and I apologise for that. I have been sick with Pnuemonia since mid October and am JUST starting to feel human again. Yip...taken the life right outta me. Not good! I was pretty much bed ridden for the first week and then since I finished meds I've caught cold after cold after cold. My immune system is Shot. I am hoping that I'll get back to my ol' self soon.

Now...onto more important things. I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years. I know that 2008 was great for me, but hoping that 2009 is even better. I do know one thing...I've started back up with one of my passions....painting. I had put the brushes down for a whole year (last time I painted anything was Christmas 07') I am on a Cardinal kick right now...I even put up a cardinal tree this year for the holidays with lots of the beautiful red birds in it.

Here are two of the latest creations I've done....the one entitled "Snow storm" is my favorite and I am pleased with the background used (canvas) I've never painted on stretched canvas and quite enjoyed it. I hope that it's not another 3 months til my next post. Drop back in to see more paintings soon.

Taracotta

Second painting done in 2009

"SNOWSTORM"


First one done for 2009

"WINTER WONDERS"

It's that time of year again....Cool breeze, sweaters and BACK TO SCHOOL!

Here's the first day of school for my girls. Hannah is in grade 6 now and Sarah is now in grade 3....Where is the time going? I love this time of year....lots of cool breezes, sweaters are coming out of storage, fall colors are showing all around us. This is my favorite time of year....Autumn. Here are my girls on Sept 3rd, 2008. I am now babysitting 5 girls (and my 2 make 7) for the school year. Lunches and after school care...no babies though. I don't have the house baby proof any more. LOL

Taracotta





Here are a few shots of my garden throughout the summer months...I know that I should have been on here sooner then this to show off it's beauty, but it was "GO GO GO" all summer. Thanks for stopping in.