Almost June!!!

June is a cool month...

But. despite it's "coolness" the month is starting off with wicked high temperatures. The backyard needed finishing and I needed to get a jump on the mower (well jump's the wrong word ~ push :/ ) before the temps rose. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the chance until after the weekend - the forecast is calling for more rain.

As I was rounding the corner to hit the backyard I had to stop and snap this picture. These irises are my most favorite of all the iris clusters in the gardens. The deep purple and butter cream yellow colors really relate well.

A friend (and GREAT gardener) in Massachusetts posted some beautiful pics of her peony that's in full bloom. Mine are not nearly as far, yet. Her great photos really make me so excited!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Swinging Weather Temps

Incredible that in New Hampshire it was snowing last weekend and there's going to be a heatwave this weekend. The cold snap we had really hurt a lot of my plants. I am hoping the beautiful tomato plants will bounce back. My poor two little tomatoes...

Last night's storm was very impressive. I was so concerned that hail would start falling, I parked Broom in the garage!

Certainly gives credence to the old saying, "If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute or two".

Do you think after seeing this blooming iris, New Hampshire's weather discourages me? Heck NO!!! :) Just ordered more seeds and a fun hibiscus. I am SO addicted to plants.

Yeah! Plates Came In!!!

Hello again!

My plates came in! Still can't believe the letters were available. Plates must be true and they were reserved, waiting for me this whole time.

I also named BROOM'S command response voice "Hilda" (get it? Broom Hilda?). Hey, even her color is like soot! Better laugh or she'll put a spell on you.
Ok... I am having way WAY WAY too much fun with this car, huh?

Home Again

It was a Great time in Newport. Went out for awesome dinners; Barking Crab and Clarke Cooke House, and we saw all kinds of impressive things.

Unfortunately, the temperature was a bit chilly so we were not too motivated to walk along the Cliff Walk but we did visit several mansions.

Took a lot of pictures and these are a few of the besties including one picture of my favorite mansion, The Breakers, although the Marble House was beautiful and the Tea House behind it was fun.

I still love bears and this was the best topiary of all!!!

Those girls are my ladies! Promised them I wouldn't put any more pics of them.

This is a beautiful shot. Although most of the gardens were not yet completely prepared for the spread of annuals, this part of the gardens was in full bloom.

Breath taking view of the water from behind the Topiary House. Could smell the salt all the way to the house. If you look carefully along the shore's edge, you can see a tiny speck - That's Laura. Certainly gives an idea of the distance.

Traveling around brought back so many memories and it was fun to go. I definitely would do another mini-vacation in Newport. I wish we were still there.

Thanks for dropping by and reading about our little vacation!

What? Already!??!

It's Friday! Girls' Weekend!!! Newport, here we come. Great weather.

Tomato Plant

Hello again!

Look at the size of the tomato, now! This one and the other are just plugging along. Pretty soon I need to take them out into the ground! Just not this week, too many very low temps at night. :( In NH this is something I have been conditioned to expect at this time of year.

Thank you so much for dropping by. Please come visit again, soon.

Mother's Day Fun!

Really had a terrific day. Gnome and a Magic Mushroom for the gardens and an iPone 5. WOW! My other phone was having troubles (crashing at odd moments) but I never expected a phone for Mother's Day.

We also had a nice time enjoying the great weather. While driving around, we came across a New Hampshire tradition, a tractor pull in Hollis!

And afterward, we went to Hayward's Ice Cream and this is the terrific view behind their building. Amazing, isn't it? I really love New Hampshire.

Thank you so much for dropping by. Please come visit again, soon.

Clematis

Hello again!

We have a small garden shop located along Route 101 which is one of my favorites to visit. This past April, it was a gorgeous day when my daughter and I drove by. We noticed the shop was open and they had taken the plastic off their greenhouses. So, my Meredith and I pulled in to poke around.

In the back of the property, there was a plastic covered greenhouse with all the stuff they felt had not survived the winter well and they were about to throw them away. This and another clematis plant was in there and I was not able to allow that to happen; so they allowed me to take two home. Instantly, they started to green up and grow so happily.

Well, to my surprise this morning this flower and more were fully bloomed! I haven't even popped the plants into the ground yet!!! And I am not going to plant them and all my plants until after next weekend (and RI)... as I expected, just after Mother's Day, the nights drop into the 30s again and my spoiled plants will not enjoy that. (LOL! Wait until next spring, they will not be as coddled.

Thank you so much for dropping by. Please come visit again, soon.

Mother's Day Tree

Hello again!

We call this the Mother's Day Tree because it never seems to fail to bloom so beautifully the same week as the big day.

Tonight, I just couldn't believe how beautiful it looked with the spot light on it.

Thank you so much for dropping by. Please come visit again, soon.

Holy GTI, Is That ME?

That's me! Driving my new car home, yesterday, for the first time!

It's a really fun car. Standard of course, just like my car, the TR7.

My VW Golf was one of the smartest purchases; I was thrilled with the car for many years. So this time around after a lot of thinking and looking I finally realized it was a "no-brainer", get another VW.

This GTI is a very good car and a lot of fun to drive. I feel so lucky and I have to admit that the little sports car helps with that mid-life "thing".

I got a vanity plate~ -BROOM-. LOL. Yes, as in Hilda! ;)

Thank you so much for dropping by. Please come visit again, soon.

Half Faced, Beneath The Garden

Sounds like a creepy novel, huh? Or a really fun night, bar hoppin'!

Old Man In The Valley

While turning soil, fertilizing and doing the general spring garden work, I always seam to hit tons of rocks. Our whole yard is a sloping valley and over 30 years ago the builder filled the yard with tons of different sized rocks. Every spring, more of them seem to work their way up the soil, becoming a nuisance to spreading roots. So every year I dig and pull more out and make nice zen-like rock piles or something.

Here's one I found in the ground about a week ago. This half face is too much of a coincidence. The eye, cheekbone, nose mouth and chin are just too well proportioned and recognizable. Isn't it so cool? I can't believe I found it. Wonder if there are more pieces of this? How far down? I really don't want to disturb the plants which are already there and established... bummer.

This dude is definitely watching over my back gardens, this summer!

Very Fun

Hello again!

I think I mentioned I am trying to grow passion flower from seed. After all my other seedlings have started producing their second leaves and nothing was happening with the passion's seeds, I did some reading and to my surprise, it sometimes takes up to 12 months to grow the plant from seed. Realizing it's time to sit back and wait, that is just what I did. So while carting around the many seed trays with all the other plants; into the morning sun and back into the warm house at night, I also carried these seeds around, pretty much ignoring what was inside.

Well, over the weekend I paid attention to the 16 sod pod tray and couldn't believe my eyes! Less than one month later and I have a little baby plant growing! Right into a large flower pot this little baby's gonna go! I may just sink it now and lug that planter inside and out!

This is cool! So excited to see it grow. Has a growing height of 30 feet although I will cut it down this fall, when I bring it in for the winter (as recommended). I wonder if I'll have to wait until next year or the year after to see some flowers on the more mature plant?

I Was So Surprised!

Hey! Check this out.

Just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my tomato plant actually turned the flowers into tomatoes!!! I didn't think the flowers would evolve into anything because the plants live mostly on the windowsill part of the time. But, I thought I'd play Mother Nature and pollenate the little yellow flowers by myself.

Well, what do you think happened?!!? Yep! There are a couple tomatoes growing on my plants!!! (You cheated and saw the pic! :) )

I will definitely keep posting the progress on these tomatoes and on the other plants I am growning!!!

Iceland Poppy From HD

Hello again!

I love this plant. This is the first year I have tried growing poppy from seed. My seeds are for oriental poppies and they're very fresh. Approximately 20 have germinated. I am eager to see how many of those survive and produce flower.

But silly me, today, as I was poking around the Home Depot, I came across this iceland poppy beauty and could not resist! Such an unusual color pink.

I can't wait to see all the flowers I've seeded and the old, well established flowers grow this year. Cannot believe how long we've lived here and how old some of my plants are. However, despite the fact this is an older home, the yard was a clean planting canvas. The previous owner really didn't plant much beyond what the builder put in (and let most of that over-grow or become choked by other plants and trees). I am having a wonderful time buying and growing a variety of plants from seed, cuttings or root division.

Thank you for checking in and seeing my latest flower!

Old Man of the Mountain

It's been 10 years since New Hampshire iconic face fell off the mountain. Still hard to believe the image that represents NH is no longer. The old man only exists on our state's coin, state signs and in our hearts.

So Very Excited!

My girls and I are meeting up with my cousin and her girls in Newport, RI! We're going to be there from May 17th through the 19th. I haven't been there in so many years and have such great memories of going there while I was in college.
OK, we are actually staying in the Ramada Inn in Middleton, but with all day in Newport, we will hardly know we are sleeping in the town next door...

I am so excited for the girls to see Newport. Maybe I can show Laura Salve Regina and let her consider that college, when she's ready to decide.

Crazy Hazy! She's So Lazy!

It's just not a relaxed Hazel unless she's hangin' like this!

When she's happy like this she always has a huge smile on her face. First dog of mine to ever smile like she does. And both Meredith and I are convinced she sometimes purrs when she's being cuddled and loved!

Hazel can really brighten up a room.