Paradise

Oh, how I love spring when everything is growing and blooming! I constantly catch myself gazing out a window marveling in the wonder and miracle of this season. Initially it's a lot of work with an abundance of weeding, cleaning the beds, removing leaves left over from winter hibernation and then planting vegetable seeds and new perennials. This year I'm growing an artichoke plant and I've transplanted about five lilac bushes so my house will be surrounded. But the work feels so rewarding especially as the weather improves, the sun shines and the air smells so fresh.

Yesterday as I was out pulling bluebells, I kept getting hit with a scent so strong my first inclination was to panic. WHERE IS THE PERFUME COMING FROM? It takes my brain a second to realize it's not perfume, but the lilac tree! When the realization settles, I calm, close my eyes, breathe deeply, and revel in the magic of such a glorious smell. I'm pretty sure this is why humans invented toxic perfume as a substitute.

My whole front yard smells like lilacs due to the gigantor tree I have. It seems far more pungent this year perhaps due to the trimming I gave it last fall hoping it'll plump up with more foliage and blossoms...which it did. I've also been cutting the blossoms and putting them in vases and the scent hits me in the house when I least expect it. Every time, my adrenaline rushes for a second before I realize the source. Then I sigh.

I think this is what heaven smells like...

Heat Wave

This heat wave is making my roses crazy! And the house is so hot they are opening too fast.

THEY SMELL SO GOOD!

Mutant Daffodils

I have no idea where these daffodils came from. They are the same flowers that come up every spring, but they have evolved...

So odd. They look like spiky roses. 

So beautiful, but so mutant.

Spring is here. 

So Happy. 

Happy. Happy. Happy.

Hydrangeas

Poppies

Happy May Day!

I love May Day. My favorite holiday. It's all about flowers. I also love purple flowers. The lilacs, columbine, and chives are blooming. In a vase, they make my whole house smell heavenly.

This is my new allium garden:

The elephant garlic I transplanted from a smaller garden with less sun, to a bigger, sunnier spot. This allium variety grows to about six to seven feet tall with light lavender blooms the size of baseballs. Last fall I bought another type of allium called "Purple Sensation". It's beautiful and already blooming much sooner than the elephant garlic. This variety is only about two to three feet tall. Blinded by the stunning photograph on the package, I thought I'd get huge globes of blooms and, of course, I didn't register the height expectancy. Had I realized they'd be shorter I might have planted them on the outside of the bed instead of scattered within. Live and learn. They are smaller, but the darker purple is gorgeous:

If I had property, I'd plant a whole field of alliums, all kinds, all sizes. So beautiful.

Other purples I love:

Pallet garden updates:

Radishes are ready to eat! Already!

Tatsoi and mixed greens:

Mustard mix in vertical pallet:

And last but not least, a garden treasure discovery:

I found this plastic sword in my new flower garden. It amazes me with all the digging I have done over the years I am still able to excavate historical remnants of past civilizations (former residents). It is now my "Sword in the Wood". LOL

Happy May Day!

Echinacea!!!

 

I finally found some Echinacea!!! So beautiful! And they smell so good! They are perennials so hopefully they will survive the winter and grow giant in my daisy garden next summer. I bought seeds in the spring but nothing came up so it might take them longer to germinate. These are called "Cheyenne Spirit."



 

 

I was so excited I also bought another perennial - Rudbeckia, which is a type of sunflower but also similar to Echinacea. These are called "Tiger Eye".

I've been working on this daisy garden all year but unable to find the plants I need. Next year it should be spectacular.

 

I LOVE CHEERFUL FLOWERS!

I Love My Garden!!

My garden this year is so bright and cheerful. I've had so much fun.

The yellow roses are magnificent.

The red roses make me miss Peter. He loved to eat them.

 

Clematis

Zinnias

Lettuce ready to eat!

 

 

Sunflower babies!

Walpurgis Night

May Day is my favorite holiday. It's all about flowers, good fortune, and happiness. It's not limited to a certain religion, specific gender, and doesn't depend on spending lots of money to support a materialistic economy.

Well, I guess religious connotations are relative as it is an ancient pagan holiday promoting fertility so dancing, drinking, and having sex outside are part of the celebration. But for our modern purposes: pick some flowers, make a little paper basket, and spread some happiness.

 

My second favorite holiday is Walpurgisnacht, or Witches' Night, or the Witches' Sabbath which takes place the eve of May Day or tonight. It's named after St. Walpurga, an 8th Century German abbess, although I don't know why. Was she a witch? Traditionally it's the night all the witches come out to reek havoc on the community, terrorize innocent souls, and steal children.

The way to protect your loved ones is to put a pile of cut grass on their doorsteps before the sun goes down as witches are compulsive beings and will feel the need to count every blade of grass before crossing the threshold. If the sun comes up before they are finished counting, they must leave missing their annual opportunity for kidnapping. Until next year.

 

I love folklore!

 

HAPPY MAY DAY!

Is Spring Really Here?

February is a little early for spring and I fear we might get another freeze which will kill off all the early shoots and blossoms, but I sure do love sunshine! Especially sunshine that makes all the new spring flowers glow!

Mini-daffodils

Regular Daffodils

Yellow Primrose

Purple Primrose

Pink Primrose

 

Snowdrops

So joyous!

First Flowers

It always seems too early for flowers to bloom in January, but it reminds me that spring is just around the corner! That gives me hope!

 

Camellias are the first to bloom in all their brilliance. Native to eastern and southeastern Asia, they were brought to the United States in the 1940s.

Red camellias symbolize passion, pink symbolize longing and white, adoration, perfection, loveliness and all kinds of love including love between a mother and child. If given to a man, the white camellia also symbolizes luck.

For me, they symbolize HOPE for springtime and warmer weather!

They've also been used medicinally for asthma, heart disease and bacterial infections. Peter used to gorge on them every winter. They are high in vitamin C.

 

I found all this information on camellias at Garden Guides .

This, on the other hand, is not pretty:

I think it's a mole that has taken up residence under the camellia bush in my newly landscaped garden bed! The winter war...at least he's not living under my house! I like moles. They are so cute, but they are so messy. And I wish they wouldn't eat my earthworms which are good for a garden. I'd rather they didn't eat my bulbs or flower roots, either. However, I've read all the digging they do is really good for gardens as it aerates the dirt. So I'm fine with his free-loading. I think it's strange this is the first mole hill I've seen on my property in the nine years I've been here.

Or maybe it's a rat living underground for lack of a place to go? Eeewww...

Flower Power

I love flowers. My garden is loaded with flowers and blooming herbs. They take priority over the vegetables as one doesn't have to worry about bugs and slugs eating them down to their roots. Less stress and maintenance.

  

 

 

In fact, flowers create a proper bee habitat and hummingbirds feast on their nectar. The hummingbirds love the foxglove, scrambled eggs, petunias, and nasturtiums.

 

 

Prior to my enlightenment (the dark ages), I used to hang those sugar-water-filled hummingbird feeders. I can't imagine processed sugar is good for little birds if it's not good for humans. I sold my hummingbird feeders in my last garage sale and now I concentrate on filling my garden with hummingbird flowers. I love watching them zoom from bloom to bloom and hear the buzz of their little wings.

 

 

The Unenlightened (people who ignorantly know nothing or very little about MCS) are always surprised when they see my garden or hear me talk about flowers. "How can you be around flowers??? Aren't you allergic to them?" It's called Multiple CHEMICAL Sensitivity not Multiple FLOWER Sensitivity! I'm deathly reactive to chemicals not natural flowers! If the flower has been sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, preservatives or any other unnatural chemical, then they are toxic. My flowers aren't. I do, however, have to admit since becoming chemically sensitive the scent of some cut flowers are so strong they bother my lungs. I think that's my overprotective brain sending me signals to watch out. I can smell strongly scented flowers outside and do just fine, but bring them in my home where they overpower the clean air and it can become quite uncomfortable.

Every summer I love cutting little bouquets of flowers to decorate my home and brighten up my office, kitchen and bathroom.

 

The yellow arrangement is so cheerful!

 

 

Nasturtiums, daisies, feverfew, dandelions, California poppies, buttercups and ferns. Notice the weed flowers??? So bright and cheerful. Most weeds are herbs that have gotten a bad reputation over the years for being so evasive. There is nothing wrong with weeds in the proper context: a vase.

In fact, dandelions must be the hardiest and healthiest of all flowers. They can grow anywhere, much to the dismay of most gardeners. Peter loves them. He knows they are very high in nutrients and strengthen kidneys. I used to have a recipe for dandelion pasta, but I was never brave enough to try it. I do what I can to control the weed flowers in my garden because they can so easily take over, but a few here and there won't hurt. In fact, I think Peter is the fault I have any at all!

 

"Chomp, chomp. It's not my fault! Chomp."

 

 

I love the purply-pink pastel flower arrangement:

This one is herbs and wildflowers: chives, yarrow, daisies, oregano, lavender, love-in-a-mist, rose campion, pink mallow and sweet woodruff.

 

 

When I first moved here I spread packets of wildflower seeds everywhere although many didn't germinate right away. Every now and then, even years later, a new species will appear and it's always such a nice surprise. If I don't know what it is I check the flower packets I've collected over the years in hopes of identification.

 

 

My love-in-a-mist (love the name!) has an interesting history.

 

The little seven-year old neighbor girl who lived next store received a free packet of love-in-a-mist seeds from her school. Her mother refused to let her plant them anywhere as she didn't want the perfection of her landscaping marred. This woman's yard was so child un-friendly her daughters were forced to play in their driveway! Beth brought them to me and begged, "You can plant them anywhere you want! They won't hurt anything." She was so worried I would think they'd ruin my landscaping. Hardly! She was so thrilled when they started blooming. I've always called them "Beth's Flowers". Such beautiful little flowers. They are Peter's favorite, too!

"Yum...loving the love-in-a-mist."

 

So happy and cheerful. Flowers are a good way to brighten your day and add joy to your life.