Spring Flowers!

It's that time of year, when you will get a season of blogs just so I can show off my flowers.  Recently a friend called my front garden "perfect" and a great balance of color.  I almost fell over I was so happy!  My garden is for me to enjoy, but I also love for my friends and neighbors to see these amazing little acts of nature too.  I love graphic flowers.  Big colors, sharp angles, and a lot of variety.  Not enough people get to see my garden, which brings me to my next topic:  I vow to invite people over WAY more often this summer.  A combination of my favorite things:  my garden, cooking, and entertaining!

Now onto the SPRING FLOWERS!

Starting with the first little CROCUS that popped up:

Next, onto my amazing little TULIPS, some of which came from Holland, HYACINTHS (I think that would be a good name for a little girl!), grape hyacinths, and DAFFODILS:

 

I got my raised HERB GARDEN in as soon as I could with our crazy Michigan weather!  Its the greatest thing in the world to go outside and pull in fresh herbs any time I need it for a recipe!  

And now onto my favorite:  My IRIS PARADE!  I planted several last fall, and all but 2 flowered.  These are amazing!

 

And the rest of the SPRING FLOWERS:

 

PEACE.  LOVE.  SERENE

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New Garden! Spring is almost here!

Although we had a handful of sunny days in February and March, there was snow coming into April, and I thought spring would NEVER ARRIVE!

But alas!  The sun is out, it should be in the 60s this week, and even warmer this weekend.  I think it's time to clean the leaves out of the garden and get some fertilizer down!

Here are some of my little sprouts coming up!  Do you see the tulip buds?

Now that the garden is waking up, this is the Jerry Baker fertilizer I will be applying to my garden and lawn this weekend:

SPRING Wake-up - Terrific Turf Builder Tonic

1 cup of baby shampoo

1 cup of ammonia

1 cup of regular cola (not diet)

4 tbsp. of instant tea

Combine all of these in a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer and apply to the point of run-off. This will help your lawn wake up and breathe, while giving it something to munch on until you start your regular feeding program.

Peace.  Love.  Garden!

Summer Garden 2

It's a little late now that the leaves are changing, but here's more of my summer garden before it went to sleep.  You have to give my little iPhone 5S credit - it takes some great close-ups!

I LOVE LOVE fall, but I always miss my garden during the fall and winter months!  I guess it makes it that much more special when spring finally comes around.

Here are some of the late summer flowers!

My 4 different kinds of pink phlox

Do you remember the tiny little mantids I wrote about in the Summer Gardens 1?  Look at them now!  Can you see him?   I've noticed them a lot more often than last year.  They are SO COOL!

One last question - is this a monarch caterpillar?  I never got to see the butterfly, but this looks familiar!

Keep Calm & Garden On!

Peace.  Love.  Serene.

Summer Garden 1

Let the SUMMER GARDEN commence!

It's amazing.  I GREW these!!

I picked up a few new foxglove and delphinium.  I keep saying to my farmer's market flower guy, George, "I don't have any more room in my garden!" And he says, "You said that last week!"  So no, I didn't actually grow these, but they are now a part of my garden and a part of my soul, so I thought I would share! 

I just wanted to add this in because I love this flower, and I love that the iPhone 5S was able to take such a gorgeous picture!

I bought an egg sack of Praying Mantids at the farmer's market (no, not Mantis, which refers to a specific genus - I had to Google that!) - they hatched in their container in a couple of weeks, and I put them out in my garden to catch their dinner (bugs!)

Last year, after I put them in the garden, I never saw them again, except that I saw a 3-4 inch long praying mantid in the fall after he had been eating all summer.  I jumped back!  But this year I found a baby a couple days after I let them free!  

Do you see him?  (or her)

What did you grow in your garden this week?

Peace.  Love.  Serene.