An After Picture

Amazing what a shovel and some tough love can do.  So much better!

Friday Flowers

. . . And in the Vase

Graham Thomas in the Garden

 

This Graham Thomas rose has been in the garden for years, but hands down, this is its best year EVER!

Going, Going, Gone

 

The iris are pretty much gone now, so this beautiful stem would be a faded memory if it weren't for the picture!  It was a great weekend.  Mark and I fished--well, he fished and I read--we worked out in the garden, V and I went to The Farm.  Really nice time.  Our new air conditioner is working to keep the house cool now that  hot and humid have arrived.  I haven't had to water much at all this spring with all our rains, but that is changing too. 

Orange Bucket

More from the Missouri Botanical Garden

 

Pansies, red lettuce & snaps. 

 

Chinese cabbage, lettuce, and beets.

Alyssum, stock, and kale.

Do you suppose the botanical garden has no rabbits?  I didn't see  a one while we were there.  Plenty of squirrels, chipmunks, and a sign that said "please don't feed the foxes" . . . oohhhhh . . . so that's how they can grow lettuce like this! 

Back to Work Flowers

These are for Tami.  Her birthday was last week and she had a WHOLE WEEK off!  Now that's a birthday present.  Today,   these will go to her office for her first day back to work.  Mark and I had a  3-day weekend for his birthday, so today feels like Monday, even though it's Tuesday.  

Happy Birthday

 

Mark is 50 years young today!  The Missouri Botanical Garden is one of our favorite places to visit.  And you know, rain makes it even better :-) 

Hard to see in this photo, but there's a series of dancing fountains in this garden that is fascinating.

In the home garden, different ways to grow your tomatoes.  . .

The wise find pleasure in waters . . .
We had a great time.  Happy birthday to the best husband in the whole world.

Iris Season

Beautiful beautiful iris season.  The garden is never the same--it changes day to day and year to year--but yet here are my old friends, back to visit again.

These are at work, growing under a huge tree!  No direct sun?  They don't seem to care. . .

Scenes from a Plant Swap

 My mom and her friend Barb went to their local plant swap and landed in the paper!  She tells more about the sale over on A Primitive Plot here and here.

Thursday Iris

Flower Sculpture

My new flower sculpture from The Farm.  I just plunked it down anywhere cause I'm not sure where it's going to stay.  For now, the two allium came up to frame it just right!

Flower Tradition

Hope everybody had a great mother's day.  I thought about all the women in my life who have been my mothers, my co-mothers, my fellow mothers and it made me a little weepy.   I remember going out into the yard with mama to cut  roses to wear for mother's day when I was young.  V says they always wore corsages for mother's day too.   Red if your mother was  living, white if your mother had passed.   I'll put this on the list for next year.  It's a tradition worth keeping :-) 

Happy Mother's Day

Betty made Betsy's darling little pillow slip dress.

Rachel called Kyle "Mr. Handsome" in this picture.  I think the name fits!

 Denzel Washington's mother said she prayed this prayer for her children every day and I have made it my prayer too.  Lord, bless my children and my children's children. 

More Big Hostas

Mama gave me this one for my birthday last year.  I don't remember the name!  Looks like it's going to be a good one.  She gave me another one too, but the guys who sided the garage last week did a number on it.  It's too tattered to show you right now, but it will come back.

Big Daddy with the big gray upturned leaves.

And Yabba Dabba Do.  Great hosta time of year--fresh foliage with no slug damage! Well, not  yet anyway.  They're there, just biding their time til one of them  yells "midnight snack!" to all his buddies.

Big Big Hostas

 

Blue Angel--my first really big hosta.  I've told the story about getting disgusted with it, convinced that I had been sold a different variety because it stayed so small for the first few years.  I dug it up and threw it on the compost pile where it stayed over the winter.  And then it leafed out the next spring and made me feel really guilty.  I decided to love it, no matter what its size, and then it GREW!   That started an obsession with the big ones. 

 

Segue--growing in full sun!

  

Niagra Falls--love the ribbing and the pie crust  edging on this one.

Whatever is Lovely . . . Think About Those Things

My mom has  been sick and missed a few days in her garden.  She said on her blog the other day that missing a day in your May garden is like missing your child's first steps.  Me, I've been really tired lately and every time I go out I just see how much needs to be done . . .  move that plant over there, take that one out, put that one in,  and weeds weeds weeds everywhere. . . But tonight I took a little nap and then went out into the garden and noticed all over again just how beautiful it really is. 

So here's a picture of this lovely clematis.  More garden pictures to follow.  Hope you're enjoying your May garden too.

Betsy & her PaPaw

Doublefile Sunday

PJ gave me a gift certificate for my birthday a few years ago and I bought this doublefile viburnum for the front yard.  Mark and I saw a magnificent one at the Missouri Botanical Garden a few years ago--it was HUGE!  So we planted this one where it has lots of room to grow.  I love it and it always reminds me of PJ, my sissy and fellow gardener!  Hope you're having a good Sunday.  It's good to be home :-)