In the latest episode of flower pr0n: Wet and wildIrises!

Not me!

My broom bloomed! My broom bloomed!

We went back to weed the phlox, and out of nowhere the broom was blooming. Now if only it would grow a bit taller.

Also: Today’s thunderstorms were sponsored by me, as we washed and waxed the car this afternoon.

I think that I have managed to gather a selection of plants so that something will be in bloom from early spring to late summer. At least I hope.

Here’s what’s blooming now: Lily of the Valley and Coumbine.

I’m always surprised at how delicate lily of the valley look–they remind me more of porcelain than plant. Of course the fact that they but regardless, I’m quite pleased that they are so beautiful.

Also (no pictures) one of my lilacs is blooming, as is my Money plant Lunaria annua, which already has seed pods developing. (This plant takes two years to seed, and didn’t do so great last year, so I wasn’t sure it was even going to survive, no less bloom.) Hopefully I’ll get some good pictures of the developing seed pods.

How lovely! I got to spend yesterday gardening and spreading aged horse poop under my plants! (While spreading the manure, we childishly attempted to use the word “poop” as many times as possible. Ha!)

It’s also warmed up enough that I could move my indoor plants outside, so the porch is starting to look nice again.

And I went to the WVU Greenhouse Plant Sale. I mostly managed to restrain myself, but I did get four California poppies (I’m not sure that any of the poppy seeds I planted did anything) and another lemon thyme to replace the one that didn’t last the winter (I don’t cook much with thyme, but it’s a pretty plant, and smells lovely when you brush the leaves) and I got another tuberous begonia, since last years hasn’t come back yet, and I’m not sure if it will.

Mostly it was good to be playing in the dirt and seeing how well my plants are doing: My roses are thriving and bushy, my irises are blooming, my bleeding hearts are still blooming, columbine is already in bloom, and some of my day lillies are getting ready to bloom.

It’s just lovely to be able to walk around the house and see everything growing and getting ready to bloom.

Someone gave me shit!

I come home and there are two bags of it, sitting beside the driveway.

How exciting!

Some of my May flowers–at least until tonight’s frost.

My Bleeding Hearts are blooming.

I moved them last year, but it didn’t seem to hurt them at all.

Gorgeous weather for gardening. This weekend I mulched and weeded, after looking to see what seeds came up and which didn’t, bought some more seeds, and now have pots and planters all over the place.

Okay, I also bought a new azalea and a cold hardy pansy. (Yes, the azalea looks a lot like the one I got last spring. That’s because I killed the one I got last spring, so I’m trying again.)

But really, the weather’s gorgeous, how can I resist? (Temperatures were in the high 70s, low 80s for the second day in a row.)

First Flower Pr0n on the year!

Unlike my father and grandfather, I’ve never been a huge fan of daffodils. (They were my grandfather’s favorite flower.) However I’m starting to see the attraction. The yellow I’m still not as thrilled about, but I think the other two are quite pretty.

I also like the snowrops, however they are much smaller in real life than in the picture.

What on earth was I thinking when I bought so many bulbs?

Yes, I planted bulbs this weekend. Four types of daylily, five types of iris, two different types of daffodils, tulips, anemones, firecracker flower (Dicholostemma), and something else I can’t remember, but that had tiny bulbs and came in a package with a ridiculous number of bulbs. I’m sure I thought that was wonderful at the time.

Now I just have to hope that the weather stays cool. It should be okay–temperatures have mostly been in the 60s during the day. As long as we don’t have a week of really warm days it should be fine. I just really didn’t want to wait two more weeks until it’s freezing outside to be planting bulbs.

And on the lines of gardening, my burning bush is just starting to turn. Hopefully it will have as much color as it did last year.

While painting the kitchen, I managed to lose: 1 new paintbrush, 1 magnetic screwdriver (kept upstairs so we don’t have to run downstairs to the toolbox all the time), and my kitchen scale.

The only thing we have found is the scale.

But, the kitchen is painted (except for a couple of cabinet drawers). The tile still needs replaced, but that will have to wait for spring, I think, unless we have another significant block of free time coming up in the fall. (ha) And at some point we need to replace the dishwasher and the sink, but as both are still functioning, it seems difficult to justify the expense. (Especially since I just paid our fall tuition and bought books.)

Mostly, I just want to read as much as possible, before school starts and I’m stuck reading nothing but textbooks and other assorted non-fiction. (Non-fiction is all I dare read when school is in, lest I get sucked into the story and either stay up too late, or skip studying.)

And for anyone in Morgantown who isn’t associated with the University:

WARNING! Classes start in one week! Drive while you can! Eat at your favorite restaurants now! Neither will be possible for the next two months after students return!

ADDENDUM the First
Found the paint brush in the trash. Still have not found the screwdriver.

Only One Week Until School Starts!

Must Get Stuff Done!

Panic! Panic! Panic!

(We’ll be working on the kitchen all weekend. Feel free to come over and help.)

It’s one thing to know that we’ve spent a lot of money on the house this year–replacing the air conditioner wasn’t cheap.

It’s something else entirely to look at a graph of our spending for the past year and see, “GAH! We’re hemorrhaging money!”

We’re in the basement when Michael says, “I think this is the…”
I quickly said, “Don’t say it.”
“fastest plumbing..”
“Don’t Say It!”
“repair job I’ve ever done.”
“Now you’ve done it.”

15 minutes later, I’m outside watering the new grass.

Michael comes out the basement door, holding the copper joint: “Wanna come to Lowe’s with me?”