I can’t believe the weekend took this long to get here, but it’s finally Saturday. Went to the Farmer’s Market even though it was raining, and since we got out of the house early this morning, I’ve actually cleaned the house–or at least the living room and kitchen.

Unfortunately the humidity and the temperature are the same, so it’s miserable outside.

Other than that, I’ve got some baking to do this evening for tomorrow’s quick visit by UCF member neurondoc and her family.

Mmmm…. baking.

The light must have been just right yesterday, because I was pleased with almost all the pictures I took of my flowers.

Plus, I got some good hot bee on lavender action!

Evening Primrose
(more…)

Even if I do say so myself, I’ve done a good job of finding a variety of perennials so that I have something blooming from spring to fall. Stella D’Oros are going now–even the ones that were transplanted are blooming, though I don’t know if I’ll get more blooms out of the transplanted ones any time soon.

Stella D’Oro day lily. These are the ones I thinned and transplanted and gave away. They’ll bloom at least once, if not twice more this summer.
(more…)

For quite awhile now I’ve wanted Fiestaware for my every day dishes.

First, you’ll have to understand that we don’t have a china pattern, we have place settings, including one from my grandmother’s set and one from Michael’s grandmother’s set, and random patterns that various family members have picked out for us.

And I don’t own sets of towels in the traditional sense. When I buy towels, I pick up three of the same brand in colors I like, usual shades of purple and blue and green. The only matching towel sets in the house belong to Grandmom.

Why? I like variety. I like the fact that if I there is a china pattern I like, I can pick up a place setting and it will fit in with what I already have.

Fiestaware is perfect for this, since it comes in many many different colors, with colors coming and going every year. If they come out with a color I like, I can pick up a place setting in that color. And if a plate or bowl gets broken, no big deal, since that’s just an opportunity to get another color!

And as an added bonus, Fiestaware is made by the Homer Laughlin China Co, in Newell, West Virginia, so I’m supporting a West Virginia business.

So when we were wandering around the mall yesterday waiting while my grandmother got her haircut, we saw a sale on Fiestaware place settings–plus a free fruit bowl with each place setting! And the store had a sale going, so we ended up saving significantly more money than we spent (Deal!).

And now I can buy place settings whenever I find a color that catches my eye, and can have a different colored dish every day of the week if I so desire. (Yes, there are six plates, there, and two are cobalt blue. I ordered two other colors from Amazon, which was also having a sale. So we’ll have eight place settings and seven different colors. Woot!)

As I mentioned, I’ve been doing some work on the front garden. I have a long bed the runs the front of the deck, part of the bed gets full afternoon sun, the back part gets a little dappled sunlight but is mostly shade.

It’s made the bed hard to fill, but it’s one of the nicest (and flattest) stretches of garden I have.

I just moved the spider wort from the bottom of the hill to the front bed, because the flowers are pretty much wasted at the bottom of the hill where they can barely be seen. In the shade end I also have some astilbe and lily of the valley, unfortunately, the lily of the valley are at the very edge of where the soaker hose reaches, and don’t really thrive. And there aren’t a lot of plants that thrive in high shade low moisture.

Almost half the bed is day lilies. I love day lilies. I love the flowers and I love the greenery and the way they spread and keep out the weeds and grass.

Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the garden transplanting and thinning and generally cleaning up. I still have day lilies that I have too many of, so lemme know if you would like some.

And of course things are really starting to bloom. The peonies are at the end of their bloom cycle, but the day lilies are starting to bud, and there are clematis flowers and pretty much all in all things look quite nice.

Ferns and the bleeding heart on the North side of the house in the shade.
(more…)

Just spent two hours in the garden.

Anyone in the area who would like some Stella D’Oro day lilies and is willing to come pick them up can have them. Mine badly needed thinned, and I decide to thin them on the day when temperatures were in the 60s, rather than waiting until they bloomed and then temperature were in the 80s or 90s.

We’ve been complaining forever that the deck is too dark, but never done anything about it.

That finally changed. One light was not added because we seem to be missing some pieces (our fault) but we have the other light up, and also added a light switch.

Here we are at the beginning of the project. Existing light has been removed to access wiring.
(more…)

Spiderwort. I’m thinking I should move this to the top of the hill and perhaps put one of the azaleas down the hill in its spot.
(more…)

Hot ant on peony action!
(more…)

It’s Morgantown, so it’s raining.

Did a bit of gardening yesterday–went to the WVU Greenhouse plant sale and then took a trip to Lowes. Filled in the herb garden. The rosemary didn’t survive the winter (unsurprisingly, considering how cold it got this winter), and although some of the parsley came back (WTF?) I got more parsley, three tomato plants and two basil plants.

I also got some pansies to put in the boxes on the front deck.

At Lowes we got a dogwood to replace the broom in the back of the house that died, and bought a small broom to put at the front of the house, in the hopes it will do better than the one on the back of the house did.

(more…)

If anyone in the area wants some chive plants, mine are currently trying to take over my entire herb garden. You taken ’em or they get composted, so even if you think you might kill ’em, it won’t be a loss.

They’re very hardy, and very good in grilled veggies and bread dressing and everything in between.

The Morgantown Farmer’s Market begins its season tomorrow.

What I’d like to get are fresh eggs.

Guess I’d better get up early then.

Here are some of the flowers in my yard this week.