Bloomin' Tuesday...

Here's a collage of my favorite shade loving perennials...

Clockwise, starting top left:

Hosta

Bleeding Heart

Columbine

Hellebores

Begonia

Virginia Bluebells

Have a wonderful day!

Blooming Tuesday...

Things have been quiet around here lately. Last week my mother-in-law passed away, so we've been doing a lot of reflecting on the sweet memories we have of this lovely lady. A number of years ago I wrote a post about her. {You can find it here.} She was wonderful in so many ways.

Right around the same time we heard of her passing, these hyacinth bulbs we have in our home started flowering. This isn't the first time in my life there has been an association between death and life. One of our sons was born the day after my husband's grandmother passed. On the day I came home from the hospital after giving birth to a stillborn baby, I opened the car door and the smell of freshly mowed grass wafted over me. The comforting thought that came to me in this time of grief was, "Life goes on, and it will for you too." Years ago my father passed away the end of May, and I spent the next several weeks planting flowers and watching my garden come to life. Every Spring, when flowers are beginning to bloom and the earth is coming alive, the Savior's resurrection is celebrated.

These recollections of life being associated with death have real meaning to me. I've learned that along with death there is always life, and often something incredibly beautiful and unexpected happens to shore us up in our grief. Our flowering bulbs are evidence of this truth. I bought them right after Christmas and they happened to blossom at just the right time. How amazing {and comforting} is that?

I know it's a little thing, and some might call it coincidence, but I know better. A favorite quote of mine is by Neil A. Maxwell. He said, "...This word (coincidence) is understandable for mortals to use, but coincidence is not an appropriate word to describe the workings of an omniscient God. He does not do things by 'coincidence' but ... by divine design."

By recognizing these incidences as tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father, we can see His hand in our lives. I'm grateful.

Bloomin' Tuesday...

I hope you're having a nice day. The last few weeks have been busy ones for me. First, a daughter and her little family visited for a week. Then, most of the rest of the kids and their families came for a reunion, and last week I went to Indiana to help my son's family with their new little one. It's been busy and fun. I'm back to my "usual" (whatever that is) routine, so I thought I'd share some pictures of the garden today. The relentless heat and sun of this time of year always creates a challenge in my garden. No matter how much water I pour on my plants, it just doesn't compensate for the high temps and the scorching sun. In about a month, the plants will get a break in the hot weather and they will perk back up.

We have a bumper crop of lettuce this year. It's shaded throughout the day, so the sun doesn't bother it too much...

Many plants in my containers are struggling, but the geraniums love the heat.

My morning glory are beginning to bloom. I love going out early in the morning and seeing their beautiful deep purple faces!

Luscious impatiens have completely filled the planter boxes we made last spring.

Wishing you a nice Bloomin' Tuesday.

Bloomin' Tuesday...

I have a few random photos of our garden today for Bloomin' Tuesday. 

Isn't summer glorious?

Bloomin' Tuesday...

Most mornings when the day is young and the temperature still cool, I take a walk with our puppy Beau.

I love going on walks that take me past homes and through parks with beautiful gardens. It's fun to get ideas from other gardeners. I've always thought that poppies need a lot of sun, but these beauties are tucked under a shade tree. So gorgeous...

But wait, there's more...

Wishing you a lovely flower-filled week.

Bloomin' Tuesday...

Is there anything more lush or lovely than a peony?

As far as flowers go, the peony certainly deserves a top spot on my "favorite flowers list."

Although its blooming cycle is short-lived, for a few weeks around the beginning of June my garden is transformed by the big bright colors of this gorgeous plant.

I love making full, voluptuous bouquets of these beauties. Because our plants are over-achievers, we can bring an armful of flowers inside and still leave more than enough in the garden.

I have two peony plants in my yard. Because one is more shaded than the other, they usually bloom about two weeks apart, which provides us with blossoms throughout the early summer! Heavenly.

I wish I had more room in my garden to plant about 102 more peonies. 

Make that 105...

I'm not sure even that would satisfy me. 

Have a wonderful day!

Bloomin' Tuesday...

There are many flowers blooming in my garden right now, but none outshine our beautiful clematis plants. We have several clematis vines that were planted years ago and are well established, but a few years ago we planted three more in a different location. It's taken them three years to really take hold, but this year they are thriving.

We have two lovely shades of violet clematis. The variety of clematis in the first and third photo is called "Blue Ravine." This vine has huge lilac-blue flowers with pinkish highlights and contrasting red centers.

The clematis below is Starry Nights Clematis. It has spectacular dark-violet, star-shaped flowers with pinkish/red stripes. Most clematis do well in full sun to partial shade.

I will say, however, that our three year old clematis vines were planted in partial shade and have had a harder time {than our full sun clematis } getting established. All our clematis were planted next to a fence and are great climbers.

I love these blossoms that are as big as a salad plate. They are hardy, once established, and become a mass of blooms all from late spring to early fall. So very pretty.

I hope you're able to enjoy the blossoms in your neck of the woods today!

Bloomin' Tuesday...

The weather has finally warmed {for the most part} here in Colorado, so my garden has really started blooming! The last few weeks have been filled with potting plants, making wood planter boxes, reconditioning soil and planting flowers, watering, mowing lawns, etc. It seems as if there is always something to do, but I love working in the yard, so I'm good with that. So much of our yard is in flower beds and container plants that it takes a lot of time and money to get it going in the spring, but it's worth it. The other night the hubs and I had dinner on our backyard patio -- surrounded by a myriad of container plants, green grass, buzzing bees and Beau {our puppy}. It's little moments like that that I treasure. Here is a sampling of what's happening in our garden today...

A few of my grandkids gave me this adorable Mexican bull planter for Christmas. They know I love blue and white pottery and gardening, so this was the perfect gift for me...

Last week I got the impatiens planted off the patio in our backyard. These impatiens looks scrawny right now, but in a month they will be lush and beautiful and fill in that whole area.

We have a high school in our town that specializes in career and technical education. Kids from all over the district can take classes, like horticulture, at this school. At the end of the school year, they sell a huge variety of flowers and vegetable plants that they've grown. They are beautiful plants at a great price. I bought almost all my flowers and tomato plants at this sale this year. Here are a few examples of the containers I planted with flowers from this school.

It seems like a yard will go for years without the need of major renovation, and then suddenly a complete overhaul needs to take place. That's what happen in our yard this year. Two large mounds filled with junipers had to be taken out and were replaced with new soil, a border of large rocks, and perennials. We also took out four large planter boxes that had rotted with age. These planters were filled with roses bushes. I love roses, but they never did well in that shaded location.  We made four new cedar boxes and planted impatiens that will fill the boxes and thrive in that shady location.

Today I plan on weeding {it never ends!} this little perennial flower bed by my front door and planting some diascia. They thrive in the only sunny spot in this flower bed!

Bloomin' Tuesday... actually on Tuesday

Most of the day yesterday I thought it was Tuesday. That's why I posted a Bloomin' Tuesday post even though it was Monday. Today, however, it really is Tuesday, so I thought I'd show you the project I'm working on in my garden. Earlier this spring the hubs and I had the unenviable job of taking out five low-lying juniper bushes in our yard. I hate junipers. Strong words I know, but they don't even begin to describe my dislike for those bushes. People {us included} put them in their yards to take up space and when they don't know what else to plant. They are a filler, but ours became an uncontrollable mess and they had to go. Yesterday I filled one of the areas where we had junipers with one billion pounds of soil, compost, and manure. Yup. One billion. At least it felt like that when I was done. It was actually 800 pounds, but that was still a whole lot of dirt to move from my car to the area where I was working!

After I filled the space with the soil mixture, I started planting. {My favorite part of gardening.} I didn't put in any annuals, just perennials that should come back year after year... coral bells, lavender, phlox, candytuft, day lilies, anemones, and hostas.

Wherever I am, Beau {our puppy} is at my heels. He helps a lot in our yard -- mostly by digging, burrowing in the ground, and aerating our flower beds. He thinks he's being helpful. I'm not convinced.

Now, if I can just keep this little rascally puppy from digging up everything, we'll be doing well. 

Bloomin' Tuesday...

This spring in Colorado has been a gorgeous one for flowering trees. The elements must have aligned perfectly for a suffusion of buds and blossoms. Here's a tree is laden with posies...

And some apple and a cherry tree from our yard...

Wishing you a happy Bloomin' Tuesday.