Sunday, May 3, 2015

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout



Just bought this red Achillea

This has been a good year for daffodils and tulips.  The days have been cool, in the forties and fifties and we have below freezing temps every night.    In cold weather the tulips continue to look good for a long time. 


These were planted last fall.  They are a pretty shade of purple.  I've forgotten the name.



I believe this is Miranda and I've had this lovely double red tulip for over ten years.  I can hardly believe it has survived so long because tulips have a life expectancy of three declining years here.  I planted it in the vegetable garden and would love to move it to a more prominent place but I'm afraid to touch it.  


These  dwarf bearded iris almost go unnoticed among the larger, brighter spring flowers.  They are increasing quickly and I'll have a nice colony in a few years.



Parrot tulip Madonna.  This is the fourth year for this tulip and there is only one of the dozen originally planted still coming up.  The poor thing has lost almost all of the feathering on the petals.  It's still pretty.  Hoping to find more this fall. 


  
Parrot tulip Rococo beginning to open.  This is it's first year, it was planted last fall.  It looks very strange before it opens completely.   The crimped edges look like teeth in a big red mouth.  See how my imagination runs to the sinister;)


Here's a mess.  This is my pot ghetto of recently purchased plants now waiting for overnight frosts to cease before they can be planted.  Every night the plants are carried into the garage and every morning I carry them outside to get some light.  I do this every spring because plants in retail stores aren't well cared for.  Plants are healthier if they only have a brief stop over in retail.


This is Foxfire.  Today she brought her bunnie outside for a stroll in the pasture.  Fox is so careful with her stuffed bunny, she never tears it or pulls the stuffing.  In the photo, she is guarding a little stash of toys, Jolly Ball, bunny and a tennis ball. 


We walked along the edge of the creek and watched our neighbor to the southwest disk his field.


The dogs are taking a break in the shade while they watch the tractor. 



7 comments:

Anita Johnson said...

I'm very impressed with your tulips...just beautiful! The deer seem to eat mine just as they are about to bloom. The photos of your dog with the bunny made me think of my sweet Buster. He had a stuffed bunny too. Such wonderful companions!

Rose said...

What a great photo of your dogs--such a handsome trio! Sophie likes to take her toys outside, too, but unfortunately, doesn't always bring them back inside, which means a stray one occasionally succumbs to the lawnmower:) Love those purple tulips! Looking at my garden, I realized how much pink and other pastels I have--I need some purple, too. The quote is so true!

BeadedTail said...

Your flowers are so pretty! Our tulips have bloomed and are gone now but our iris are just now blooming. Foxfire is very beawootiful! Love the photo of all the dogs watching the tractor!

walk2write said...

I love that yarrow! I didn't plant any tulips here last fall because we were doing some earth moving for a driveway extension, and I wasn't sure where new flower beds would be located. Now I'm not sure that I want to bother with tulips after seeing how ravenous (gluttonous?) the squirrels and rabbits are around here.

Your dogs are beautiful. I wouldn't mind having a German shepherd again, but now that we live in town it's probably not the best situation for a large dog. Guess I'll have to be satisfied with the Grandcat, who is still visiting with Daughter and her husband in Florida. I need her back but not just for companionship. Her presence is required for scaring away the squirrels and rabbits!

Lowcarb team member said...

Interested to see your 'Parrot tulip Rococo beginning to open'. It's so rewarding to see something you only planted quite recently come into bloom.

Hey and I like the look of the colours in your 'pot ghetto' - they will look great once planted after the frosts..

All the best Jan

Jennifer said...

I'll be glad when the nights warm up too. Isn't it amazing that your double Miranda tulip has lasted 10 years. I love tulips, but wish they had a longer life. Love the shady portrait of the tree dogs with the Sheltie in the middle.

Rambling Woods said...

Oh I love the dogs... I have some tulips, but something eats them every year and I wasn't the one who planted them. I want to get the annual seeds in the ground, but we can have a freeze for a couple more weeks...I am new to this and I wish I had started before the age of 55 when I had good knees.. Michelle