Sunday, April 27, 2008

It's Begun ! !

My first expedition of the year to the garden center was very profitable. I wanted to find some shade-loving perennials for Steve's new planting area as well as getting some violas for the front entrance.
Here you see three Pulmonaria "Roy Davidson", two Siberian Iris "Caesar's Brother", various colors of Violas and three Ferns. (My camera really is beginning to suck at pictures taken from a distance! There is no sharpness at all!! Sorry. Maybe I'll use Bush's stimulus check to get a new one.)
Notice the name !! I thought this was really funny - not to be sexist, but I'm assuming that a man named this ??!!
Here are the three "manly" ferns inside a great big, 26" planter I could not resist. Keep in mind that the ferns are each in 3 gallon containers! I'm not sure where this will be or what will be in it. Maybe the backyard - if so, I may as well hang a sign saying "Wild Animal Feeding Station" on it!
Lastly, I found this "Triple Bin Party Feeder" bird feeder to hang outside the breezeway picture window in the back yard. At least that was my original intention until Steve immediately noticed it was too large for the hook on the shepherd's hook that is out there. Guess it's going somewhere else....
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Speaking of Steve, we had another birthday celebration for him this weekend. My daughter and family came over with cards and presents for a belated, but fun party.
Here's Adeena with Tony (Sorry Sierra, I didn't get any pictures of you. Bad Grandma!!) and Garm. I'm not sure what Adeena was explaining, but this captures her personality just perfectly. I just love it.
Steve is a huge NASCAR fan and Jeff Gordon (Number 24) is his favorite driver. He's wearing his new birthday gift. As well as that they got him this really funny figurine.
I figure this has to be the Yeti of whitetail deer! Notice the size of the trussed up hunter in comparison - Wow!
The shot of this isn't the best, but I think you can see that it is a mirror shaped like an arrow head framed with a wooden laser-cut deer placed over it. It also has the little clock, which is removable.
It's quite pretty and Steve hung it under one of his mounted heads. He also got a neat little deer night-light.
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Even though our weather turned quite cold and blustery, we had a quick walk around the yard so Adeena, Tony and Sierra could see how pretty everything looked. The following is what we saw:
A view looking down the hill in the back garden.
Blue and white Grape Hyacinth.
Pathetic Forsythia that blooms once every 5 years.


Mayapples on the back path.

Pheasant's Eye and Apricot Trumpet Daffodils.
Ever popular Bleeding Hearts and a study in textures with Variegated Solomon's Seal, Species Lily "Henryii", miniature Goat's Beard, and Meadow Rue in the background.
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And two tulips that escaped the ravenous ungulates.
Actually I have a lot of this great species Tulip "Tarda". These close up when the sun isn't shining on them, but when they are open, they are really cheerful. They are very short 5 to 6" and are one of the most inexpensive species Tulips you can buy. I highly recommend these!
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Even though our walk was more like a forced march because of the cold, we warmed up inside with subs from Cousins and had a lot of laughs playing the latest video game Tony and Adeena had gotten.
I think we should celebrate Steve's birthday every month!!!
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Thea and Garm sharing a little patch of warm sun. Looking pretty sleepy the day after the party ....
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Cheerfulness gives elasticity to the spirit. Spectres
fly before it.
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904)
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Bye for now,
Alyssa

15 comments:

beckie said...

I am so glad you had another great birthday party! My Steve's was this weekend and although we celebrated April birthdays last weekend, we still managed to have a good time. Your flowers are beautiful. I especially like the little yellow and white tulip. I am going to try to find that one to plant this fall! And I love your big planter. What a display that will make when planted. BTW, I really don't dislike toads. Outside they are fine-just not in my bathroom.

joared said...

Lovely flowers showing spring is making it to Wisc. Am sure you're "manly" ferns will do well -- could they do anything else! Cute pugs. Some deer that bagged that hunter.

alicesg said...

The party looked like fun. The figurines looked cute. I love all those flowers. They are very pretty and the fern really have a funny name..lol.

Lizzie A said...

Did you see the last two comments I left on your last post?
If you didn't then I hope that you can check and see because they were just some updates on my life.
Lizzie~

Gina said...

alyssa - i love the "robust male fern" and i'm holding all sorts of jokes right now...

all the flowers look so beautiful! one day i hope i have as much space as you do to garden. happy birthday, steve!

DeeMom said...

AH HA Garden Centers do to you what they do to me… ;)

Hee hee on the Fern, I chuckled as well

The yard looks lovely…AH our May apples are coming forth as well…Bleeding hearts ALSO, I need to post some of my pictures….on these

The Birthday Man sure got some neat STUFF…

Alyssa said...

Lizzie - I responded today on your blog. Sorry about that ...

Mary said...

Alyssa,

There's nothing wrong with your camera at all! You have a good photographic eye. Your photos of the flowers are great and I'm envious of everything you having growing now.

Hey, if Steve ever wishes for a dream come true, come to here to Charlotte, the NASCAR wonderland of museums and races... I don't particularly enjoy it, but I do watches the races here on TV. We would meet you!

Sweet Garm and Thea, sharing the tanning booth, just like Chloe and Bella :o)

Mary

kate smudges said...

I wish, I wish, I wish I could have tagged along to the garden centre with you. We are so far behind you that the little scillas are just about to open. I love the Robust Male Ferns - that is one of the best plant names I've seen in awhile.

Steve's birthday was celebrated in fine style - Adeena, Tony and Sierra certainly knew what he'd like for his birthday! I'm glad you had a fun time!

I loved seeing the Bleeding Hearts. That is a beautiful photograph of them!

Alyssa said...

Beckie - Happy Birthday to your Steve. Lots of good guys are born in April! By all means find the "Tarda" tulips - they are even prettier in real life. I'll be posting pictures of the big planter - I think I'll fill it with petunias.

Joared - Yes, we're finally getting nice weather. But Friday we had horrid storms and now it's going into the 30s!! Since the ferns are also called "Robust" there should be no stopping them..

Alice - Yes we had a really nice time and thank you for your compliments.

Gina - I think you are on your way to an excellent start with your garden and particularly your enthusiasm. You can't help but succeed. Just keep plugging along... Steve says "Thank you".

Dee - Garden centers are a guilty pleasure of mine. Can't stay away from them in Spring. Yes, please post some of your Mayapples and Bleeding Hearts - I'd love to see them. It wouldn't be Spring with out those two flowers!

Mary - Thank you. The close-ups are good but the ones farther away just don't have any clarity to me.

You know I just hate racing!! Listening to it on tv gets very annoying to me - I think because it's so noisy. Lots of times Steve goes to his sons' houses for a "race night". Yes !!!

I'll bet Steve would enjoy Charlotte - as you say, race heaven.

Kate - Before you know it, you'll be enjoying your favorite garden center and sharing it with us.

Scillas are such neat little flowers. I wish they lasted longer.

Yes, they found some fun things for Steve and gave him two very sweet cards also.

I don't think anyone can walk by Bleeding Hearts without stopping to examine them more closly. They are lovely...

Tom said...

Alyssa this really is a great post and so much to look at. The flowers are awesome

Lizzie A said...

Alyssa,
Hey! About cancelling on me without good reason, see it was a good reason, a really good reason, it's just far too long a story to tell you about at the moment.
And, it's fine that it took you so long to get back. I know that there are many times when I just can't get around to checking something like my blong (or even my email) for a while. It happens.
I know that my ex will be sorry. There are times when I'm not sure he isn't sorry already, but I also know that he won't act on those feelings. But, yeah.
College, I can't believe I didn't tell you, I decided to go to Cornell College!! Yay. No, not Ithica, Mt. Vernon, Iowa. And I have known from the very beginning that I want to major in English with a focus on Creative Writing, and either double major in French, or just minor in it (at first I wanted to double major, but now I'm not sure). And I know that I'm not going to make a steady salary (or any salary) off of my writing, so I also want to get a secondary teaching degree so that I can at least have a steady paycheck. (I know that teacher don't get much money either, but at least they HAVE to pay you.
I have to go, sorry about the SUPER long comment!
Lizzie~

Kerri Farley said...

How nice to have two birthday parties!! Your garden is lovely!

Alyssa said...

Tom - I'm glad you enjoyed this week's blog. Thanks for stopping by.

Lizzie - That's great that you've decided on a college. I'll bet you're getting pretty excited. You are being very practical about your majors and minors. Unfortunately, being a successful writer can take quite a while and in the mean time, you have to eat!
I'm sure you'll be an excellent teacher AND a successful writer or poet. Stay positive!

Kerri - Thank you for the compliment - I'm always happy that others enjoy our gardens too.

Barbara said...

I love that you say the president may be buying you a new camera :)

I'm house hunting at the moment and just told a friend this afternoon that it was looking more and more like the president will be buying me an appliance or two as a housewarming present.