Spring Fling

New Spring craft love -
 watercolor on fabric.
 Post coming soon.

Officially, Spring is still a few weeks away, but the temperature is slowly climbing, the geese are headed north (honking loudly over my house) and the daffodils are peaking through the ground.  In honor of all things Spring-ish, my sister, Teri, is hosting a Spring Fling on her blog today.  She's planning her flower garden, issuing some fun challenges, sharing some craft ideas and generally celebrating Spring.  Check in and join the fun - I promise, you will not be required to do any spring cleaning.

Her first question was "What are you planting?"  I have my garden seed order ready - tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe and potatoes.  In the flower beds, I'm adding sunflowers for a touch of Kansas, which will always be home in my heart.  

My entry for the first Spring Fling challenge - a picture from my garden:

One of my favorites - Marigolds.  Love the variety of colors,
not to mention the fact that even I can't kill them. 

Count Your Blessings . . .

Just some of the many reasons I love Green Acres in the summer:

Clematis

Brave little Honeysuckle - trying to bloom even though it's too short to reach the trellis yet.

Lilies

Marigolds

Variegated petunias

Wave Petunias - package said red, half bloomed purple

Hydrangeas

The hollyhocks are back after last summer's drought.

Best of all, the perennials shown, plus Peonies, Columbine, Surprise Lilies and a half-dozen lilac bushes were planted by the previous owner.  Each year we're a little closer to restoring her beautiful gardens.  I still want to uncover the brick pathways connecting the flower beds - now overgrown with grass.  Pinterest suggests vinegar to kill the grass between the bricks, but I haven't tried it yet.  Any other ideas for killing grass ONLY on the walkways?  Ideas other than me and a shovel?  Tried that one last year and gave up after about 3 feet.  All help appreciated.

Sur-prise, Sur-prise, Sur-prise!

It worked!  The Christmas quizzes cooled things down - high temps in the 80's yesterday and today - so I could return to the great outdoors.  And - surprise! - I found Surprise Lilies.   In May and June there were four beds of greenery like those shown at the right.  (Sorry, it didn't occur to me at the time that the leaves were photo worthy, so I found this image on the internet.)  But they died off in July and we assumed that, whatever they were, they hadn't survived the heat.  Now, without a leaf in sight, stalks are shooting up all over (actual pictures from Green Acres):

Each single bud opened to reveal four or more buds 
on each stalk:





And in less than a week from first sprout, each bud opened into a beautiful lavender lily:


Turns out that's how Surprise Lilies work - hence the name.  These beauties are also called Resurrection Lilies, Magic Lilies or Naked Ladies.

Then my second surprise.  I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize, but we have butterflies.  That may not seem like a shocker to you, but it was to me.  Our previous home in southwest Kansas was very dry.  Not much grew that wasn't purposely planted and watered.  When we moved here this Spring, one of the first things we noticed were wildflowers . . . everywhere.  Miles of ditches full of gorgeous blooms.  And with flowers come butterflies.  I hadn't missed them until they were back.  So I spent two days running around the yard with my cellphone, trying to snap some pictures. Aren't I glad we live in the country so the neighbors weren't snapping pictures of the crazy woman next door?!  Those little buggers are quick, but I did manage to click on four different varieties.  The photography's not very good, but you try to get clear pictures while crawling under a lilac bush, trying not to spook the butterfly, with your phone in one hand and a snake-killing pitchfork in the other.  (Ha, snakes!  You thought I'd forgotten you and that one of your ilk tried to hide in my lilac bush.  But no!  I will never forget!  You and I will be enemies. . . Sorry.  We don't need to go down that road again.)  

Red-Spotted Purple

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 

Viceroy Butterfly

The I-Don't-Have-A-Clue Butterfly

Identification courtesy of www.gardenswithwings.com

It's Time to Play . . . Name That Bloom

It's me, the Flummoxed Florist, back with another round of What the Heck is Growing in My Yard?

Bloom #1 - For a $5 gift certificate to Fertilizers R Us, name this bloom...

If you guessed "lily" you are correct.  

Bloom #2 - For a rusty planter I found behind the chicken coop and all the hydrangea cuttings you can clip, name this bloom...

If you said "yucca", congratulations!  Bonus points if you wondered why anyone plants a weed (flowering or otherwise) in their yard.  Double bonus points if you recognized the ivy geranium in the hanging pot behind the yucca.

And now for the Big Money Round - playing for an all-expenses-paid trip to Green Acres to help clear cow manure out of what will hopefully become the dog pen, name this bloom...

 

No, seriously...what is that thing?  It's growing under my mailbox.  It's approximately three feet high and has both pink and purple varieties.  Good luck!

And the Blooms Just Keep on Coming...

More things are blooming here on Green Acres and, once again, I find myself clueless.  As I was maneuvering the lawn mower through the overgrown ditch, I discovered this beauty atop a fence post.

It has grown up the fence post and then tangled amongst itself to make a ball of flowers.  I was sure there had to be a flowerpot under there somewhere, but it is completely supporting itself by winding around it's own stems.  I believe I can identify this as clematis - but feel free to tell me if I'm wrong.  And how do I go about getting a start from this plant? Collect seeds?  Take a cutting?  I would really like to have it growing on the trellis by the house.

And the peonies are here.  We knew there was a bush with white blooms in the front yard, but I discovered three more out by the road near the clematis.  They were buried among weeds that hadn't been trimmed for who-knows-how-long, but once Dave cleared away the junk, we had beautiful light and dark pink varieties.

Next, this scraggly looking bush that I had actually wanted Dave to remove, began blooming in the most amazing shade of neon pink.  And, lo and behold, as Dave continued clearing brush and dead trees, we discovered it comes in a white variety also. Anyone have an idea?

Then there is this huge bed of what we assume to be some variety of hydrangeas??  The blooms are a rather unimpressive green/yellow at this point.  I read somewhere that the bloom color can be influenced by the acidity of the soil.  Anyone able to verify this?

Coming soon:  Tons and tons of lilies, at least some of which are bright orange.  We'll keep you posted.

Bloomin' Questions

More new things are blooming at Green Acres.  I recognize the flower on the left as Lily of the Valley, but can anyone identify the one on the right?  I found a couple patches of it around the chicken house.  The leaves look like cilantro, don't you think?

 

Everything's Coming Up Roses

 Well, maybe not roses, but definitely some beautiful flowering shrubs and trees.  I have no idea what most of these are, but I'm certainly enjoying the explosion of color in the yard. 

 

One that I do recognize - and one of my favorite flowers - is lilac.  We have both the purple and white varieties.  If there is another name for the white, someone please let me know.  There is a bouquet of both shades on my kitchen table and the house is filled with their wonderful fragrance.  There are also crocus (or are they daffodils?) and a huge patch of what I believe to be hydrangeas - we'll know for sure when they bloom.  You're probably catching on by now that I'm not a florist or horticulturist.  There are several other plants coming up that I have no clue about, so we'll have continuing surprises all summer.  

But, along with the beautiful blooms, you know, just stuck in among the zinnias, is this thing:  Audrey II???   

The pod is at the top of a three foot woody stalk.  The leaves bear a striking resemblance to a certain illegal plant, but the stalk and blooms are different.   My best guess is that it's some sort of thistle that shouldn't be in the flower bed, but it has obviously been there for several years, so I'm going to let it bloom before I decide for sure.  Anyone have a clue?  If I'm about to get busted, someone give me a warning.

 I was walkin' in the wholesale flower district that day and I passed by this place where this old Chinese man, he sometimes sells me weird and exotic cuttings, cause he knows, you see, that strange plants are my hobby. He didn't have anything unusal there that day, so I was just about to, you know, walk on by, when suddenly and without warning there was a total eclipse of the sun.  It got very dark and there was this strange sound like something from another world.  And when the light came back this weird plant was just sitting there, just, you konw, stuck in among the zinnias.  I coulda sworn it hadn't been there before, but the old Chinese man sold it to me anyways, for a dollar ninety-five. - Little Shop of Horrors