I love taking close-up shots of blooms but I have been anxiously waiting for the new beds to fill in so I can get some overall shots. Right now I have a plant blooming that is new for me and I just love it! It's called Anchusa azurea “Alkanet”
I got it from Annie's Annuals Nursery last summer in a 4" pot, if you click on their link above, doesn't their description sound wonderful?! It grew quickly and now it is in full bloom, and what a glorious blue! There aren't too many great blues like this for the garden, especially something this size. Soon, I will have a neighboring rose bloom in a soft yellow and on the other side I will have a yellow kniphofia bloom. Last week I stopped by Annie's and picked up 2 more so that I have this mass of blue repeated in a couple of other areas in the garden by next year.
We ordered a copper rain chain off Amazon for the shed and it sure is nicer than any old boring downspout!
And now a few blooms that are adding spots of color.
These are a couple of historic iris below, the one on the right is a NOID from Zuzu's garden, even with all these fancy new iris, this one is a special favorite.
OK, now you'll notice I titled this blog 'Garden shots and spiders', here comes the spiders part. We have lots of spider webs all over the outside of the house, I am constantly either taking a broom or the hose to them. A few days ago we noticed this mass of newly hatched spiders, hundreds of them, each barely the size of a pinhead. No wonder we have so many webs! They were quickly dispatched.
And that same day, I was sitting downstairs in the family room when out of the corner of my eye I see this large spider, INSIDE my house, walking across the carpet! Everyone was already in bed so I had to take a deep breath and scoot it into a glass jar. (Go ahead, I dare you to enlarge that shot!) This was almost exactly the same spot I saw one this size a year ago. How they get inside is a mystery. I found two more outside today in the garden under pots.
Outside, with garden gloves and shoes on, not so bad, inside, that's the stuff of nightmares, gives me the creepy crawlies!
Today I shot this beautiful clematis and when I edited it, I saw the tiny white spider on it, not as creepy.
Ok, now I got the crawling skin feeling again.
It's getting exciting, buds are swelling on the roses, lilies are making their appearance in preparation for their summer bloom, a few new-to-me iris are already blooming, most are the dwarf bearded varieties so they have the sweetst little blooms. I have been weeding like crazy trying to clear new areas for planting, rains come again starting tomorrow so I am sure new weeds will make their appearance soon afterwords. Oh well. Is that job ever done?!
Among the weeds are lots of ladybugs, my grand daughter has been rescuing them as I find them. That last shot enlarged really looks like it's coming right at you!
We had removed some pavers along the front driveway that were used as edging and decided to recylce them into a walkway along the shed, Brad did all the work, once again, and I supervised. :-) The wine barrel to the left has a 5 gal pot in the center filled with rocks, we will be adding a copper rain chain from the corner of the shed roof that will drain into that barrel. The wire basket on the right was a antique store find, it will be hung under the shed window and planted. Brad first needs to add a bracket to attach it so it will protect the wood.
And now a few new blooms and foliage to add color to this post, most, but not all, with names imprinted on the images so you'll have to enlarge to see that. Enjoy!
My Mom and I visit the annual Flower & Landscape Show every year, we always have a good time, browsing plant and garden related booths and checking out inspiring garden displays.
Just a few highlights from the show:
Hypertufa containers with embedded bottle and glass.
A succulent wall panel, made up of many of these smaller panels:
One of my favorite nurseries, Gold Rush. Always great plant displays, bronze and chartreuse shades are some of my favorite color combinations.
Sweetwater Nursery, great for heirloom veggies, my Mom picking up a pepper and a row of heirloom tomatoes:
Vertical veggie wall and some cute stepping stones
And this landscaper does beautiful work with stacked rocks! Took lots of shots as it was so interesting.
This was a nice seating area, enclosed on 2 sides with large recycled windows. The stone table trickles water from the center out over the entire stone. I like how they set a few pavers in the gravel. They made the orange tops with lengths of outdoor cloth, threaded onto poles. Easy to make wood bench and stone seating made a nice outdoor 'room'.
A recycled old truck over a pond, one headlamp is the fountain.
This was an over-the-top sherbet colored display that used several fun elements in the packed veggie and flower garden. A little too busy for me but some ideas would be fun, maybe even for a kids garden.
Pallet recycling is popular nowadays and they made a shed from several pallets with dry brushed paint and whimsical touches.
and this was a cute idea, painted gutters with nylon fabric 'rolls' filled with planting mix and various lettuces and annuals. 
Had to eest my eyes after that last display! Here's another pallet use, a succulent table. Here's the DIY link for this exact table.
Succulent Table
I drove home by way of the Embarcadero St. in SF, hoping to catch a glimpse of the super tanker that was coming in, missed it by 1/2 hr. (The ship is almost a quarter mile long or about equal to the height of a 55-story building. It is the largest container ship ever to dock at any seaport in North America.) Check out these cool photos, in one photo you can see Alcatraz Island behind the ship and another, the city of SF, which really shows the size of this massive ship.
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/03/msc-fabiola-container-ship-arrives-at-the-port-of-oakland/7024/#name%20here
Since I missed it, I took a shot of the GG Bridge as fog was rolling in, by the time I crossed it, it was almost completely shrouded in fog.
Here's a blog link below with more write up of the garden displays and better shots.
I finally selected the trim color and I think I am going to like the entire color combo for the house as well. Warm muted olive greens, sets off the plant colors nicely.
The big sliding door started warping so a metal bracket was added down the center to keep it straight, don't like it but it was needed, it will get painted the main color so hopefully won't stand out as much.
Brad built a large shelf system which is filling in fast, we also have one of those metal shelves on the opposite wall and he plans to also build a work bench.
The garden is coming along, slow and steady. Brad keeps asking how long it's going to take until everything fills in and he doesn't have to see dirt between the plants. :-) He's used to my last garden, tiny and packed full, no room for even any weeds. I need to get a few truck loads of mulch for everything, should have done it earlier as too many weeds coming up! These beds in the first 2 shots below have been recently cleared so it doesn't really show how bad some of it is.
Still have scattered pots everywhere, as a barrier mostly to help keep the 'beasts' from stepping (and then some) on the newly planted things. It ain't pretty and drives me crazy but it has to be until they move out with my daughter & family. As you can see, we still have the orange barrier cloth up to keep them off the lawn. Sigh...
I have a ground cover I want to plant between the stepping stones, (which need to be spaced a bit closer) after the dogs are gone though. I have several exsisting sprinkler hoses pulled up here and there, they need to be repaired so I left them in place so hubby can find them. Mulch should cover things and at least make it look better.
Yeah, LOTS of work left! At least I am chipping away at the over 600 pots I brought with us when we moved. :-)
A gopher cage awaits co-op bulbs, once the rain stops I will get them in.
Spring has sprung!
A few update photos for the shed. Here you can see the trim around the door and windows.
Yesterday we had it primed and painted. (so handy to have a son-in-law pro painter!) It's an olive tan color from Home Depot by Behr called Mountain Elk. Still need to decide the trim, I am thinking of a real dark charcoal blackish green, or maybe deep chocolate or terracotta brown, not sure. I'll buy a few samples first to try out. I am not into a conventional lighter color like everyone else has around the neighborhood. :-) Took me a while to choose the color as it is also going on the house, so painting the shed first was a good way to go before commiting to something bigger!
And here is the completed paint job, minus the trim. You can also see what Brad chose as the main door, a cool sliding barn door style. A porch and ramp is still to be added.
Inside we already have the canoe, bikes and garden tools up and the pine cabinet was a $25 garage sale find, that will be for storing fertilizers, smaller tools and other garden accesories.
