I had not seen any goldfinches up here, but Jer said several days ago that he'd spotted one. We put out nyjer seed when living down south, but I've planned on planting for them here instead, same with the hummers...I'm planting for them rather than putting out feeders. So, I looked up their favored flowers and was pleased to see that dendelions are among them. In my 'meadow' borders where I'm letting the grasses and wild things grow long around the shrubs, dandelions thrive and grow tall, long stemmed here. There is also one large thistle that I see I did not get totally chopped out and there are a few coming up in the 'lawn'....I have to draw the line with the thistle...I hate those things...lol..

I had problems with rudbeckias and rabbits down south but have read that the deer won't eat them once the leaves have matured enough to be 'rough' and hairy, so I'll be planting rudbeckias once more.

rose 'Blue Girl'


amaryllis 'Red Pearl'


amaryllis 'Exotica'


amaryllis NOID


leucocoryne


echinopsis 'Los Angeles'




iris NOID, I think it could be 'Indian Chief'


Dutch iris 'Blue Delft'

You have a lot goin' on there, it's definitely Springtime!

Yes, and I won't have much to post in the summer. You know how that goes. Everything takes a break because of the heat and I don't put in summer annuals.

We got same predicament Kelli...summer is rest time in my garden too. Just the succulents enduring it as much as they can, even their blooming is suppressed too by the heat.

My little Kasey alerted me to a fresh gopher hole, I just set the trap and she has been staring intently at it for an hour now.


Golden Celebration


Fuchsia 'Nettala'


I have this salvaged rusty metal pot that we incorporated into the rock retaining wall, I planted it with sedums and semps, it should look nice as it fills in and spills over the edge.


The clay pipes I got from Liz are also newly planted


A New Zealand Tea Tree


Borage popping up in various spots


Sedum holding recent rain drops


New emerging leaves on Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Little Honey'



Scilla peruviana


Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica)


And a bee on Angelica pachycarpa

I used to laugh at one of my cats who could sit and watch that gopher hole just so long before having to stick a leg down there.....

I finally brought her inside and checked the trap 20 minutes later, success!

Onc Hilda Plumtree "Purple Wings" is still holding its blooms, but it is now in the slow fade away phase where I can finally see more of the slight purply or pinkish edge of the petals.

Love those colors.....

After the two Samba stalks toppled (they must be too heavy, overweight ), now their blooms are in vase:

So much fun to see the terra cotta pipes planted, Sue! How're you feeling these days?

Everyone's gardens are waking up - yay! Can't wait to have time to work in mine, but my mother broke her hip on Sunday, so life is still on hold...

oh no, no, no..broken hip....terrible news.

okay...I will tell...she and I may have been psychically joined on that day...lol..I fell coming up the back steps. Hair hanging in my face, wearing shoes I don't normally wear, back steps are not code, risers are off a bit. Well, it's funny, once you reach this age, perhaps they should hand you a helmet...I see a real market there, interestingly designed helmets for old ladies. I fell a year ago, taking an armload of things into St Vincent's and did a face plant, landing on my nose. I was stunned, I'd never fallen like this before and I can testify that bruised ribs can take 6 months to get over, landed on my nose and couldn't believe it did not break.

Well, on Sunday when I fell, I knew what was coming...there's that briefest of moments when your brain says..."yep, goin down" and the cell or muscle memory kicks in and you manage to get your arms beneath you so you don't bruise those ribs again...and you land on your 'eye socket'. Nothing got hurt except that area and now I can say I've had a black eye. I was waiting for Jer to get back from town and we were going to brookings to meet Rebecca and some other friends for lunch and my first thought was that I would need stitches and did not want the bother of that, so was relieved and surprised to find no blood. My second thought was that I'm going to have to be more aware, because I've never broken anything except a collarbone when I was a year old and don't remember.

Breaking a hip is such bad news.....

Aren't those pipes fun?!!

Slowly on the mend, still in a lot of pain, think I'll have to stay on Motrin & tylenol for a while. Dealing with anxiety issues which caught me by surprise so talking this out with a therapist to help with coping skills. Just don't heal as fast as when we were young!!
Hope your momma heals OK, man is that major stress for you Liz!

Eewwwoowww Sherry!!!!

Ever since rolling and breaking a bone in my ankle on my stairs 2 years ago, I am super paranoid and leery of any stairs, curb, step, uneven walkway, etc! I always hang on to something, always look down at my feet where I am stepping, always, always, never want to go through that pain again!

We had been kiddingly talking about 'ramp' at that back entry...we may think about it, but we have some work to do there yet.

This is the third time I've fallen, the first time was in the garden some years, maybe 5, ago...and I was quite surprised...I really don't want to get used to this...may need to take a 'crash' course in Tuck and Roll...my mom and I were always very physically and psychically joined, we both had cancer at age 27, and I've felt that it would be cancer that takes me out....this week I'm rethinking that, she died as a result of falling and hitting her head......hmmmm.

Liz, did this have anything to do with the move? and new environs?

Sue, my niece was T-boned several months ago and the seat belt / air bags did probably save her, but did extensive damage to her also.

On a happier note, my neighbor just e-mailed me to give me a heads up on the deer getting to her strawberries last night and a big new gopher mound in her yard...I tried to not sound smug when asking her if she's not seen my keep 'em out deer enclosure where my potted berries are safe...very expensive deer proofing, but I think I can turn it into a greenhouse come Winter...and made me happy once again to keep making gopher baskets.

Super ouch Sherry!!! Uh-oh! Hope it heals fast..I had a ladder fall too a couple of years ago..thankfully not too high, I landed hard on my chest..ego bruised..glad nobody at work saw me, it happened while I was at the sales floor.

Sue, I can emphathize with that anxiety feeling you have...we got rear ended several years ago,well, twice actually with one of them really sending all our back windows crashing and flying to the front and up to now, every time my husband is about to start hitting his brakes hard, or I sense we are coming in a bit faster, that distinct memory or feeling I had at the time of the accident surfaces. As much as I try to forget..lo and behold, it is just there, waiting to surface. I just have to pray harder to keep calm.

I always watch my rear view mirror when stopped, waiting for someone to rear end me...now I'm overy suspicious about watching the front also with all of the 'crossing the line texting accidents'.

The eye area kept spreading larger and turning black...when in the stores, I kept waiting for someone to ask if I'd been beaten....in the last few months I've had a few dreams where you're in danger and you're trying to scream for "Help" and can't make a sound? Well, I've apparently crossed that barrier and now can scream quite loudly for help...lol..I've been awakened a couple of times now with Jer and my son standing over me, asking if I'm okay. The last dream I woke myself up, hearing myself yelling to "call the police, they're trying to kill me..." lol..and now I show up with a black eye...lol..We've been here just over a year, the neighbors are probably wondering...I'll have to tell Jer that it's in his best interest to keep me from falling and breaking anything...............

Yikes! Sherry! I fell on my face when hiking one time and got a black eye like that and also bent up my glasses and damaged my camera. It wasn't a real fun day.