Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Mum and daddy used to take rolls and rolls of super 8 film of their flowers.  I didn't really appreciate that until I had my own garden. Flowers make me so happy and now I want to capture every lovely bloom too!
And when they have sentimental value, I love them even more!  
This yellow rose was a mother's day gift from Katie several years ago.  It gets more beautiful every year...just like Kate!   

 

 I can't really get over these peonies.  They were just opening up here and were loaded with buds.  We took two starts from Kelley's folks place before they sold the house and they are just my favorite!


 This is a pretty white lily Kelley got a start from Marks.   His lilies are incredible. His back yard is a lily paradise.  He has propagated them and made his own varieties.  Each one is named and is neatly marked.

 I'm so tickled with the the vegie garden right now too!  It's so fun to be able to go pick two kinds of lettuce, spinach, and radishes for my daily salad!



 The lilies in the pond are blooming like crazy right now and they are soooooo pretty!  Seriously, just perfect!  

 The bees really like them too!

 Okay, now the peonies are in full bloom! Just in time to make some beautiful arrangements and take some to the cemeteries!

 I love this butter crunch lettuce! And you can see the radishes peeking their little heads out of the ground. 






 The Clematis had it's first bloom today too!
I'm so grateful mum and daddy instilled in me a love for planting, nurturing and growing all kinds of things...especially flowers. They are so perfect and intricate!  I can just imagine the joy that our creators felt as they designed each one so uniquely beautiful.



Tuesday, May 23, 2017

New Bees, Chicks and boots.
We got two complete nuks from a guy on KSL on Saturday.  Kelley sat them on a pallet down by the chicken coop to have them get used to being here for a couple days, then yesterday him and Candice moved the boards into our hive box.  They were just loaded with bees and had already started making honeycomb.  

!
 I love that Candice enjoys the bees too!  She's not afraid to jump right in and handle them.






 Aren't they just the cutest!
We decided this morning we had better get out to Cal Ranch and get some chicks or they would soon be gone. I had looked at them when Kate and I were getting Kelley's leaf blower for his birthday and  they were getting pretty sparse.
So after I got home from the gym, we headed out to Cal Ranch.  They only had a few of these Buff Orphington kind left so we took 4.  These are the same kind we got when we first started with the chickens.  They are the cutest brown fluffy chickens that look like they are wearing bloomers.  Their feathers come clear down their legs.  They are pretty mellow and don't mind you holding them.  Plus they lay beautiful brown eggs!
 We thought we'd check to see if they had any boots in Kelley's size out there at Cal Ranch and they actually did!  It's not easy to find 15's!  Kelley's boots had really had it!  He wears them till they die.  Anyway, it's a pretty great day when we can find some that fit him so we got them!

 Those are a hard working guys boots!  They have done more than their share so we'll lay them to rest.
Candice came over and we named all the new babies and introduced them to their new home.







We'll keep them separated from the big chickens for a few months to keep them safe.  You never really know what they are going to do.  Sometimes they are mean to one chicken and peck at her till her feathers are about gone.  Sometimes they just break their own eggs and make a big ol mess, and sometimes it seems like they want to lay their eggs anyplace other than in the nest.  We'll find them in all kinds of strange places.  I don't know why.  They are mostly quite sweet though and it makes me smile when they follow me around the yard like I'm their momma hen.

This is a bunch of random stuff from the past few days.  
I can't really get over these Iris.  They are so so pretty!  and they smell so good!  We took a vase of them up to the cemetery and their fragrance was overpowering in the car!  Intoxicating!  And looking at them up close just amazes me!  They are so perfect!



 Oh and check this one out!  I mean really have you ever seen anything like it?  This was a start we got from Marks garden.
 ..



 These cuties are another kind of lily that just blooms for a while in the spring.  I love the  purple color of the flowers!
 Kelley got me these amazing hanging baskets for Mother's day.  I just love them!  We had to take them in for a few days cause I was afraid they would freeze.  Kelley was such a sweetheart and covered all the tomato plants when we were having that cold spell too.  It was a big job because they were all in tomato cages and pretty much spread out over a large area.  He bought a big roll of visqueen and  tucked  them all in nicely.  It was sketchy if we were going to get a hard freeze or not but they said some areas for sure would and the tomatoes would suffer so i was glad Kelley would go to the trouble to cover them.
These are my other cute pots I planted.




 My basket hanging up.  They are just packed with flowers!
 Aren't these radishes the cutest!  I picked those, two kinds of lettuce and some spinach for a yummy salad today!


 This is just the most wonderful time of the year!  I love planting and tending, and watching the garden grow!