Nice Rain and Not So Nice Rain

Oh the joys of gardening!

I am such a plant it and see what happens gardening girl...

I love taking strolls in my garden with my camera to see what I can find...

Here are some poppy seed heads.

They are my favorite "thing" in my garden this year so far!

This is a Poppy that just lost it's petals - it looks like a fancy collar around the seed head doesn't it?

These popped up in the area of the lawn where we had to replant some of the grass due to a patio installation and heavy equipment being used.

Never saw this kind of fungi before and I'm quite pleased to find them growing - even for just a few days...

These must be night blooming...

In the day they look like this, then the next day, spent flower heads...

Go figure! Now I've got to try to stay awake and remember to go and check them out...

It is just not something this pregnant body wants to do - or really can do...

Here are my 2008 favorites.

They seem to be a bit different this year...

Maybe a bit more yellow in the flower, and not so many cool spiraling happening...

We've had a lot of rain this summer, and it's humid - very, very humid...

I do enjoy the way the water collects as droplets on the flowers though...

Chloe loves the rain!

When it's a nice soft rain, we go outside and she looks up and spreads her hands up wide...

It's so new to her - I just don't know how to describe her astonishment and excitement...

Yesterday we had the umbrellas out for some extra fun in the 10 minute shower...

This is Chloe hanging out with Jamie and Maggie (the dog) at their house in the garden.

I think Chloe and Jamie are going to be the best of friends growing up - they already have so many things in common and similar interests (and only a few months apart in age).

His mom Natalie and I were like sisters from the instant we shared studio space in college.

We are both clay and nature girls - and can't help but to get pregnant - both times within months of each other.

We are both expecting our 2nd babies - she in Oct, me in Jan... Too funny!

This is a hailstorm that we had a week ago. I haven't seen hail for some time...

This hail was about the size of an acorn.

The storm was SO loud and super windy, but luckily only lasted about 15 minutes or so.

My garden was so torn up after this.

And delicate flowers or large petal plants were ripped to shreds.

A week later though, they are on the way to recovery (I hope).

Oh, and this picture - how weird...

I had posted a picture of these two small dogwoods back in the spring with a wishing well in between them (see a few posts ago).

Well that wicked wind, rain and hail storm really did some damage with trees around here...

That tree is cut in this picture, but it had spanned across the street when it fell.

And luckily, just missed the wishing well and those two trees that are growing to look like one.

Oh, and by the way, I'm having a couple of giveaways on my Marsha Neal Studio Blog...

If you leave a comment on this post:

Blogging About Ceramic Decals

you will be entered to win one of my porcelain daisy decal pendants.

See that blog for the details (drawing on Fri. Aug 7, 2009).

Hope your garden is growing well!

Thanks for stopping by...

July Garden - It's Bloom Time!!!

I have a lot to do today, but I am SO excited that my garden is finally starting to show some cool blooms.

These are pictures I took yesterday in the morning before and after taking Chloe to school.

She was up early yesterday so we had some extra time to do stuff including a walk at Tweed's Park.

One day I'll have a nice Macro lens and a digital SLR to take really good up-close pictures...

Believe it or not, this is the first year that I've seen this red daylily (above). Usually the deer have come by and eaten all of the blooms off before it even has a chance... Forgot that I even had red ones!

The three pictures below are a bit of a "nature takes over" series:

Garden Center purchase: Spiderwort with bright green plant, purple flower

Garden Center Purchase: Spiderwort with dark green plant, pink flowers

This picture is what appeared in a totally different area of my garden:

Nature's Magic: Spiderwort with dark green plant and purple flower.

I'm sure I've seen this cross breed in the garden centers...

It's just cool that nature did it in my garden to give me a little something without having to go and buy it!

In LOVE with the poppies after they have lost their flower... they are like my garden flower snakes all wiggly...

Above is a new bloom to my garden that I started from seed.

Not sure what it is exactly, but hopefully will figure it out.

I really like the shape of the bloom emerging...

Early morning shot - my favorite garden flower (well - technically I like the after the flower spirals that appear).

Seriously an hour or two later... the flower has already opened!

Can't wait to see what this year's spirals look like!

Look at the size and number of Jack-in-the Pulpit seeds are on this baby!

And the new plants under it (they have 3 leafs)...

Next year I hope to have even more throughout the garden...

I am not a huge fan of hens & chicks...

I don't know why...

maybe they just don't do well in my garden and I'm unimpressed by them...

Possibly the neutrality of color most of the year...

But I do like the display of small flowers...

Sometimes I wonder what is going through Chloe's head...

I am so happy to have a kid that likes to be outdoors and isn't afraid to get a little dirty.

Although she's much like me and doesn't like sticky on her hands...

so we carry wet wipes in the car with us...

This year so far...

It's hard to believe that this annually barren hill...

(March/April)

That I can't wait for to start to grow something...

(April/May)

Starts to burst into full green...

(May/June)

Now needs daily weeding...

(Late June - after weeding bottom part)

I enjoy throwing seeds in my garden (attempting to "throw" or rather drop spread them in a height arrangement of shortest to tallest) to see what can grow. Deer come by and eat some, others don't grow at all - it's all about what makes it in my garden...

This year my grandma Neal gave me these Poppy seeds. I had others that I bought and tried in years past, but they just never grew. She must've had some magic seeds like Jack and the Beanstalk...

I am really enjoying that this week a lot of the annual seeds are starting to bloom.

This picture is of 2 of the above poppies after they lost their petal. The one in the middle lost it first. The one to the right they had just fallen. The one on the left - well that one has yet to bloom...

Oh, wonderful garden inspiration - there you are!!!

This is one of the Carolina Wrens that has been nesting in a gourd for the past 2 summers in our front tree. Every time I see it, I just can't believe how tiny this bird is... Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Tiny bird! And boy are they loud tweeters...

More flowers to bloom soon = more pictures that inspire me!

Thanks for stopping by!