Bouquet of Red Lilies

The red lily was ablaze this morning and there was a complete bouquet waiting to be discovered. A nice cobalt vase would be nice with these.

The red Chard planted earlier this season is growing nicely. I love Northern Lights Chard. More chard seedlings have sprouted,

This is one of 3 seedlings from seeds sown directly in the cedar mulch. The mulch isn't seedling friendly, especially with Symba loose in the garden. The water bottle collar seems to be working and they don't have to be watered as frequently as little cups would. I mixed some of my first compost into the mix,

I might have been a little hasty because it can burn, but it looked great and I couldn't wait and so far the only outcome has been a stowaway seedling that looks like a tomato plant. I will update you more on that later.

Thanks for visiting. In support of Gardening, Carry On!

The Fickle Gardener

A few new blossoms on the cannas since yesterday's wind so now they are ready for a close up. Here's Symba, the cat faced boy, as he zooms in from an opposite angle.

Here is a photo of the new lily. It is absolutely my new favorite. Have my favorites become so fleeting, that perhaps I am fickle? I feel like I am being unfaithful to the iris. Perhaps some flowering zinnas will make me feel better. Will an annual cure this perennial woe?

Here is an all black hummingbird thanks to the placement of the feeder against the sky. If you have hummingbirds, you are familiar with their call, that timeless looping whistle. Hummingbirds are the best. Someone asked me once what kind of pets I had, and I said," A cat and hummingbirds." They said "Oh, you can tell alot about a person by the kinds of pets they have." Hummm. They probably had me figured wrong. I am a siamese rescue of 6, koi pond full of beauties, banty chicken loving, peacocks in the trees kind of person.

Here is a photo of a peacock in the trees from our last trip to Bonnie Springs.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, Carry On!

Blazin Desert

Lilies are ablaze and they reign in the garden right now. There is also a new lily added to the lily bed. It's called Assorted Lily, just kidding but really. I read it twice.

It's the lovely deep purple with a green center. It would look great next to the surprise lily from the plant rescue which happens to be a deep rich yellow.

Chaste Trees have been added to the area behind the main bed, one on the left between the butterfly iris, slightly hidden from view and one just below the mountain. They are our equivalent to a lilac bush. They will become small trees and will shade the walking path, and also buffer some of the reflective heat. The directional sign in the distance is as follows:

A little garden art using a tree stake and palet planks with green, red and blue acrylic paint. Husband wanted to write our elevation on the back with a pencil. He headed out to scribe until I convinced him that our elevation should go with the next sign I intend to make, 'Hummingbird Trail'. We can't get our horizontals and verticals mixed up now can we?

Cannas have started to bloom. They are orange mottled, and also there are red ones that should follow soon and are a smaller variety. The wind has kicked back up and these two are slap happy, so no close ups, please.

Garage sailing :) I found these glass voltive holders for a dollar and thought they'd make great rain gauges in the cactus garden, still under construction.

Thanks for visiting! To all my gardening friends, Carry On!

Ming Toy Now

The first lily, Ming Toy opened this morning. Last year was the beginning of my obsession with lilies. When they bulldozed the frontage of a residential housing development in order to put in a 12 foot wide drainage channel, I noticed that the entire landscape was in peril, there were hawthorns, rosemarys, and lots of lilies. By the time I returned, it had been cleared by a bulldozer. I identified the green leaves of about 9 lilies and dug them out of the dirt. This is the kind of landscaping I enjoy. I like the thrill of the save, the fact that they were free, and the intrique of not knowing what color they will be.

So here is my surprise daylily, and my first bud. In a couple of days we'll be able to identify this lily by name.

Here is my latest foraging project. This is a start of a cactus that fell off from it's parent plant, and thankfully the landscaping crew doesn't wear gloves so that people like me can add to their cactus gardens. Looks rough, but you can see what one week in the dirt and some water will do.

The front lobe shows sign of it's past, but the other two are plumping up nicely. This is a Prickly Pear cactus and has yellow flowers.

As I am adding cedar mulch to the sunning bed, I look over and notice Symba who must have fallen asleep during a sustained yoga pose.

I need about 4 more bags of mulch for the beds so I'll pick them up next week. It's nice to look out and see something other than highly alkaline dirt.