Late Winter Pre-Spring is Springing!

Flowers in bud

I think this is an evergreen type of bridal wreath

A potted plant that was gifted to me last year coming back. I kept it covered during the freezes - not sure what it is though!

Hoping for some lemons this year - I've had a bee hanging around so fingers are crossed!

This deciduous Bridal Wreath Spirea has leafed out the past two weeks and will be blooming soon

Azaleas are ready to spring to life

More Azaleas waking up

Volunteers I pulled from the compost pile - most are probably bell peppers

More volunteers from the compost pile - you never know what you'll get!

Some lilies peeping out a bit here and there

Hydrangeas coming to life

Even the fig tree is coming out of its winter nap

Just a little peek of things to come (hopefully)!

Last year because of The Hatefuls and their excessive leaf burning (and my sensitivity to the chemicals burning leaves put out for days), I wasn't able to even be out in my own yard, much less to spend any of the early spring (or late winter pre-spring) outside in the garden.  I lost so many plants to the summer heat because I couldn't give them a healthy start in the spring, but I am hopeful and praying for a peaceful spring this year.
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Stopping to Smell the Gardenias

Housework to do. Errands to run. Posts to edit.  Weariness and fretting over the oil spill in the Gulf. Much to do. I really had no business putting about in the yard and taking the time to just sit on the wooden swing and be still. But I'm glad I did.

It's a beautiful, sunshiny day, bare wisps of clouds hang high in the bright blue sky and it's actually momentarily cool, at least on my swing in the shade, thanks to a pleasant breeze that brushes by every couple of minutes. It is unusually quiet today in this cluttered, suburban neighborhood, barely an invasion of sound, save for the occasional passing of a vehicle, and at least for the moment, there are no bugs nipping at me.

I swing, with the puppy on the seat beside me, and take notice of my immediate surroundings. How the grass is greening up and finally overtaking the weeds. The banana trees are sprouting all sorts of babies from their roots. My Mother's Day daylily is still giving me blooms. The butterfly bush is about to burst with pretty purple flowers, the Asian lilies have just started to flower and the little lantana bouquets are making a show. The hydrangeas are flaunting their pinks, blues and purples, and the gardenias, just beginning to bloom, emit their strong and beautiful fragrance inside the breeze. Even the elephant ears are finally bursting from the ground.

Soon a butterfly flutters by. A large bird flies high above me, in the space between the trees, stretching his massive wings and just floating across the sky. The songs of half a dozen birds are all around me and a finch lands briefly on the feeder. A red headed woodpecker flies in onto the oak tree just across from me hopping up the trunk of the tree. A squirrel stalks across on the other side of the yard in search of acorns. A dragonfly zooms by. A lizard crawls nearby. A tiny grasshopper jumps at my feet.

My thoughts abruptly trace back to days at the office not so long ago - where I would have typically been on a day just like this, right in this moment in time. While there are fond memories of those days, these that have invaded this tranquil moment are not. Black thoughts of office politics. Corporate transitions, takeovers, mergers and people in a constant state of worry over their jobs. Backstabbing. Cliques. 20% of the people doing 80% of the work while others seem to just do the bare minimum to collect the paycheck and nothing more. Far too many deadlines. Far too much work. High stress. A tyrant boss. A complete contrast from this moment.  I do not miss any of that, so why in the world did that enter my mind?

Maybe to remind me to stop. To pay attention. To listen. To take joy and pleasure in the beauty God has given to us. To be grateful for where I am in this moment in time. And to stop on occasion and smell the gardenias.

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Flower Gardening - Fertilizer Friday

Well good morning! It's Friday and better yet, it's Fertilizer Friday again over at Tootsie's place. Pop over and check out Tootsie's gorgeous gardens and all of the other beautiful gardens on display with Mr. Linky. I haven't participated the past couple of weeks because I haven't had a single new bloomer in my yard, and all the pretty annuals - except the impatiens in the shade - are fading away under the summer heat. That's what happens down south. Anyway, I'm finally beginning to get a few new blooms, so here's my offering for this week, with a few garden buddies thrown in for fun. I've got some roses again, but I'll have to try to catch them next time. Enjoy!

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My Natchez Crepe Myrtle is finally blooming. It seemed kinda slow coming this year. I'm still waitin' on that Sasanqua Camellia Alabama Beauty - she's barely got buds on her.

The Dahlias I transplanted made it and are just beginning to bloom. I'd been hoping that some of the ones that I salvaged were gonna be the Fringed Strawberry Sunday, but this bloom is one of the older ones I put in several years ago. I thought it was the Dahlia Mystery Day, but there's no white tips, so I'm not sure which variety this one is! The heat had done most of them in and I lost them but when these started popping up, I moved them to a slightly more shaded area this year to see if they would survive.

My other hibiscus (the name escapes me for now) finally started blooming, yay! This was a Mother's Day gift a couple years ago from my son and DIL and it's about 7 feet tall now.

This is one of the Princess Di Cannas finally blooming. They are a lower growing Canna and I only have a few of them down, but they're mixed in with the yellow cannas which haven't bloomed much this summer. They're new plantings though so maybe next year.

These are called Ragin' Cajun Ruellas. With a name like that, you know I had to get them!!

One of the hydrangeas that is in a bit more shade just began blooming recently. The others are mostly bloomed out.

The Purple Heart is still blooming. This shade bed is actually still hanging in there.

Some Garden Buddies

A huge and gorgeous bee on the Athens Rose Lantana.

A butterfly on the, well, Buddleia Butterfly Heaven Butterfly Bush!

And my flirtatious little dragonflies. These are actually all different ones in each shot. Two of them are babies, two of them more mature. Sometimes they are all out there at one time and they follow me around. They land close by where I am and I talk to them. I swear they are listening!! And they LOVE to pose for pictures.

Different bee on the other lantana plant.

One of my many lizards - this one apparently likes to live on the patio table, which seems constantly cluttered giving lots of hiding places. As you see, they flirt a lot too.

Apparently wasps love the taste of figs too. I caught this guy flying around one of the ones that had been pecked at by the birds and he'd take a piece, and then settle on a leaf to eat it. I don't mind the wasps - they have a job to do in the garden - so long as they leave me alone!

And this gorgeous butterfly is always around. I've actually had a lot of butterflies this year, so I definitely want to put in some more butterfly attracting plants.

Flower Gardening - Fertilizer Friday!

Well good morning! It's Fertilizer Friday again over at Tootsie's place. Pop over and check out all of the beautiful gardens on display. Hope you're feeling better Tootsie!

I'll be doing my actual fertilizing later this evening or tomorrow - when things cool down a bit. Otherwise I would have to get up at 4:00 a.m.! It's still pretty darned hot, but at least the last few days haven't been quite as oppressive heat-wise as those days earlier this week. Whew - that was really rough!!

Still no rain, so it's been so hard to keep things hydrated in this heat. I've literally had to water most everything at least once and sometimes twice a day! The veggie garden has been a challenge to keep things hydrated, out of the direct sun and keep it from losing all of the blossoms and getting sunburned! My solution? Check it out...

Isn't that hilarious?? Well, whatever works, right?!

I go out early - check to see if any of the soil is dry, then I give everybody a spray down with the hose. Then I go out again around 11:30 and start putting up umbrellas and see if anybody is looking like they're wilting. Then I usually spray again. Then about 1'ish I check again and either water or spray or both. Then about 2:30 or so, the umbrellas come off so the veggies can get some more sun. It's like a full time job!

I really don't have anything new to show this week as far as blooming flowers - most of the same stuff is blooming still, and I hate showing the same old plants every single week, but I wanted to participate so here goes...

As I mentioned before, I tried planting some giant Del Sol and even Sky Scraper Sunflowers before, but the squirrels always found them, dug them up and ate them! This year though, they gave me some volunteer sunflowers plants that they planted from the seeds that I feed them. This one is over 4 feet tall and I have been waiting for it to open, so I was excited to see it finally starting to unfurl!

Tada!!

The knockouts have been slow coming this year for some reason. One shrub bloomed well, but the others have only shown a bloom or two here and there. Odd. Sorry for the haze ... it is near impossible to get pictures outside right now.

The only surviving Southern Charm Verbascum that I moved to the backyard earlier this season has held on to the same blooms for weeks. At least it survived the move!

And look Tootsie! The purple plant, which is either a Moses in a Boat, or a Purple Heart, did finally bloom! This was also moved from another garden this year, so I didn't even know that it would bloom.

And last... Santa Rosa Gardens in Pensacola, Florida was having a clearance sale - I was able to buy a box full of perennials - 26 plants - for $50. I'll have to do a post for Santa Rosa Gardens because I have been buying from them for a couple of years, and I am so impressed with them. Their plants are such healthy, quality plants, they pack everything well, and all of this arrived in fantastic condition despite traveling the roads for several days during the hottest days of the year! Their clearance sale is a great time to buy perennials. If you visit click on the tab in the upper left hand corner "Now on Sale." I just hope that I can get them in the ground and keep them healthy in this heat! Gotta go buy some dirt mix, so for now I'm holding them in baskets and keeping 'em hydrated. Once I get them in the ground I'll feature the plants.

Sorry I don't have anything to show but be sure to go to Tootsie's and visit the links because - unlike here - there are some very beautiful gardens to see there with newly featured flowers.

I'm off to run errands - wish you all a wonderful, fun-filled weekend!! Keep cool.