Happy Sunday!

Bloomin' Backyard and a Recipe

We have a lot of Day Lilies in our yard, and when they're in bloom they are everywhere. But there's always room for more....I'd love to get some purple ones!

"Strawberry Candy"

"Wild Orange"

"Common Tawny"

But they Daylilies aren't the only things blooming. There are pops of colors scattered here and there...including some beautiful shades of green.  I love when the green is vivid and bright...it (almost) makes a hot day feel a little bit cooler! 

"Yarrow" and "Peppermint"

"Lavender"

"Mandevilla"

"Black-Eyed Susan"

Besides the flowers that are in bloom...we also have a little bit of lettuce, a couple tomato plants, and a big pot of this.....

"Swiss Chard"

I found a recipe (on Pinterest of course!) for "Spicy "Swiss Chard Chips".  They sound yummy and easy and I have all the ingredients.  They are definitely going on my "to-do" list  this week!

Happy Monday!!

Roots

 I was looking through some photos on my computer the other day and came across these three.  I took them, at a Farmer's Market, on my last trip to Pennsylvania.  I loved the tables full of cut flowers...I've often thought how nice it would be to have a flower market near by.  Fresh cut flowers on the table all the time. That would be lovely!  

Then I started "googling" about cut flowers and this quote came up in one of my searches.

“The terrible danger of our time consists in the fact that ours is a cut-flower civilization. Beautiful as cut flowers may be, and much as we may use our ingenuity to keep them looking fresh for a while, they will eventually die, and they die because they are severed from their sustaining roots.” (The Predicament of Modern Man, 1944, pp. 59-60).

Then I started thinking about "sustaining roots"....what roots am I attached to?  

Thankfully, as a believer I know where my roots run.

 "As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in Him, rooted and built up in Him and 

established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." 

Colossians 2:6-7  

  Cut flowers are beautiful...but they fade...and they die. I'll still enjoy picking up a bunch or two from the flower markets every now and then.  But most of the time I think I'll work on the roots I have in Jesus Christ.  One of the best ways to do that is to immerse ourselves in His Word.

"When we read and study Scripture it serves as a lifeline with the Lord. 

Our roots go deeper and deeper into good life-giving soil, and we drink from living waters".  

source

"Happy the man who...delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. 

He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields fruit in due season, whose leaves never fade."  

Psalm 1:1-3

Think I'll go "water" my roots.

Have a joy-filled weekend!!

Words to Live By

Pretty flowers from Katie's yard...I spent the afternoon helping her with a project last Sunday.  I had to sneak away and take some photos of all the beautiful blooms in her backyard.

There was color everywhere!

This is the day the Lord has made. 

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

It's Growing....

I know....I seem to be hung up on taking photos in my backyard.  It's a good growing year, and I want to remember it.  Chances are it may never happen again!!

We're putting in several new beds.  Here's a peek at a sloped area I'm working on.  My goal is too remove all the grass and fill it in with rocks and ground cover.  I really love the pretty little flowers on this Moss Rose.

I have two baskets of  Calibrachoa hanging around. The tag called these "Zany, mandarin orange flowers on a good strong plant".  I need a little zany in my garden!

I just can't get enough of my New Dawn roses...aren't they beautifully fluffy!!

The Day Lilies are growing like crazy...pretty soon Rusty won't be able to see the pool.

Coreopsis in the background and a pretty planter full of a variety of plants. In between is our crazy Sweet Autumn Clemetis.  It grows like crazy, and come September it will be a mass of white blooms.

A pot of New Guinea Impatiens that Mandy gave me for Mother's Day hangs from our pergola.  I love our pergola!

Lettuce.....eat salad.  In about four weeks. Yum!

Here's another area we're working on this year. It's under the Oak tree...moss loves to grow here.  Because of the tree roots it's difficult to dig a hole to plant anything large in. Bill built this little raised area for the new Limelight Hydrangea we just bought. Perfect solution.  We're not sure where the tiny evergreen came from...but he rescued it and we'll find it a new home.  

I sure am enjoying this beautiful spring in my backyard!

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Bill cut this all the way down to the ground in April...and here it is, putting on another spectacular show for us!  I need to start spreading this stuff around! Sharing it too...right Katie?

 

 

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Need a fast growing vine? Like “Jack in the Beanstalk,” this extraordinarily vigorous, fast growing vine will top 20’ in one season. It is unusually late blooming for a Clematis, bearing clouds of fragrant, 1”, star-shaped, white flowers Summer thru Fall. The sweet vanilla fragrance is wonderful & not overpowering, bringing back the sweet scents of Spring. After the flowers fade, silvery, plume-like seed heads decorate the vine. “Sweet Autumn Clematis” blooms on current season’s wood. It’s easily & best pruned in late Spring by cutting last year’s stems 6-12” above the ground. Don’t be alarmed by this drastic pruning - it’s so vigorous that by midseason it will be covering the fence or trellis again. Plant in a sunny, well drained location where its roots can be shaded & cool (a thick layer of mulch works fine).

Annie's Annuals

 

 



Flowers & the Thrift Store

 

The flowers are blooming in my yard!  I don't have much of a green thumb, but each Spring and early Summer my plants put on a nice show for me.  This year there are a lot of blooms and the colors are wonderful!  If only they would last.......

 

We're making some major changes in the yard this year...to include a new deck and pergola. I've been gathering some treasures to use on the deck....and here's my newest find!  A new (to me) plant stand that I found at the thrift store last night.

It's the perfect spot for pots of colorful flowers...and when the real ones die, well I'm probably okay with using "fake flowers" outside too!

 

There's a little dent on the right side of the middle shelf....but Bill said he can fix that.

 

Now I just need to decide if it needs a coat of some nice, bright paint!  What do you think?

 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

That's how life has been lately...and the list of things "to do" keeps getting longer and longer.  How's that happen?!  I check two off the list, and three more things get added. 

I bet your life is like this too! 

 

 My blog will be a bit simpler than usual for a couple weeks.  Just a picture (maybe two) and a little description each day.  Short and sweet.  Easy for me, and easy for you!

 

Hope your Sunday has been a joy-filled one!!

 

Daylilies

Early in June, I took a bunch of photos of the Daylilies growing in my yard.  One whole corner was filled with these cheerful blooms.  The orange and green colors looked so vibrant and cool.  They're looking a little sad right now....the hot weather has done them in I fear.  So I'm really glad I took pictures of them.  It's lovely to enjoy them even after they're gone.

Besides that.....I really couldn't think of anything else to put on  my blog today.  : ) 

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 
Luke 12:27

Wikipedia