New Blooms on the Block

April showers bring May flowers you know!!

And we have really enjoyed the April showers that are happening nearly weekly!!

Soft colors inferno strip from High Country Gardens is going to town!!

Except that. .

I can count on one hand, how many times I have taken shelter from tornado warnings in my LIFE. .

And twice, during the month of April. .I found myself in a basement with people who were not part of my family. You may remember the episode I talked about at the beginning of the month, when my gardening buddy, Gardener on Sherlock came for a visit and we ended up sharing quality time in the basement with Grant and his video game.

The short pink flowers to the left are Fragrant Persion Stonecress, the taller lavender plants are Napeta (walker's low catnip) dark purple-Cardonna salvia, bright pink blooms are Jupiter's Beard.

Last night. .

At the high school awards banquet. .we joined all of the people in the cafeteria in proceeding to an underground weight room to hang out while we waited for the dangerous weather to pass. .concerned about the coaches, bus drivers, and our kids that had been 1 1/2 hours away at a track meet. .who were hiding out in a church basement!!

Kansas weather. .one just NEVER knows!!

And praise to God, who kept us from danger both times.

Elfin pink penstemon in the inferno garden. .while it is touted to attract hummers. .and I actually saw a hummer over the weekend in the yard. .I haven't seen a hummer on this plant!!

We had a pretty laid back weekend. Tristan got his foot surgically fixed on Friday. .And it went better than expected. After the podiatrist got into his foot, he decided that no canals through the bone needed to be drilled. .and no cartilage grafting either. Just cleaning out bone fragments,and shaving off a bony overgrowth was enough to fix the problem, he thinks. No weight bearing for him until he is seen this week.

He used some camo duct tape to "trick-out" his crutches. .and he has been SUCKING up the attention from any female in the school willing to give it to him!! We are hoping that he can be at least partially weight bearing by Friday, as the one act play that he has the male lead in for forensics, will be performing at state on Friday!!

The only thing that would make this set up a little better, would be solid sides. .so we couldn't hear him!! His mouth moves NON-STOP!

We are still loving the chickens. .One died last week for an unknown reason. .it was the largest plain white one. The others are at a horrifically U-G-L-Y stage of their lives. .and I keep thinking that I need to get some photos. A chicken raising friend looked at them over the weekend and said they looked perfectly normal to him. .I was starting to worry about their big patches of bare skin and hideous appearance!

Here is our home as you drive into the driveway. .the knockout roses are truly a knock-out this year!! Too bad they don't do vases!!

The peach irises are in their glory now. .They, fortunately, do tolerate vases well. .and make a great team with the white peonies and purple larkspur!

The unmarked hot pink peony just has a couple blooms this year. .but we are enjoying them. Cami helped me make a couple floral arrangements Friday. .she got to run the snippers. .and I am lucky to still have all my fingers!

This mini rose bush was given to me by my MIL several years ago after the passing of my first grandma. It is a reliable little pop of color!

Bridal pink rose bush only looks nice this time of the year. .the blooms usually do well in vases. .but I haven't actually gotten any into the vases! Soon the heat and insects will not do nice things to any blooms left. .and the slated high for Saturday is 1-0-2!! WHAT??

This tropicana rose bush is a bright spot out of my kitchen window. It is planted all by itself in a bed that I finally covered up with fabric and mulch to get rid of the bermuda grass. .The bed is in a great spot on the east side of the house. .and has morning sun with afternoon shade. .I haven't decided what to put in the spot yet. .but will be working on that in a year or two. So tropi stays there for now, but will likely move in the future.

This. .has been incredible!!

It was one of the bulbs that I ordered last fall from Brecks. I have never tried allium before. .and this year I planted 2 kinds. .I am so sorry I never grew them before!! This particular variety is Beau Monde (I think. .I'll correct it later if I find an error).

You can see. .

It is HUGE!!

It has been blooming for nearly 2 weeks now. .and has been absolutely covered in butterflies and moths.

Speaking of butterflies. .I have never, EVER seen the winged creatures in the numbers that are in my yard already this spring. All types. .monarchs, red admirals, moths of all types, a number of dragonflies, and I even think I saw a black swallowtail yesterday. .though I never got close enough to ID it. Cami tries to catch them, but is rarely successful. I had to ask her not to chase them through the inferno garden, as she was tromping down the plants, and they weren't recovering!

The sea of larkspur has started. My original clump of butterfly milkweed is among the sea. It will probably be in bloom by next week. It is a pretty striking, the vibrant orange with the hues of blue. A few other milkweed that I started from seed should also be big enough to bloom sometime this summer.

We are at the point of spring, when I have to take an extra moment to inhale deeply as I walk into the backdoor, or around the west yard, as the fragrant honeysuckle are in bloom. The hummingbird I have caught fleeting glances at, goes from the white to the orange and back again. I am hoping that I will have enough other food in bloom to entice him to stick around when the honeysuckle gives it up.

I was happy to find that Devin had taken initiative to fill up the pitcher pump water feature while Missy and I were antiquing a couple weeks ago. .I have really enjoyed listening to his small trickle while mulching and weeding!

Rocky Mountain Penstemon and Cardonna Salvia



Speaking of mulching. .I finished (mostly) mulching in the new memory garden, in which the inferno garden is the main highlight right now. As I dream about what it will look like as it matures, I can hardly wait to see it.

The Amethyst Falls Wisteria vine is blooming. .It should bloom for several months. .I hope so. I haven't really noticed a scent, and the buds seem smallish. .but I see great potential. .and the winged creatures are enjoying it too.

Every day brings new promises of what's to come. .buds on the cosmos, and some coneflowers. .as well as the buds on this Red Hot Poker. I chose it from HCG last year for the foliage, and the promise that hummers liked its blooms. .I'm looking forward to seeing this in it's full glory!

The schedules are beyond hectic now. .

with Jeremy and I having to divide forces to watch kids or take them places. .

so every ounce of serenity and quiet beauty that the gardens and their inhabitants have to offer. .

are a great source energy and refreshment.

 And. .even though this last month of school and everything it brings is just starting. .

I already feel like. . .

THIS!!!

Happy Monday. .

The FIRST day of May!!

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Waterfall Sounds

We finally enjoyed a day that wasn't too windy--and one where I had time to take a short video of the pond and waterfall.  Several of you expressed interest in hearing the captivating music of the waterfall.  I think I shot it about 3 times before I got the focus thing right, and then several more before I got one without a lot of kid background noise.  You will notice a large semi truck sound that vrooms through it. .but you'll just have to take it how you get it. .and know that I was smiling in disbelief as I heard him coming up the highway!! Hope you enjoy it!

Coupled with the lovely sunrise photo of the pond above, I think I won't have any trouble making it a habit to drink my coffee there. .when my kids are grown!!

Hope you all check back tomorrow to join in our Thankful Thursday celebration!

Pond Unveiled

Well, nearly 3 weeks after the ground was broken--the pond is UP AND RUNNING!  It's not perfect yet, and undoubtedly will still take some thinking and changing to come in the next few months.  I'll take you on a little tour of how things look right now.  Above you'll see the little lily pads.  I went ahead and ordered a few plants to get started with.  The things that I read advised to get oxygenating plants in the bottom of the pond ASAP to start the ecological goodness.  They are not really considered "oxygenators," but I wanted some anyway--since I was ordering and all!  They were the priciest purchase. The submerged plants were only about $2 apiece. These lily pads will go to the deepest area of the pond in a few weeks when the temps drop.

Ta. .Da--here is the morning view right out of my front door.  You'll see what's left of my fall display on the right--the sparrows found it quickly and ravished it!!  The stream bed/waterfall is coming into the picture from the left.

This evening view shows the maturing shrub and flower bed to the south of the pond.  I think I can make this all look pretty seamless in a couple of years!  The skimmer/pump is directly across the picture--it is barely noticeable with the camoflauge from the rock

Here is a close up of the stream bed.  The water flows through it VERY quickly and makes beautiful music! I LOVE the way it bounces around the rocks and out into the pond.  You can see the sheet of water coming out of the falls, and then again a small one coming off the flagstone rock. The filter fall itself needs a little more camo work--I have been trying to think that out.  You might also notice the liatris on the left of the photo that Cami and I planted last week. The green spot of plant directly across the center of the photo behind the creek is an area that will be boggy conditions for water loving plants. There is also an area a little bit larger surrounded by limestone that will also be boggy. I transplanted a creeping jenny that I bought at half price in June, not realizing that they are water lovers.  Not sure how I managed to keep them both alive, but they are! And I'm sure that this one will be happier here.  The other one will remain where it is until spring and then will probably be transplanted as well.

A view looking toward the north

I love the reflections in the water.

Look who else showed up to investigate??  Do you see him.  The roadrunner made his appearance on Salsa day--not sure if he came to see the pond or taste the salsa.  But whatever the reason, we enjoyed watching him for a few minutes.  He was actually talking a bit (I've never heard their voices till now). The other resident birds have been sipping from the sides as well--I'm sure they are the first of many creatures to come!

We are also the owners of some free fish.  Our friend threw a bunch of goldfish into his farm tank after his daughter's wedding 2 1/2 years ago.  They eat whatever falls in from the cattle, and have multiplied rapidly.  They took a sane (a mesh contraption on two poles) and swiped it down through the water, catching about 19 smallish goldfish which we released into our pond.  There are about 3 that are around 6 inches long.  Several of them are changing colors and have some white spots on them.  We will feed them for a few weeks until the water is cold enough that they go into a winter "sleep."  So far we have all enjoyed watching the little guys check out their new home!  The first morning I looked out to see the whole school of them on the south side of the pond.  On the edge of the pond were about 10 sparrows lined up in a row and both species seemed to be really checking each other out.  I had to laugh out loud, it looked so comical. 

The pond has been daily pleasure for everyone around here!! We can't wait to see how it changes through the seasons.  It has been nice to listen to the water fall again.  I hope to video the pond soon with the water sounds so you can all enjoy it for a minute.  Have a great week!!

Pitcher Pump Water Feature

I am so excited to blog about my newest project. For the past several years, I have wanted to make a water feature using an old fashioned hand pump, you know, the kind with the long back handle on them that they used to pump up and down to get the water out. I had mentioned it in conversation to my in-laws at one point, and my father in law told me where he knew about one. Just so happened to be on some land owned by one of my co-workers. She graciously said I could remove it (Thanks Bam!!) which I just never got around to doing until now. The where's and how's and all that technical stuff just never got answered in my head--until now.

I bought a small patio fountain kit a number of years ago at the lawn and garden show in Wichita. It had a little resevoir and a wooden frame that went around it and came with the fountain and sprinkler. It looked so good at the garden show. When I got it home tho, it just never was quite right. The fountain never stood up right, the rocks to hold the fountain down in the bottom looked tacky to me, the sprayer got clogged, it was always running out of water, blah. .. blah. . . blah. So it sat--on my deck with nothing in it, just taking up space and lookin ugly.

So I decided this spring that I should use that to catch the water coming out of my pump. After much thought, I decided that my best option was to build a little stone enclosure to hide the black plastic. A few weeks ago I decided that the little spot next to my herb garden and in front of a honeysuckle bush would be a good place for the fountain. It was close to the back door and small back patio, where you can't hear the water from my waterfall. It also just happens to have an outdoor outlet on the corner of the house there (what a smart girl must have thought THAT one up when the addition went up 7 years ago!!)

We had planned to take J's pickup to mom and dad's to collect about 20 linear feet of stones to finish a border I had started, and I thought to myself "Self, I should find some small stacking

rocks while I'm at it to have around this summer to work on that water feature." My plan was to work on the water feature in July when all the busy stuff is winding down. Being the doll he is, J just shook his head and helped me load the backend of his truck full of big rocks, lumpy rocks, stackin rocks, and just plain cool rocks. When we started to leave the pasture and he said "Oh, this isn't that heavy" he patiently waited while I added a FEW more. Then we both chuckled as we realized that I picked up the biggest rocks I could find, to make the most out of the "ok, but just a few" comment. Something about having to buy new tires that really makes him irritable!

When we got home I was ready to get to work. I promised him that I would have the rocks out by the end of Memorial day so he could have his pickup back. I sorted the rocks a little as I threw them out on the ground so I could see what I had to work with. As my little rock wall became a little bigger and he could see what I was planning (finally! . . . the man has VERY little vision!) he got excited (tho he would not admit that as such). He said "hurry up and finish unloading those (we had about 10 rocks left) and we'll run up and check out that pump to see what we need to get it home. So we did. After we broke the handle in two, the rusted inside twisted itself off and came up, YIPPEE! Thanks God!

Long story short, he worked on that thing in his shop until 10:00 Sunday night and had everything welded back together and the tubing run into it so it was ready to go!

What a neat sound it makes, and I can hear it in the laundry room and even our bedroom with the windows open.

All the way home I pondered what to plant there. Initially I didn't plan on planting anything there. But my mother has the coolest little spot (like 2 feet by 2 feet) that has a few small rocks and some creeping sedum thru it (by your sidewalk from the garage to the patio) which I just think is so neat. I was wanting to duplicate that somewhere in my yard, just didn't know where. As I started building the wall, it all started coming together in my mind (I just love it when that happens!!) So I had bought a 6 pack of some tri colored sedum (green, white, and pink) to use, stole some hen and chicks from my mother in law and dug some starts off a couple kinds of low growing sedum I have around here. Those went into the small garden area I created after J hauled in a scoop of soil for me. The great thing is that they shouldn't require much moisture or regular care! The back side of that picture is my little herb garden next to our back steps. I need to put some cypress mulch down to keep the grass out (it has always been such a hassle to mow and weed eat right there, so this solution is perfect) I finished it by putting an old rocking chair that needs a new seat (we have everything to fix the seat, just haven't done it--like for the last 2 years!) and put a pot of flowers in the lacking seat area. I love it, love it!

On our way home we stopped at Uncle Pete and Aunt Jane's to check out all the work they have been putting into their backyard. They have been building a pergola. As we were leaving, Pete says "hey do ya need some low voltage lighting??" You know what they say, one man's junk is another man's treasure! You bet we do! Pete smugly smiled as J rolled his eyes and we hauled them all off. I have them in the ground and hope to have J wire them in this next weekend!

What do ya think Uncle?? Thanks again!!

Moral of this story?? Never give two type A people even part of a project--because they will never wait for the rainy day to start it, and now they will have to think up a new project to work on later this summer when they should have been working on the one they just finished!

The waterfall saga

Well, we have certainly enjoyed beautiful weather here this week! That was good news for my waterfall project. It has been on the fritz for the last month or so. I have been trying to fix the leakage problem. And by george, I think I've got it! It all started about 2 1/2 years ago (the actual project anyway--the vision was around WAY before that). I dug for several days. . . And made a big hole.

Dear hubby told me it wasn't big enough, so he helped me dig it a little deeper.

The hole needed to be deep enough to get plenty of water into, to minimize my time spent filling the feature up with water to keep it running. It is also called a pondless waterfall. This means that the actual pool is covered up with rocks so that no one can fall in and drown but we still get the effect from the waterfall--a safer version of a water feature. We started to form the stream beds by building up the area with old cinder blocks. The water fall starts from the 25 gallon drum we half buried at the back of it. PVC pipes run from the pool back behind the stream and hook into the drum.

Next we dumped a bunch of dirt on the top of the blocks, covered the actual stream beds with old carpet and pond liner and started setting the rocks around it. Our water feature actually features two waterfalls into two short stream beds that empty into the pool below.

The work was hard and hot--we did it at the end of July and first of August. What a reward at the end though! It attracts lots of wildlife. We especially get a kick out of watching the birds in it. In fact, just this week after we turned it back on, little C and I counted 6 birds bathing at the same time in the stream closest to the window. That is a hilarious site. Those cute little birds get SO ugly when they are wet and all their feathers are fluffed out! They shake and shimmy and the water just flies in beautiful little droplets that catch the sunlight! C just laughed when their booties were shakin!

The falls have been shut down now for the last 3 weeks. I finally took all the rocks off the east fall and started all over. I fluffed and remolded parts. I reset several rocks at a time and then would just watch and see. This actually took us 3 days of working (us is Little C and me). Finally Thurs, just in time for the cold weather to hit, we got the bottom of the fall re-rocked and low and behold, today the water level is still just right, so I guess we got it! There was still ice at top of the pool this afternoon when I checked it. It usually runs really well even thru the winter. I have discovered that if the weather doesn't get above freezing for 3 days in a row, it is usually iced over till it just drips. . . at that point we turn it off. It is so funny to watch the birds try to land on the iced up rocks to get a drink. They land and then start slippin and sliding!

I have sure missed it the last three weeks and am very thankful that it is up and runnin again. Broke the news to J last week that we will need the trailer when we go to the folks in March--need another load of limestone--have a new little tiny project brewing in my little curled head--his response???

He should have taken the chance when he had it!! M