Japanese Magnolia in bloom again

We don't remember the Japanese Magnolia (aka tulip tree) doing this last year, but of course, it got hammered by last spring's storm, and that affected a lot of our plants. At any rate, we're delighted that it's having a second bloom these first days of July. The first bloom was rather unimpressive this year, unlike last year (see below) when it was covered with "tulips" and really brightened up the landscape. Our next big project is cleaning up the front entry garden and getting it mulched. It got pretty torn up when they put the new siding on so we transplanted most of the plants out of there to other places in the yard. So far, we've been pretty successful at moving things here. 

Transplanted roses and other things . . .

Last summer we moved two of the many rosebushes at this house to new locations. They looked pretty peaked the rest of the summer and we weren't sure they were going to make it. But this spring they really started to take off and now they've provided many cut roses for the table and nightstand. (We're delighted that the hostas we transplanted are in full, beautiful bloom now, too!) Here's a cut rose from each of last summer's transplants:

This summer, we transplanted six more roses, gathering them from all around the house to group into this corner for a rose cutting garden. Based on how long it took the transplants to come around last year, we really didn't expect any roses from these transplants this year. But we have a few! And it's looking like all but maybe one of the bushes transplanted successfully.

I really look forward to future summers when I can walk barefoot across the checkerboard and cut a lovely bouquet of roses of all colors and varieties to bring inside—not to mention how pretty they'll look from my perch on the deck. Or underneath. The comfy wicker chairs are my favorite garage sale score this year! (They also ate up our garden budget, so new mulch will have to wait a while.)

Another thing we've transplanted—this time from our old house—is sedum. We had a whole hillside rock garden covered in several varieties of sedum at our small-town home, and we just loved how easy it is to care for. So we brought several pots of sedum with us and we've slowly been filling in the checkerboard squares closest to the house with little bits of sedum. The recent rains and gorgeous weather have really helped it take off. I predict by next summer it will have filled in all the bare spaces.

Here's a bird's eye view from the top of the deck:

The blooming game

Our clematis burst into beautiful bloom at the very tail end of May but a hard rain washed all the blossoms away and it hasn't done anything since. Does anyone know if this is normal? Will we get another batch of blooms before the summer is over? (I hope!) Is there anything we can do to coax it into blooming again?

Check mate

The checkerboard patio loves all the rain we've gotten recently! This is my new favorite view of the yard.

We've planted sedum in every other checker square in the row next to the house for ease of mowing. It's taking off quite well, and will be a great solution, we hope.

June showers are what bring flowers!

First week of June and things are really starting to bloom. The lilies are gorgeous right now!

And the pots on the deck seem to be happy campers too. We're happy when we're camping on the deck in the cool of morning, too.

May is almost over...

. . . and the honeysuckle is in full bloom.

The clematis has one bloom, but dozens of others are just about to burst open.

The grass is filling in beautifully in the checkerboard patio, and the patches of the yard that were reseeded and sodded are filling in very nicely. We've moved all but one or two plants that needed transplanting. Now we just need to get some mulch and fill it all in.

Flowers...inside and out

Our oldest daughter planted this old Coca-Cola crate with a beautiful arrangement for my Mother's Day gift (along with a surprise visit from both our daughters!) and then her husband and kids bought her a gorgeous bouquet while they were visiting us, but they decided not to travel with it when they left for home this morning, so I'm enjoying her flowers inside and out! Thank you, Tobi!

April showers

 So nice to have a nice, gentle rain April 24. We'll take all the moisture we can get at this point.

 The flower pots are already filling in nicely. I'm especially loving the colorful, cheery zinnias this year.

Planting a Japanese Maple

While the redbud we planted last year bloomed beautifully April 21, we planted a Japanese maple behind the Japanese magnolia in the front entry garden. We had thought to move the magnolia to a spot where it wouldn't hide the rest of the entry garden, but decided to wait one more year and see where we are at that time.

  

We are hoping the Japanese maple will be well enough protected from wind and heat and freezing weather in this little alcove to thrive.

Moving roses

Moved six rosebushes tonight, April 16. It probably would have been best to do this a couple of weeks ago, but we had to get other things finished first. We moved two about this time last year and thought we'd lost them, but they are doing great this year and bushing out at the corner of the deck. The sandstone rocks between the rosebushes are from Ken's grandparents' pastureland in the Smoky Hills of Kansas. We moved some of them from our last house and I love having them in this yard too.

Ready for roses

The flowerbed is all ready for the roses. The grass is greening, and the Bradford pear is about to burst into bloom.

Lucky clover

Well, not exactly clover, but oxalis, also called shamrock–and this one must be lucky because it's been thriving and almost continually in bloom ever since I bought it shortly after we moved a year ago. This plant always makes me think of my friend Mary, who introduced me to it decades ago. Her birthday is in March and she always has one in her house around this time of year.

He promised me a rose garden

Ken dug the first flower bed of the season last night, March 27. We have seven or eight small rose bushes and want to congregate them in a rose garden at the corner of the house, since we have other plans for the spaces they currently live. But we need to hurry while they're still dormant!

Waiting for Spring

While we wait for spring to arrive, I'm enjoying the orchids blooming on the windowsill in my home office. For the first time ever, I've gotten two orchids to rebloom!

We're also delighted that all the work is finally done on our house (since the storm passed through our neighborhood last spring). New roof, siding, trim, paint, light fixtures, and dining room window. And the finishing touch: new paint on our front door. The color is Valspar's Concerto, a beautiful aqua blue.

Now we've started on the outside, getting all the flowerbeds ready and transplanting a few things. Photos of progress to come as spring marches on.

Wiley Coyote

Probably the most exciting thing that's happened in our yard all year is the coyote (or likely a coywolf) that ventured into our backyard on February 11. Interesting that when we lived at the edge of a small town with a large meadow across the street from us, we never saw anything like this. Nope, had to move to the city to see a coyote stroll through our yard!

He was a beautiful animal, but I'm not crazy about the idea of anything related to a wolf in our backyard!

One month later . . . more of the same

Yes, we're still here. But one month later, February 6, and we have the same view, same single-digit temps, and 8 inches of snow...so far. I really can't wait until I'm posting photos like this again:

Baby, it's COLD outside!

It was 0 degrees F. when I woke up this morning, January 6, 2014. That's ZERO degrees! Brrrrr!

Last week we had a cardinal and a blue jay decorating the branches of our Bradford pear tree. Just beautiful. Such a day brightener they were!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very blessed Christmas and all God's richest blessings in 2014.

Repairs finally done

We've (still!) been busy getting the house back together after the May storm, but the final touches––new guttering, deck painted, lawn furniture painted, lights and house numbers hung––are finally done and we're blessed to celebrate Christmas in a house that's in good shape inside and out. Truly a silver lining of the storm.

 It even looks like we'll be having a white Christmas! But already we're dreaming of spring and the things we want to do with the gardens here.