Not intentionally MIA, the sun lured me away.

Ben is napping, and Hunter is asleep in my arms, so I thought I'd edit this post and add some pictures Hunter and I just ran outside to take. I have not been intentionally missing in action here on the blog for a few days. It's just been summery-like , and we've been outside a lot. Yesterday the boys were still pooped from their romp in the yard the previous day. They both napped for 2.5 hours at the SAME TIME! I can't remember that last time I had two hours of daylight and warm temps to myself. So what did I do? Sip a margarita and read a novel? Nope. I loathe sitting still. I gave my fat butt cheeks a workout and got down and dirty in the garden. Real live worms in my hands, and dirt under my already masculine finger nails. My kind of paradise. I picked up thousands of little and big twigs from our tree out front. I cleaned out all the protective cover from my flower beds. For those of you non-gardeners, or people not from the midwest, this is what I start out with every year.

I pruned my roses' deadwood & happily pricked my hands with thorns (My grandma and mom have always been able to take a prick from a rose with a shrug; as a child I remember watching thorns poke them, and seeing the blood, and waiting confused for them to wince. They don't shutter, not even a little. It's all a part of being a rose gardener. Too much dirt on their hands to notice, perhaps?) This is what my roses look like right now: my favorite rose in the garden, Kordes Perfecta, is featured first, and a pink centenial shrub rose that I transplanted from another location the garden when we moved here is second. Also shown below is the view from the street facing our yard, with the birdbath in it's new location. What do you think?

My pile of refuse is HUGE (see it by the rock fire pit?). The large hangar-like building behind us is the city works building; the city stores their snow-plows, tractors, etc. there). It makes a less aesthetic background than, say, woods, but this is our first home, and it's more peaceful than more houses or businesses. I found some of the baby trees (pictured below) we received from the Arbor Society 2 years ago survived their transitions (I moved them to their permanent homes last fall; they are all about 12 inches tall). One of the trees is pictured below, and you can see the chicks and hens surived the winter as well:

The lilacs will be blooming in about 2-3 weeks. If not sooner. I love lilac growth. I can't wait to fill my mason jars with them all around the house. I love the white ones the most. They smell less floral and more sweet than the lavendar variety. I don't know much about lilacs, they were here, and quite small when we moved in.

My herbs, atleast half are growing (parsely and oregano). Hunter raced around the yard with his little push walker as I snapped pictures.

Our front full size trees have fresh green buds popping everywhere. The plants that grow off of last year's growth, such as my Russian Sage and Butterly Bush (pictured) are doing very, very well. This plant is one of my favorites in the garden, it has long bottle-brush-like purple-blue flowers and gets to be 9 ft tall. If my memory is correct, our variety is called Nanho Blue, or something to that effect.


I found some perrenial & bulbs poking up, particularly my (from first to last below) Phlox (David and Laura), Asiatic/Oriental Lilies, Speedwell, (Royal Candles and Red Fox), Hostas, Foxgloves (Yellow Digitalis), Sage (Blue Hill & East Friesland), Shasta & Painted Daisies, Hope Pink Breast Cancer Tribute Coneflower, Black Hollyhock, Delphinium & Blanket Flower (Goblin), Jacob's Ladder, Hardy Mums, Appleblossom Yarrow, Goldenrod, Sedum Autumn Joy, & Tulips. I also have my red peony, white hydrangea, and dozens of daylilies poking up, but the pictures were blurry.

Were all that not enough, my triumph was finding 5 Clematis have survived to thrive another year. My favorite climbing vine! I did a dance around the yard at this gleeful finding! While clearning the spring beds the last two years I have killed two of my young Clematis. I hardly expected they'd return, and I wasn't even looking for them. Poof! There they are. I will do everything in my more-mature gardening hands to let them have a full season this year. The first picture is the surprise Elsa Spath Clematis, which is deep lavendar blue in color. The second photo is new growth on a Violet Charm Clematis with huge 8-9 inch diameter flowers. The third picture is also a surprise, and is in fact so small I'm not certain you can see it, or if it will do well enough in it's current location to thrive. It's never bloomed, so I don't remember which variety it is. I'll have to wait and compare it to my garden labels. By process of elimation I should be able to figure it out. We'll see. I have a better spot for it, but I'm going to let it get a little but stronger first. The last one is a white Miss Bateman Clematis I picked up at Walmart on clearance last year. It will mingle with a burgandy Rosemoor Clematis (not pictured) on a trellis (not yet purchased).

It's hard to believe this will be my fourth year gardening alone. I did container gardens in California & Madison. I grew seeds in pots the year we moved to our first home, and many of those plants come back each season here. It's so rewarding to know I brought them to life from day one. My oldest house plants came in the car from California with us. Isn't that funny? Some did not make it, but some did. Two from the car ride thrive to this day. Spring invigorates me. I'm a nurturer, and having all the birds back, and the flowers growing fulfills me so much. It may be gray, and a little rainy out, but a perfect spring day if you ask me. I love life a little too much sometimes.