Now it is N, naturally!

As we continue the blogger A-Z challenge from the fine folks at Tossing It Out, we are brought to the letter "N" today! No posts are due tomorrow, so Monday we will resume with the letter "O" and I'm already wondering what on EARTH I'm gonna do for that one!! Can I cheat and just use the word orange in front of something???

I guess I'll have to worry about that Monday!!

N is for:
Narcissus! I usually call these by their common name, tete-a-tete's, but technically speaking, they're in the narcissus family.

Those are really the only "N" plant I have going in the garden currently, but I do have some other N plants that I love to use and do grow each year. Let's take a gander, shall we?

First up? Oops. That wasn't supposed to be in here. Sorry! That was a pretty shot I took when we were on our boat trip last summer. Please excuse the interruption!

Ok. Really first up?
The purple guys at the top of the frame are nemesia. Most people don't know of these, but I adore them! If you plant them in the ground, they'll often re-seed themselves nearby.
Here's another shot of them. I had them in my flower boxes last summer.

Nasturtium:I didn't plant these last year, but they came back anyway! I had three of them return on me!

This is the same spot photographed later in the summer:Pretty, no?

Ok. I'm off to do some important things like laundry and watching a Netflix DVD that we rented of this GREAT series called Breaking Bad. If you like shows like Dexter and Mad Men and Weeds, then this series is for you, too! Really well done!

Later, kids! Enjoy the weekend!

Mmmmmmmm

Happy Friday everyone! I just ate a turkey burger with cheese. My stomach is VERY happy! Yummmm.

It's a chilly but sunny day here and I noticed the red red tulips across the street are in full bloom today! How cheerful! Mine are coming along nicely - you can see the flowers still closed up and tucked inside the leaves, but they still have at least a week before they'll bloom. At least a week...

So, in getting back to the A-Z blogging challenge, I realize I have very few plants that start with "M" in my garden. I had to stretch it a bit for these, but it works, right??!!

M is for:
Mums! I have a perennial mum, who, given the chance, would take over the entire garden on the side of the house. It LOOOOVES this location and comes back each year and tries to spread spread spread everywhere. It thinks it's an ivy plant or something! Well, I took a bit of it and transplanted it to this sort of dreary, dark corner where I couldn't get anything to grow well, and apparently, mums like it there along side the lamiums who are also doing well!

M is also for Muscari:




White ones? Decidedly do not photograph well. I wonder why?The weird thing is, it photographed perfectly six days ago when it was a wee little thing just emerging from the ground:
Oy. I don't know. I took a bunch up there today when it was in full bloom, but it was just blur blur blurry each time. WHATEVER!!

Also taken six days ago, the cute nubs of the bleeding heart were just emerging:


Today we have our first official leaves!

I cannot wait for everything to bloom - the bleeding heart, the lilacs, the daphne (which, I lost all three little ones I planted last year...Phooey!), tulips, frittilaria, and sooooo many more! Will still be a while - it's supposed to get down to 28 degrees tonight. This does NOT make me happy. YUCK.

In other world news, tonight we are going to a new restaurant called the Aikia Steakhouse. It's an Asian restaurant - one of those fun ones that have the hibachi grill table and they do the fancy cooking right in front of you! They are really a lot of fun and the food is SOOO good most times. Our favorite restaurant for that called Asahi, closed at the beginning of winter, unfortunately, so we're in search of a new favorite!

Ok...I'm off to do a million things. Hope you have a good weekend!

Ciao for now!

On to K and L and other planty matters!

There suddenly is so much to talk about and so much to DO, that I'm finding it hard to find the time to blog about all the exciting things going on in the garden in the last week! Seriously! In the last week - BANG - everybody decided it's time for spring to spring and there are a million wonderful things happening! I'm elated is what I am!

First order of business is the A-Z blogging challenge. I owe you a K and an L to get caught up with it all...

K is for:
King of Hearts bleeding heart bush. These are adorable little guys and I just adore their cute flowers and dainty foliage. This came sort of out of nowhere in just a couple of days of checking!

L is for:
Lilacs! This was taken on Sunday. Here it is just four days later:I realize it's blurry, but you can see the purple blooms already starting to emerge! MOST exciting!

In other world news, I did that talk on Tuesday for a club in Marblehead and had many leftover goodies which I planted today and then also whilst shopping for the flowers for the talk, I got a cute planter and some plants for my husband's Stepmother's birthday which was Tuesday evening. Here was the gift for her:
It's one of those adorable dwarf columbine with white alyssum and some curly ting branches! A happy little arrangement!

Here are the other leftovers from the job -
Tons of romaine lettuces! Yumm!

Pansies, violas, and romaine lettuce!

More of the same in the other garden bed...

And this lovely pot by the back door with a grass, cilantro, thyme, pansies, violas and lettuce. SO cute!

And, even more exciting, my herb gardens are officially outdoors! Since I cleaned out the back yard and was able to put the patio table back out there, I decided I'd put the herbs out there to begin their summer. I haven't planted basil yet, but will do so soon.The chives are looking a bit sparse, but they will come in nicely in the next couple of weeks.

This is the thyme I planted years ago in here, and I had to add a fresh rosemary and sage. The plants I had in there over the winter were just not happy, so I replanted them.

That's all I gots for today! Will tell you more in the coming days since it's supposed to be quite chilly tomorrow and Saturday. More time for blogging when it's cold outside!

Hope you've had a good week! Friday tomorrow! Wooo HOOOO!

Talk at you soon!

I owe you an I and a J

I've been busy. What can I say? It was in the 60s on Sunday and then it was in the 70s on Monday! What's a gal to do? It was waaaay too nice to be inside, on a computer doing ANYTHING! I spent many, many hours outdoors those two days cleaning, clipping, clearing things out for the spring. Some major improvements have been made around here in the last couple of days. I feel like I'm far behind, but I'm not. I have to remind myself that last year was a big fluke and that it's not normal to have things planted in March in Massachusetts. It was wonderful, but not normal!

So, things are cleaned up and I've put the herb garden outside, but that's about the extent of it. I also planted some incredible dwarf columbine and a yellow Icelandic poppy that I will show in the coming days. I also discovered a lot of tete-a-tetes that I had planted and forgotten about last year and a number of little goodies popping up, so that was a nice surprise that came from the clean-out that I did!

In the spirit of the recent blogging challenge, here are my entries for the letters "i" and "j"...

I - is for:
Iris. I planted this YEARS ago and have never gotten one dang bloom from it, so I replanted it - very shallowly, which is what you're supposed to do - and it really seems to have spread quite a bit, so I'm hopeful for blooms this year...


Ivy:
As much as this takes over most gardens, this has been slow to spread, but I am thinking of removing it altogether. What say you?

J is for:
Jacob's Ladder. I L.O.V.E. this plant. I love the foliage. I love the purple flowers. I love love love this! I want more!

In other world news, it was my husband's Step-Mother's birthday today, so a big shout-out to her! Hooollllaaaah! We just got back from a lovely dinner in honor of her birthday!

Also, too? Today I gave a talk and did a couple demonstrations for a garden club in Marblehead (a neighboring town)! It was most fun and there were about 70-80 very nice ladies who attended! I did one long, rectangular planter with the same columbine I bought for myself, creamy ranunculus, white violas, creamy yellow pansies, romaine lettuces, cilantro and a dried element called ting! It was a big hit!

Then I also did an in-the-round container with white nemesia in the center, creamy yellow pansies, white alyssum, romaine lettuces and pussy willow branches! Lovely!

Off to watch some TV and then to bed!~

Later y'all! : )