A DAY OF HONOR

The flag display at Veterans Memorial by the Texas County Administrative Center here in our town.  Each flag represents a conflict America has been involved in.  Our family lost a son and brother in the Viet Nam conflict.

"I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.” ~Benjamin Harrison

BEARS AND CARDS

The Free For All Challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to make a card about something you collect. Through the years I have had varied collections. I have always loved teddy bears and have a Boyd Bears collection along with Bearington and Kensington.

My base card is Bashful Blue embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. The bear is a die cut my SU demo gave me with an order. The bear and panel are popped up and the sentiment is temporary as I was undecided what I want to use the card for-baby or birthday.

This a Bearington bear, Alice Acorn.  She is holding an acorn in her hand along with the above card before I decided to put a sentiment on it.

One of my daughter's got me this Violet Bloomin' Beary bear by Boyd for Mother's Day. My other daughter gave me money for punches for my crafting hobby. The bear is holding a green felt watering can, has a cloth embroidered seed packet in her pocket and on her dress is embroidered " A Beautiful Garden is a Work of Heart" and there is a heart embroidered on the middle pocket.

KNOCKOUT ROSES--A 10 RATING

(Click to make the photos larger.)

Mid-summer, 2008, a local store had their knockout roses on sale.  I bought three red ones and planted at the curve along the drive.  They really took off, grew and bloomed until frost.  Here is a picture of them blooming in late summer with three Autumn Joy sedums. 

Here is what they look like now, not even two years later. 

I may have to move the sedums unless I trim the roses back which they seemingly like as I read somewhere to cut them back to 18" each year for really good bloom.  I haven't cut mine back, just trim the tops in early spring and you probably wouldn't have to do that.  I planted six more red ones last year and two pink and one yellow this year. I just added a tablespoon of Osmocote fertilizer to the hole when I planted them and kept them watered as needed that first year. Three of the ones I set out last year were pretty scraggly when I bought them and this spring I thought they were dead.  I cut off the old foliage and they had new growth underneath.  One is blooming now but is still pretty small.  Hope the pink and yellow are as full blooming and carefree as the red ones are.  So far the red ones rate a 10 with me.

BYE BYE BULLY

Clicking on the photos should make them larger

We sold all our cows and calves but decided to keep one bull because he was so gentle and we didn't want to get rid of him.

We had recently decided to sell him as we really didn't need him and we had bought some small, unbred heifers.

 

Early Wednesday morning Leon told me to look out the window and there was Bully in the backyard.  He had trimmed one daylily for me, stepped on another and was trimming the dogwood tree when I seen him.  We went out and he walked into the holding pen like he knew where he was supposed to be going, we loaded him up and Leon took him to the Salem Sale Barn after we had doctored a couple of heifers eyes. 

I took this photo last year through the office window.  I looked out and these deer were in the field wondering where they were.  I watched them for awhile and one jumped over the pipe fence and the other two crawled under.  I didn't know deer could get down that low!  Just some more exciting times on a farm.

BETTER THAN SLICED BREAD

This is my most favorite thing I garden with.  (Click on the photo to make it larger.)  We bought this golf cart, probably 4 years ago now, and Leon built me a box bed on the back.  It hauls my tank sprayer, that hooks to the battery when needed, assorted tools, Osmocote and supplies.  I usually pull this little trailer behind for buckets of dirt, water, flowerpots, shovel, rakes, hoe, pitchfork.  This time of year it holds the weeds I pull and branches I cut. I just finished unloading a load of weeds and branches.  Later on I will haul mulch with it.  Money couldn't buy this setup, unless it was for a new one. ;>)  Has saved me many a step as our yard is pretty big.

FERNS IN THE SHADE GARDEN

The shade garden is loving this rain we have been having.  Here are some photos of some ferns and companion plants.

The green fern is Maidenhair and the one in front of it is Japanese Painted Fern 'Ursula's Red'.  To the right of the Maidenhair is Persicaria/Tovara Red Dragon.  I traded some P. Painter's Palette in the lower left corner to a guy in Florida for the Red Dragon. He had seen on GardenWeb that I had Painters Pallette and emailed me about a trade.  It gets pretty big and may outgrow its present home as I don't want it to crowd the hostas. Painter's Palette seeds around alot but Red Dragon isn't supposed to.

EMBOSSED DAISIES

This card is for 1. Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge-CC268 to use Old Olive, Ballet Blue and Barely Banana on our card.  2. MotherMark's Tuesday Teapot Challenge to use daisies and 3. My niece's birthday. My embossing and daisies are embossing folders by Cuttlebug. The punched ribbon and  double butterflies are punches by Martha Stewart. I used diamond stickers on the daisies.

TULIP POPLAR

We  have a tulip poplar tree (Liriodendron tulipfera) also known as tulip tree or yellow poplar in our yard. It is at least 60 feet tall and I forget about it blooming in the spring until I see some petals laying on the ground.  The flowers are beautiful.  I took a picture of a branch and a close-up of a flower if you aren't familiar with this tree.  It is hard to see the blooms on the branch but the tree is always loaded with blooms.

Here is a close up of the bloom:

EARLY DAYLILIES BLOOMING

I have three daylilies blooming and all are ahead of schedule, but seems everything is ahead by about two weeks or so.  My daughter said the flowers that were to bloom in April, according to the Missouri Conservation calendar, have already bloomed and some are gone. 

SARATOGA SPRINGTIME (Saxton 1976) has been blooming since April 19 and last year she bloomed May 16. She always had short scapes but this year she was so early that they are really down in the foliage!

Species DUMORTIERRI started blooming May 1 and last years first flower open was on May 10.

 BLACK-EYED STELLA  (Roberson, 1989) started blooming May 10 and first flower open last year was June 5.

Have scapes on several others which look like they are going to be blooming early as well. 

A WORK IN PROGESS

Last fall I had Leon bring in some old hay/manure mix and dump it in a new spot in the side yard.  Here is what it looked like this spring-weeds and all.  At the far end is Peony Sorbet in bud.

Here is the plot weeded, some tomatoes planted and caged and the Peony Sorbet blooming.  Will post some closeup shots of the peony.  That dirt you could dig into with your hand, really loose and nice.  Someone had told Leon about using landscape weed block.  Supposed to suppress weeds but let light and water through.  I usually just use newspaper and mulch but will see how this works.  After it is all planted will throw some mulch on the landscape fabric. 

 I have a few more tomatoes to put in the ground along with some pepper plants and maybe a zucchini plant although a friend of my daughters told her she had planted squash for me. Since my space is small and zukes take up a lot of room I may forego the squash. I want to transplant some walking onions into this space as well. I have a package of Bright Lights Swiss Chard I think I will put around the edge-something I have never grown so will be new to us.



PEONY SORBET

This is the first year Sorbet has bloomed nicely since being transplanted.  I think it also liked the hay and manure addition.

  This is a beautiful pink and rose peony that was a bonus from an order from Spring Hill several years ago.  It didn't especially like being transplanted but I think it is going to be fine now.