I always get excited when I see periwinkle blooming.  This is just part of a hillside full of periwinkle.

 

It is perennial and pretty, and fun to say:  periwinkle.

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

Look at this gorgeous Lenten Rose that Brent and Becky’s Bulbs is offering.  It just looks like Easter to me!!!

 

You can go there and view their online catalog, https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/

I’m sure you will see something that will make you smile.

 

 

HAPPY EASTER!!!

 

I just love the color of Creeping Jenny.  It is perennial, dying back in the winter, and coming back in the spring.

 

I don’t remember how I came upon my first bit of Creeping Jenny, probably a 4 inch pot from Home Depot.  But I love to transplant stuff, so now it is creeping all over the place.  There is some next to our steps, holding back the hillside, some in the flower garden, and some in this planter that I fill with marigolds.  

 

It’s not edible (that I know of) so I keep it out of the garden, beds with arugula and oregano, and pots with edible plants in them.  I usually go for edibles, but this is so pretty and so easy to grow, I just can’t help myself.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Now, we do NOT eat this, but Gizmo does.  I know that it is edible, and some people make tea using catnip, but I don’t like it.  It smells like soap to me, and that is not a flavor I want to eat or drink.

 

Catnip is a kind of mint, so you have to be careful where you plant it.  It will spread, and its seeds are prolific too.  But we have this perfect spot.  Gizmo can get to it easily, it acts like a foundation planting around the bottom deck, and best of all…the deer don’t bother it.  Furthermore, it is perennial and pretty.

 

Can’t beat that!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I threw arugula seeds into this bed on February 9th, same day that I planted cabbages, kales, broccoli, etc.  

 

This is how it looks now.  We started harvesting little leaves to put in with our salad greens.

 

I love this time of year, when everything starts greening up.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are not from up north, but if you are, you probably recognize this plant.  It is Rhubarb just emerging after the winter.

 

Years ago, Hilda (who is from Ohio) divided her Rhubarb and offered some to me.  Of course, I love growing plants, so I took some and planted it in a shady part of the garden.  It has been growing there ever since.  I divide it once in a while, and offer the extra plants to my gardening friends.  

 

Jon remembers his grandmother in Seattle, when he was little, making rhubarb sauce and he loved it.  So I grow it, and harvest stems when they get big, and he makes a delicious rhubarb sauce (kinda like apple sauce) and has it as dessert.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Last year at the beginning of summer, Karen was getting ready to plant her garden, and the oregano and thyme had taken over one whole end.  She called me and offered some great herbs, if I wanted them.

 

I dug out a huge clump of oregano, and started to dig the thyme.  It smelled lemony.  She laughed and told me she didn’t remember planting lemon thyme.  I took two small clumps of it!!!  So now I have thyme AND lemon thyme.

 

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the clumps have grown to about 10 inches across, and are the most gorgeous green.  The time to harvest it, to get the best flavor, is just before it blooms.  So I’ll be watching it for flower buds.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

While I was taking pix of the kale yesterday, I saw this Black Swallowtail butterfly.  It was moving slowly, not flying, but kind of staggering.  It was really fresh looking, not old and raggedy, like they sometimes get.

 

We have raised Black Swallowtails before, and when they emerge it takes about 15 minutes for their wings to fill out and dry.

 

So I figure that it lived its life as a caterpillar in my parsley and carrots last summer, cocooned over the winter nearby, and emerged as an adult just before I saw it.  

 

I love my garden;  always something fun to see.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you might like to see that I planted new kale alongside the old kale.  They all grew from seeds, but the tall ones in the back of the picture have been in the ground since March, 2023.  The ones in the foreground were started in February this year, and just got put into the garden yesterday.

 

I thought the new ones might like something to inspire them.  Anyway, the garden is getting planted, bit by bit.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We planted several Redbud trees the first year we lived here.  One year in the spring I noticed a few Redbud seedlings growing across the driveway.  I took out some, and saved this one just opposite the original one.  

 

Now we have two Redbud trees on either side of our driveway.  The other one is bigger, but this one was FREE!!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!