early May garden

So, I've not been here on my blog for quite a while, very busy with my artwork. But I do go out and garden almost every day, and listen to the songs of swallows and blackbirds.

My Salix Caprea greeting dawn in the early morning light.

This group of daisies in the grass had pink edges before opening.

Mickey Mouse tulips close up for the night, opening every morning.

The weather stayed cool for quite a long time this spring, so this year the tulips stayed lovely much longer than usual.

Wallflowers blooming with forget-me-nots underneath.

By the back door are oxalis and flax growing in a broken half of a bonsai pot. Succulents in a pot I made long ago. And parsley for easy picking for sandwiches and cooking.

In front of the house, a self seeded stock has decided to wedge itself into the tarmac.

Soon, the columbine will be blooming.

This columbine sits in a bed of woodruff.

In the peppermint woods at the bottom of the garden grows a lovely telima. Hopefully it will soon be joined by some field poppies.

A dark cloud appeared one day, giving the landscape an eerie atmosphere. The contorted hazel adds some mystery.

Some early poppies have appeared during the warm weather of late. A yellow Welsh poppy opens its first bloom.

An oriental poppy arising from its winter slumber.

A laughing pansy grew itself in the strawberry bed.

And violas in the rose and herb garden outside my kitchen window. They grow themselves there just for my pleasure. I let violas and pansies grow wherever they like, they are my favorite flower.

I'll be gone for 2 weeks, it's time to fix up my Mom's garden for the summer. I need a nice break, and will catch up on my needlework too. Below is a cross-stitch by me, called "Silvia Gardens"

Unfortunately, I won't be home to do Carol's Monthly bloomday for May. I'll take pics of my flowers as soon as I'm back though. And I'll have a chance to visit everyone's blog then too, sorry I haven't visited lately... See you!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2008

We have had lovely lovely weather for a couple of days now, hope it stays a while. Nice big fat clouds with lots of blue sky showing through. And warmish as well! Up till a few days ago, the weather has been so cold! Last year, my garden was way ahead of this year, I had many more flowers in bloom.
In my garden, there are many daffodils blooming.

The wallflowers are starting to fill in.

Euphorbia is still looking great in its unique alienish way.

Forget-me-nots are everywhere!

Daisies in the lawn, I mow around most of them.

A few hyacinths, wish I had more.

Primulas looking nice finally.. wonder what happened to all the slugs?

My tulips "Mickey Mouse" just beginning to open.

Mickeys in front of self seeded honesty.
I love the common names of some flowers.. forget-me-not, honesty, love-in-a-mist. So romantic.

Visit Carol's blog for April Bloom Day, see what's in flower all over the world!
To see some wildflowers in bloom, have a look at my post yesterday.
Have a lovely spring, all you gardeners! And do try to take Carol's advice in the garden: "be"

yellow flowers of the countryside

It's a beautiful day! So I went for a cycle to see if I could find some gorse to take photos of, as it's blooming everywhere now.

There were a lot of wild primulas on the sides of the road, all in a lovely pale yellow.

Also in a brighter yellow grew marsh marigolds.

Daffodils were everywhere as well, again in yellow. Seems like all the flowers I saw today were colored yellow.

Yellow daffs play peek-a-boo through a fence.

Moo! Baaaa! No flowers in this photo, but that bull was eyeing me as I went past.

This house at the side of the road had masses of daffodils!

More daffodils.. and I see some gorse in the distance.

Found a gorse behind a wall.

And finally, I found some at the side of the road!

It's so cheerfully yellow, I couldn't help but smile! It's just the richest color of yellow in the countryside during this time of year.

St. Stephen's Green

On Friday, I went into Dublin to have lunch with my daughter and son, to buy some seeds, and to see the magnolias in bloom. St. Stephen's Green is my favorite Dublin park, always filled with flowers and scents.

Coming through the arch, I see a field of daffodils waving in the breeze.

I sit and have an apple, watching the birds on the pond. I see mostly seagulls.. where are all the ducks? Later on, my son walked by here too, passed a couple of tourists who commented to each other that we had funny looking ducks here.

In the middle of the park, tulips bloom everywhere.

The scent of the hyacinths was heavenly!

The magnolia was in full bloom. Magnificent!

Along the perennial border, I noticed these pretty yellow flowers. I'm not familiar with them. Maybe dogtooth violet?

A few early cherries were already in bloom.

Even the horses were decorated with flowers.

As was my reflection in a flower shop!

Festival of The Trees #22 is up

For anyone who has a love of trees, this month's Festival of The Trees is up at Árvores Vivas em Nossas Vidas. It's the first bi-lingual edition of the festival. My post for this month is "Saillé's Dream", posted for World Storytelling Day.

Ghost, angel or faerie?

This is a picture from a few years ago, during a snow flurry. In the bottom of the garden, there seems to be a small flying creature. Maybe a faerie? An angel? or a ghost?
Princess Haiku had a post a while back about a ghostly image, and invited her readers to share any ghostly pictures.
I have another ghostly pic on my art blog as well.

disaster

In this box, I'm growing heritage seedlings of peas and beans, (thanks Rebsie!) and several varieties of sunflowers and cabbages. They were all coming along quite nicely. I put the box outside every day to give them sunshine and outdoor life. In the evening, I put them back inside.

So today I did the same, and the weather played a nasty April Fool on me and the seedlings. The wind became so fierce, it blew the whole box upsidedown, dumped all the dirt and seedlings on the grass, and blew the little pots all over my garden and the street. The wind also blew over my recycle bin, and paper, bottles and cans were rolling and blowing everywhere. So, I ignored all the recycle stuff for the moment, and tried saving all the seedling strait away, scooping them up and rushing them inside to lay on my dining table.

I hope I got everything, here's what was left in the grass, hopefully that's only the potting soil. So then I rushed all over the neighborhood, collecting all the recycle junk, hope I got it all. Back inside, I spent my lunch hour re-potting all the seedlings. Unfortunately, all the labels were dumped as well, and now I have no idea what's what anymore. I think I can tell the red cabbage from the green. All the sunflowers are different sizes, so no idea which are tall and which are short.

And worst is that I don't know which is what from all the beans and peas. Most of them stayed in their group, so I'm sure each pot is now holding the same variety. Maybe when they grow bigger, I will see the difference.
And I ended up with several extra pots.. hmm..
Well, thankfully, all seedlings look ok still. Nothing looks wilted yet, so it's not a total disaster. I'll still eat peas, beans and cabbages this summer.

Earth Hour

Today the world is participating in Earth Hour. At 8PM local time all over the world, people will be turning off lights and electrical appliances for one hour. Dublin will be included in this event.
I am also going to turn everything off this evening, and maybe sit by candlelight and chat or daydream.
I would like to encourage anyone to try this as well, be a part of something to help our Earth, if even a little bit.
So, have a lovely dark evening!

The swallows return

Late afternoon on Monday, as I was getting my veggie garden weeded and dug, I looked up in the sky. Way high, there was a flock of maybe a hundred birds, and they looked like swallows. There was no sound from them, so I wasn't sure. I was riveted, and just watched as they flew past, some of them in a diagonal line here and there, all flying into the northwest.
As they flew past, I thought, "I wish I had my camera with me" But I didn't want to stop watching. So this morning I drew what I remember, and photoshopped the birds into the sky.
If they were indeed swallows, then spring is finally here! Can't wait for those happy birds racing through our skies, singing their cheerful songs.

"Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art. "
~Izaak Walton