A Well-Watered Garden

Cottage garden flowers are so delightful, and I've been wanting to add more and more. I planted some Hollyhocks from seed on the east and west sides of the house last Spring. The West side hollyhocks were "double" Hollyhocks, and the East side are the traditional ones. The West side gets much more intense sunlight so the double ones really grew strong, and so much more beautiful than I could have imagined. They are still blooming profusely. They look like crepe ballgowns for fairies. The seed package showed shades of pink - ranging from white to dark red. The two colors that bloomed were a bubblegum pink and a fuscia. Just as I thought the bubblegum pink ones couldn't get any prettier, the centers became yellower as the summer went on.

As I blogged previously with regards to the Wisteria and Trumpet Vine , we have been in need of a trellis to sit between the house and the shed, upon which these two climbers can be content. The Wisteria by the shed has been choked in with a big climbing Honeysuckle, and the Trumpet Vine became so aggressive on the house that it was pushing into the siding and pulled out the gutter. We've spent time pruning these vines in preparation for the trellis. Steve and I went to Menards this spring with the intention of buying the trellis, but none we saw had the right measurements. After we looked a while, Steve said "I will make one". He has started woodworking - taking classes and making small projects. Next thing I knew the truck was full of lumber and we were driving home. He's spent the last few weeks making the trellis in the garage. Yesterday he and Dad put it up. It's not completely finished yet, but it has absolutely surpassed my expectations in function and be

Peonies always bloomed each June in the back of my childhood best friend's home. I remember pink and white, how large they were, and of course, ants being on them. I also remember the heavenly smell. I was overjoyed to see that we inherited several bushes when we moved into the house. Most are a hot pink color. I noticed that one bush, however, was in a very shady area, and was being choked by other plants. I could see that it was different from the hot pink ones, and had more of that amazing scent. I thought it had white blooms at the time. I carefully transplanted the roots and eyes to a more sunny area during the fall of 2011. The foliage and a few buds came up last summer, but the drought put a stop to any further growth. This spring we got the full reward - gorgeous light pink blooms! If only I were a watercolor artist...

We went snowshoeing in the conservation land this morning. Not too many fresh tracks since the snow was still falling and the animals are probably still burrowed up. Usually there are squirrel, rabbit, deer, and coyote tracks. We hear the coyotes at night often, but never saw one until last November. It was 7am, and he walked quietly out of the woods - stood there facing our house, then turned, marked his territory, and trotted down the path. We thought we wouldn't be seeing any deer for a while, but the next week 4 of them appeared in almost the same spot - also in the morning. Here's a photo I took on our walk - a curtain of pine boughs. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! :-). I didn't realize Steve was in the shot.