In the morning when I go out to feed the birds and let the chickens out, I stroll through the gardens and look for new flowers or plants emerging.

This morning I found that my Oak Leaf Hydrangea is beginning to make flowers. There are flower buds all over it. I am so glad I moved it to this new location. It struggled so last year - too much sun and too dry. Now it gets morning sun and the soil is moist and shade all afternoon. It is very happy and so am I.

The other day I set out my little Petunia seedlings and Red Nicotiana seedlings in a new bed where I planted irises. On either end I transplanted little Fannick Phlox seedlings. (Thanks for the mother plants Kathy). I think the color combo will be delicious. They are all looking good.

In the wildflower bed near my little woodland area I have Orange Wallflowers and the Sweet Williams are beginning to bloom - all colors, including white. There is a Daisy of some kind that has begun to bloom - first year. I love Daisies! I am not sure what species they are, but they have unusual leaves - not lance leafed but rounded and ruffled. Very pretty, even when not in bloom. Last year there were Baby Snapdragons. I hope they survived the winter and will bloom this year. There is supposed to be some kind of wild sky-blue Delphinium. I am anxious to see those bloom this year. There are others but I am not certain what they are, but several are budding and will bloom soon.

My plate-size pink Dahlias are up, and one other, which has peaches and cream colors (forgot its name). I have more to plant yet. After drooling over GG's Dahlias in her marvelous island gardens, I splurged and bought new dahlia tubers: 2 packages of Lucca Johanna and one of Orion.
Can't wait to see them bloom!

I am trying my luck with Gladiolas this year too. I found some absolutely delicious color variations. I bought four bags of glad bulbs. I sure hope my investment pays off.

I think rabbits are nibbling on my cabbages and broccoli. I found a leaf on a cabbage removed and on one of the broccoli too. They ate all my snow pea vines. That's what I get for saying I don't have a rabbit problem. However, my cats have been vigilant as I found a dead one in the yard yesterday morning. I will have to put a row of chicken wire around the fencing to keep them out.

Speaking of chicken wire - I found a strip of old chicken wire with 2-inch holes. I was bagging up junk that had accumulated around the greenhouse - broken plastic pots and decaying plastic buckets, & etc. I was about to fold it up and stuff it in a bag when I got the idea of using it on my Sweet Pea Ladder. I hobbled down to the garden and Voila! It was exactly the right length! I secured it over the ladder and down each side. Now my peas will have something to cling to as they grow. It is very secure and even our fierce Okie winds won't be able to rip it loose. And...it doesn't show. See? That is one reason why I save all that junk and recycle it!

We are supposed to get rain all this coming week...and thunderstorms. The Tornado Season is upon us. May is the peak of the season and when we get the worst and most storms. I am thankful for the rains though. The drought has been horrific. Kathy, if I could hook up a pipeline and send some down your way, I sure would. My middle son lives in Spring, Texas, as you know, and they have been getting flooding in the Houston area. Their apartment is right next to one of those canals. So far, all the flooding has been south of them in the Houston and Galveston area.
All of you down there please take care. I think this year the hurricane season may be REALLY bad based upon the current data - so many SEVERE storms in the South this year.

What crazy weather.

~Annie

Someone reading this might get the idea that you enjoy gardening, Annie. :) Your enthusiasm is catching.

Rabbits ate your Snow Peas? Ugh. I'm trying peas again after two years of a groundhog dining on mine. Just as they get tall enough to start to blossom, too. I planted my four short rows towards the back of the garden, so I'm wondering if I'm just inviting Mr. G to browse his way back to there.

I thoroughly enjoyed strolling through your garden with you Annie, spring is such a wondrous time of year.

Dahlias, haven't grown them for years but have two new ones started in pots waiting for me to decide where to put them.

....and drum roll please, we are winning the war on the couch grass in the thorn in my side bed.
I ended up taking everything out, pulled all the roots we could find and now tilling this bed every few days until the beginning of May when it will be planted with a mix of veggies and flowers. Nothing permanent as we want to till it again in the fall and again next spring.

I got my Daisy bed cleaned out, sadly this winter has killed about a dozen of my Michaelmas Daisies, lost one of my favorites which I can't replace :o(.
On a brighter note a couple of vines I thought were toast are showing signs of life, wimpy, but nevertheless they're alive.

Lilies are popping up here and there, I only managed to decapitate one, things are looking up I usually nail about 3 or 4 every spring either by stepping on them or breaking them off when weeding.

No signs of life on the Wisteria we cut back to a stump, got my fingers crossed it comes back but the double flowering Clematis Proteus growing up it's stump is going to be gorgeous when it blooms.

"The tornado season is upon us" stay safe and hope you don't suffer any damage to you and yours or your garden.

Annette

Spring moved to Summer here in one day ! We are 90 degrees and no rain in site. I am back to dragging hoses. But I am planting and planting...I WILL be optimistic...I sure wish I could come take a walk with you...instead I spread some of your tomato jam on my homemade buttermilk bread at dinner. We need to meet up !! I loved our walk ! c

A walk in your garden is a walk for us all, or is it a walk in our own garden? Anyhow, it was fun.

I have gladioli, too, but just 2 bags, LOL. I don't know why I planted all these tall things with a new dog in the yard. She ran all over a larkspur this afternoon, and it went 'sproing' as if it were made of wire. I hope the glads and lilies fare so well.

Nell

Annie, I enjoyed "walking" out to the coop with you this morning too. Are your hens laying well for you now. All of our eggs from this years batch of hens are brown or green. No white egg layers in the bunch!

Love hearing your stories and knowing what your up to around your garden. You should seriously consider blogging. Blog readers would really enjoy your writing style as much as we do.

MeMo

I set out a new Salvia this evening. Hope it rains because I didn't water it. It is a perennial - white flowers. They had gobs of them at WalMart and no one was looking at them or buying them, so they were marked down for SALE. Why, they are just gorgeous! Wish I could have bought a lot more of them. There were honeybees buzzing all over them. That was good enough for me. Anything a honeybee loves that much has got be a good plant to grow in my Cottage Garden! The name of it is Salvia, Show Hill. Lovely spikes of white flowers. I set it near the Potager entrance.

I have two different yellow roses growing, one on either side of the arch. I got the Golden Showers last year, and nearly lost it last summer. The other is Golden or Gold (something) that my oldest son got me for my birthday this year. I planted two golden yellow Asiatic lilies on one side where I had planted the Weigelia, Wine and Roses, that dies this winter. :( Win some, lose some.

The Variegated Weigelia made it though. I love those leaves. It is on the other side and today I discovered it has two little blooms! The honeybees showed me that it was blooming. :)

My Snowball bush is blooming this year. It was a pup off the big clump at my parent's old house. I got it last year. I am thrilled. I planted it at the back of the house near the patio. It will shade the patio in summer when it grow big...and they do get big.

Sitting here listening to the Soft Rock music on the new Dish Earth channel. I love it. "Feel good music" as we used to say back in the day.

schoolhouse,
My snow peas were 2-1/2 ft. tall and beginning to climb up the tower. There were seven plants. Two remain but look mighty sad. Every night one or two got nibbled off. Three months of waiting gone. (Grrrr)

Nearby I planted the broccoli next to a row of Doublemint. So far, I repeat, so far it is deterring the white cabbage moths. They don't like mint, it says here. They shot up two inches last night! Wow! All that good home grown compost and the hot days we've had the past few days.

Annette,
My wisteria sat there and sat there...and sat there. I scratched a stem a couple of weeks back and it was green, so I kept watering it every day. Today there were little leaves coming out! Yippee! It is pink...or supposed to be.

trailrunner,
I called my daughter in South Carolina today. She told me that it was suddenly hot there too. She said that is typical for the Columbia area. (I am so glad she isn't anywhere near those fires.) Oh, I am so glad you like my Tomato preserves. And isn't it the best on homemade bread? Lip-smacking good! Yes, I think we would have a blast if we got together. I am not sure the South would be able to deal with us together. If we ever do...watch out! :)
I have so many tomato plants! What was I thinking?

Glad you guys enjoyed my ramblings about my garden. Gardening is much more fun when you have others to share it with. You guys are all I have and you may never know how much I love and care about each one of you, but I really do.

I cooked a roast and potatoes for supper. It is ready. Going to build a tossed salad and eat some whole grain bread with it. Wish I had some garden fresh green onions. The three cold spells we had got them. A pitcher of cold Sweet Tea would be great. I guess I could brew some real quick.

Later ya'll!
All of ya'll as they say in the South. :)

~Annie

MeMo,

My hens lay year round.
I only have three hens now, but I get three eggs every day - two brown and one a lighter brown, like creamed coffee. My good girls. I am keeping them up for the time being. I cut grass for them every day and give them grubs when I dig them up. I killed a snake yesterday and chopped it into three pieces. Each got a piece. Oh, they loved that! I give them dry cat food for a protein supplement and canned cat food sometimes. They love it. It is especially important in the winter when no bugs are available. They like dandelion greens too, which are packed with vitamins and minerals.

Nell,
My dogs have the entire front yard to romp in. They only get to come out into the back yard when I can supervise. I take them for walks and romps up on the hill when I'm not gimped up too bad. We went up there yesterday morning. It limped all the way back down the hill. (oh the pain). But the dogs were very happy. They act like gigantic pups. Huge balls of energy. (:0
I had to teach my dogs to use the paths in the gardens and not tromp my flowers and plants. Gus was 19 months old when I got him and Shep was abt. 15 months old, but dogs are not mature until they are about three or four. They both chased and acted like they would kill all cats. That didn't last long, but it was harry for a while. Gus is now 6 and Shep is 4.
Puppies are something else. Like all babies, EVERYTHING is PLAY. Buffy is a smart pup and no doubt she will learn in time...if you and your garden can survive til then. :)

~Annie

I have been busy for a couple of days with company and am just now getting around to some computer time.

What a pleasant thing to find this thread. Like visiting with old friends over the back garden fence.

Speaking of glads, I planted a few Violette glads several years ago and they return faithfully each year and have had lots of babies. I must remember to prop them up some way this year.

What's this tomato jam? I have never made or tasted any.
I certainly will have enough tomatoes..........I got carried again again with plants. What is your recipe and what type of tomatoes do you use?

We have had very hot and windy weather and hope the rains promised happen.

Like Caroline, summer hit us, too. 90s for days, but we do have about 4 days of rain coming (starting Wednesday).

Alliums are blooming! :-) The Dutch iris 'Rosario' are a perfect color harmony with the 'Purple Sensation' alliums, but the sun is so strong, I can't get the colors to come through the camera as they are in reality! :-) I'll wait until it is a cloudy day to take more photos. The only downside is that I don't have enough of either -- the bunnies ate off the foliage of many of the irises, so they are spotty in bloom and I had planted a minimum of 9 bulbs together of the irises and 5 of the allium.

The Spanish lavender has started blooming, but I lost a lot of my 4+yo plants due to too much rain in the summer and again in the winter. The ones that are doing great have best blooms ever.

The Knock Out roses started to open up yesterday. The Encore Azaleas and Lady Banks roses are in full bloom.

Cameron

My roses are amazing. They loved the rain we "had"..note the past tense. None in our forecast. I am worried.

Annie...you got it ...watch out if we meet up...and it is "all ya'll."...nothing inbetween LOL.

Cameron send that rain here !! c

Oh, Caroline,
That's right! See, it's been so long I forgot.
All Ya'll.

Big bad lightening just starting here now. We are fixing to get it big time. Tornadoes last night northwest of here and flooding. It continued on all through the day today. We are just now getting some of it. What a massive storm system! Supposed to continue on into the week. (lordy, lordy)

Cameron, my Lady Banks has been blooming for a month and is starting to wane (waahhh) No camera to take pictures of all my pretties this Spring.

I have irises starting to bloom. That is to say, I have some blooming and more going to bloom. I toyed with the idea of cutting some bouquets of the giant whites a few minutes ago - fearing the storm would just tear them up and break them off anyway, but I just couldn't do it. They looks so regal, standing 3-4 ft tall. And fragrance? Unbeatable. Some of the new ones I got last year are blooming and more with buds that will bloom soon (periwinkle blue, pinks and yellows. What a thrill! I have one clump of periwinkle blue pincushions are blooming and more buds ready to open. There are gobs and gobs of Bread seed poppies - some about to bloom and many smaller ones that will bloom later I hope.

My new yellow double Knock out has buds, but the red one I got last year doesn't have any buds yet for some reason. It has grown huge. Do I need to prune it back?
The Pink Fairy has dozens of buds and some opened today. So tiny and dainty. There are others blooming. Smells so wonderful when I walk out the back door. Mmmmm.

I pulled a mountain of weeds and those pesky stick-tight vines out of the bed along the driveway late this afternoon. Good grief! I had a dickens of a time getting loose of them. Lots of Chickweed in my Canna bed along there and moldy Henbit that is so ugly when it begins to die out. I piled it all in the driveway. If it washes away in the deluge, good riddance!

Uh oh, bad storms! Man, what lightening!!! My dogs are right under me and several wet cats just came flying in the kitty window and jumped right in my lap. Yuck! The Weather Radio is going off with alerts. Tornado Watch #195, including this county. I better go. Talk to All Ya'll later. :)

~Annie