Morning in the Garden

This morning the light seemed just right in the garden. I headed out with the camera, and found a lot more to share than I thought was there! Picture-heavy post, but not too much reading, so just scroll through and enjoy!

The big bag of oriental lilies I got at Costco did very well for their first year.

A secondary flush of foxgloves. Most of the big plants died, so I bought a six-pack of mixed foxgloves to replace them (they are in the bed below behind these foxgloves.) They are growing very well, so I am excited to see what colors I got next spring.

Sophie cracks me up–she’s like a little kid walking along the wooden rails.

Each hydrangea has a different bloom time. The blue ones are fading just as these white ones are starting.

I bought some new plants to fill in empty spots. I loved the color of the leaves on this “Nine Bark.”

This is not light shining through, it is the actual variegated color on the leaves.

The double impatiens seems to be in just the right spot.

And I just love all these flowers blooming over here.

The zinnias that I got to fill in are really doing well.

LOL, I was taking so many pictures over here, Chloe just came and sat down and stared at me. “People are hungry, don’t you know?”

The Belinda rose is doing very well. the stems seem a little weak to me, but it is the first year. I’m just glad its still alive 🙂

A hollyhock I bought last spring.

The ____ Peace rose. I didn’t notice the bug damage when I was taking the picture!

The Abutilon. Have to stand on my head to take pictures of the blooms.

The Phlox are so tall and beautiful.

That little pink vine I got is doing very well.

I got some more white marigolds to fill in here.

The bee balm. Now its about 10 inches tall 🙂

And the little rose from the two inch pot. I’m so glad it likes its place right by the front gate.

Tiny perfection.

And on with the week. I have taken my ninth early morning walk–well on my way to 21 for an established habit–yay! Today is a day of running in and out to give the whole garden a good soaking. And, I am prepping ten yards of fabric–finally gonna get out there and use my new dye studio.

 

 

Inspiration Near and Far

Inspiration Number 1: my own pain. When I came back from that trip at the beginning of June, and not just my knee, but my whole leg and various other body parts hurt so badly, I instinctively knew I needed to move more, not less. I have been more disciplined about exercise in the past month than I have ever been. I did all the things I thought would help with mobility and range of motion, and kept a very disciplined schedule every day. The only thing I didn’t do was walk as much. I did the bike, water jogging, swimming, and my P.T. exercises. As I started feeling better, along came–

Inspiration Number 2:  Its not new, but dang, she’s so consistent. Shelley has been getting up EARLY in the morning to run for a long time. I always get up early, but I don’t get dressed for quite a while 🙂 One day I decided it wouldn’t hurt me to get dressed and get out for a walk before it got hot and before people started driving out the dusty dirt road to get to work. It was WONDERFUL! I’m happy to report that I have now taken 6 early morning walks. Working towards 21 to make it a permanent habit. And this morning, I took an extra long walk, because of–

Inspiration Number 3:  I had lunch with a friend to hear about her recent trip to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. She is about my age, in very good physical shape. But people, SHE WALKED 500 MILES IN 35 DAYS!! Between 11 and 19 miles each day. And partway through the walk she developed some serious back problems, but she kept going, just a bit slower.

She told me about two movies, and I have watched both of them in the past week. One is a documentary, and was very good. Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago followed six people on their journey. Almost everyone suffered some sort of pain or injury. That’s just a lot of wear and tear on the body. The other was a regular movie, called The Way. It was also very good, although none of the main characters suffered any kind of injury 🙂

This kind of thing has always inspired me. I read Walk Across America many years ago, and it made an impact on me back then. I know I will never walk across America, or walk the Camino de Santiago. But I can do better, with the inspiration of those who do.

The Camino inspired me in other ways. I wrote about it on The Other Blog.

A Special Dinner for One

I was feeling like I needed to treat myself. I was in the pool, doing an extra long workout, and thinking about all my options. Going out or eating at home? Home is always a better choice, calorie-wise. But could I make it special?

And here’s what I came up with! So fun, and SOOOO delicious. That’s a turkey burger on top of a bed of lettuce and tomatoes. What can I say? I like a bite of tomato with each bite of burger! And one small sweet potato, cut into fries and baked. And a strawberry shake–the best! Just a cup of frozen strawberries, mixed together with half a cup of yogurt and half a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze. Now that was a good deal–about 135 calories for that delicious shake!

What Does a Garden Cost?

I guess that’s the wrong question. Because you can spend as little or as much as you want on a garden. What did MY garden cost? I never kept track of it. I fooled myself by just spending a little at a time. Most of the time when I went to pick up rocks, the most my car could carry is one or two hundred dollars worth of rocks. And then the next time MLG came over, I would pay him to put those rocks in place. Or we would get a load of wood from Lowe’s and then he would build the planters in a couple of sessions. Sometimes he brought over free stuff, like the railroad ties, to use in the garden. Before I found MLG, I would stop at Home Depot on my way home from work, and get six or eight stones. And then put them in place myself. Those are still there! If I had hired a garden contractor, and gotten an estimate on the cost of all the work we have done, I don’t think I would ever have done it. But doing it bit by bit, the cost didn’t seem so bad.

Of course, the plants… plants are a good deal, if you ask me. Six dollars can bring a lot of enjoyment, and if you choose carefully, and take care of it just right, and all the stars align just so, that six dollar plant can bring you years of enjoyment!

These first two pictures are kind of what I see when I drive up to my house. I mostly can’t believe that I have such a wonderful garden.

 

And here’s the walk-around for this week. Here is the bee balm in its THIRD location. Here’s hoping it will be happy here.

This is one of those tiny roses that they sell in two inch pots. How about that–it lived!

Petunias.

I think I was going for a red, white, and blue theme here. But something ate the white marigolds. And I planted a pink plant in the back…

Oh. This is what I have to do to keep Noah from TRAMPLING these poor plants when he insists on chasing cars.

The new honeysuckle gets the gold star for growing the most in the first season!

Lobelia border.

Lace cap hydrangea.

New flower! I think a pincushion plant? Its supposed to be frost hardy. I really like it, and its a tall plant, which is what I needed.

All the oriental lilies are starting to bloom!

I planted a row of zinnias behind the carnation patch.

A view of the mostly sun bed. LOL. Hoses are everywhere and always out. I have nice carts to wind them on, but what’s the point? I will have to unwind them tomorrow.

The volunteer nasturtium. Its doing quite well this year.

 

And so ends the garden tour for this week. Noah says, won’t you come back again?