A Bouquet for my Mother

Peonies, fresh cut from my garden.

These flowers bring back memories from my childhood...The look of them, the scent, the softness...

They bloom all at once and suddenly they are gone for another year. That just makes me appreciate them all the more... Have a Lovely weekend!

Between the Raindrops

Well, it feels good to be back to blogging again! I took some time off from the computer because in between the raindrops, i have been doing a LOT of gardening. I really missed visiting all my friend's blogs, and am so glad to be back and full of stories to tell you... There have been some BIG changes here in the landscape, some good and some sad. But today we will start with the shade garden.

It has been an incredibly rainy, chilly Spring here in the Northeast so far. But as i keep reminding folks, that's Spring weather for you! I do believe that April showers bring May flowers but rain almost every day in May so far brings soggy ground and flooding all around us. The shade garden is a bit weedy because of this, but i hope to have that under control soon enough! The bleeding heart bushes are just blooming now.

I dusted off my Aunt Joey's statue of Mary and put her in her rightful place in the garden, right next to the bleeding heart and the lily of the valley. I see little chipmunks who like to hang out in the space with Mary quite a bit and eat their seeds and nuts from the bird feeders there...

This is a statue i absolutely Love made by my friend and gallery owner Samson Contompasis. He named it "Mary" after Jesus' Mother.... The hosta and columbine are coming up nicely all around her....

Here is a better look of the section of the garden dedicated to "Mother Mary"

In the back corner of the shade garden is another sculpture by Samson that i call "The Waterfall". It is surrounded by lilies, hosta, astilbe, columbine, and right behind it is a young white cedar sapling. It was intended to be a bonsai in training, but i think i like it there. And it seems very happy there too.

Against the garage wall, we have a spot where a few of my cats who have passed on are buried. A little sleeping cat statue marks the spot. The chippies love this spot and hide behind the piece of driftwood. Here there's more hosta planted as well as coralbells and lily of the valley

A collection of rocks waiting to be made into a little border

and my old rusty wheelbarrow that is going to become a lovely rustic planter if it ever dries out enough for me to paint it with rustoleum and drill a few drainage holes in it!

I am hoping that the weatherman is right and by the end of the week we might just get a little sunshine and dry days and i think everything will burst into bloom! Now i think i will go and visit your blogs and see just what i've missed!

Lola's Tomatoes

This year i bought all my tomato plants from the Troy Farmer's market. And because Lola was interested in her own garden, i bought her her own tomato plant

I chose all sorts of heirloom tomato varieties for the garden

but decided to get her a special plant, different from all the others. So i bought a cherry tomato plant called "Sugar Sweet"
(just because the name reminded me of the little girl who would tend the plant! ;)

What a wonderful time we are having in the garden with this plant. Every time Lola comes over for a visit, she goes out with her crocks on and her basket on her arm and we pick handfuls of super sweet and tasty tomatoes. And she is standing in front of her tomato plant in these pictures. Yes, that big bush behind her is Lola's tomato plant! It's huge!

I am hoping this little taste of gardening will stay with her for her lifetime.

And i hope we have many more years to share this love of gardening together...