Sunday, April 24, 2011

We May Need An Ark

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.
With all of the storms blowing about it was an iffy weekend to be sure. I think we are going to have to build and Ark if it keeps going like this. The creeks in the valley keep coming out of the banks.  I did not see any Easter bunnies in the garden this weekend. I think maybe all of the stray cats kept him away.  But they did not scare off the Bluebirds that decided to do some nesting in the houses in the Woodland garden.

Bluebird_Nesting
They are about a month late this year compared to last. I am always so glad when I see this favorite shade of blue in my garden.

Bluebird_Pair What a sweet couple.

The grass finally got mowed in between the showers it was looking more like a meadow out in the yard instead of a lawn.
The plant world is loving all of the rain despite all of my grumbling about walking on water, mudding in new plants, and the rain predicted for the next five days.

Violet_Labrador2_April23

The Labrador violets are looking much fuller now and I love the purple-blue blooms against the dark foliage.

Brunnera_LookingGlass_April23
The Brunnera  plants are not as big this year and have fewer pretty blue blooms for some reason and one was almost completely lost. The winter must have been extra hard on them.

Heuchera_AmethystMist Heuchera  Amethyst  Mist
The Heuchera plants are taking all the rain and wet feet very well.

Heuchera_PurplePalace_April23 Heuchera Purple Palace

Lilacs2

The lilacs are starting to bloom but if I want to smell their fragrance I will have to cut some and bring indoors for a bouquet.

Magnolia_Jane The small  ‘Jane’  Magnolia tree is blooming and I love looking at the big blooms.

BleedingHeart_Pink 
The pink Dicentra Bleeding Hearts are filling out.

Pasque_RedClock_April23
Pulsatilla Pasque Flower ‘Red Clock’ may even open up its blooms if the sun shines.

Tulip_QueenoftheNight
Tulips ‘Queen of the Night’ also are waiting on the sunshine.

Woodland_Muscari
Amongst some of my Birthday presents were a set of Butterfly stakes for the garden. The wings light up at night.
Love those garden gifts. LOL!

Butterfly_Blue

To everyone who overwhelmed me with so many Birthday greetings my heart warmed,  Thank You!

Happy Gardening,
Lona

 

 

29 comments:

The Redneck Rosarian said...

Love the "Queen Of The Night" tulips.... Hope the rain stops before you begin gathering 2 by 2......

Lynn said...

Happy belated birthday, Lona! The butterfly stakes are a fun addition to the garden.

A Garden of Threads said...

You are so lucky to have Bluebirds nesting in your yard. I have not seen nesting pairs in years. Glad you had a great birthday.

myomyohi said...

Happy Easter. We too are getting concerned about the rising water. I live outside of Prospect, but on high ground. It's supposed to rain until Thursday here. The river is already running high...

It looks like your Heuchera is a little ahead of mine.

Enjoy your week.

Rainy Day Gardener said...

Hi Lona, Hope you had a wonderful birthday! I love your Brunnera, I've never seen those before and I'm always after blue flowering plants :)Cheers, Jenni

Anonymous said...

Lona ~ sorry I missed your birthday. :-(
Hope it was happy. It sounds like your weather is a lot like ours. It's been very dreary here and cold too (we've even had a bit of snow).
Your garden still looks pretty even if it's waiting on sun. I'm happy to see your bluebirds too. I hope they raise a big family. We need more of them.

Mel_Cole said...

fantastic pictures! I love your bleeding hearts. I just planted mine in roots last year and cant wait to see them this year. Your lilacs are so gorgeous! Your flowers are fantastic that you had one theme color for them. Been busy for Easter. Sorry for my late visit but my post is not late :) Hope you can visit my Fertilizer Friday here.

Sue Catmint said...

Hi Lona, everything is growing wonderfully but my pick of the pics is the incredibly sweet blue bird. cheers, catmint

Balisha said...

HI...I don't know if I left a birthday greeting or not...so if I didn't...I hope your birthday was great.Here's a birthday ((HUG))
As usual your pictures tell the story of spring.We are expecting the same rain. We've been trying to get a day to do the mulching, but it's rainy all the time.
I do love those bluebirds of yours. We have them visit occasionally, but they'd rather nest at the forest preserve up the road. Have a great day...in or out of the garden...Balisha

Liz said...

Hi Lona,

Lovely photos, the Bluebird is very pretty!

We finally had some much needed rain on Saturday, but we're drying up again already because it's been so warm.

Jane Doe said...

Oh my what lovely spring flowers are blooming in your rainy garden. The daffodils are coming on strong up here, but lilacs barely look alive. I'm with you, it may be time to start building that ark.

Have a wonderful week!

Karen said...

Hello Lona, the Labrador violet is so beautiful with that amazingly dark foliage. I have got to plant some magnolias; they are awesome! No wonder you have bluebirds living in your garden, they know a fantastic garden when they see one.

I hope you don't need to build an ark; I can sympathize here, too, we're in for a whole lot more wet weather too. Love the butterfly, too!

Jester said...

Your pictures are so amazing! While I don't have any bluebird houses up yet, I have a pair from accross the road tht like to hang out in my birdbath. They are especially fun to watch in the summer when they bring the babaies over. Momma goes nuts when the babies go on the ground instead of the tree when waiting for a turn in the water.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I love the tulips in a row, so cute! The birds are definitely late here too. I saw someone else had mentioned it in there blog too, I was wondering if it was just around here. Hope the rain stops soon!

Anonymous said...

Love the birds in your garden, Lona. My brunnera isn't as big as last year and I have no blossoms on it either. Yours looks beautiful. Great photos!

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Lona,

Happy Belated Birthday!

The Jane Magnolia is beautiful and that Huchera Amethyst Mist is one I must look for, so many beautiful ones now.

Eileen

VW said...

My Jack Frost was smaller last year than the year before; I'm interested to see how it does this year. Love the Jane magnolia - our late frosts would probably wreak havoc on its blooms but I can enjoy it via blog elsewhere!

Masha said...

Happy belated birthday and happy Easter! Your garden looks great, the bird pictures are wonderful. Superb photography, too.

Randy Emmitt said...

Lona,
Wish I could smell those lilacs! We have two bluebird boxes both new. See them once in a while, don't think they have moved in.

Rebecca @ In The Garden said...

Wow Lona, your garden is looking fantastic. We share many plants, but yours are months ahead of mine, it's nice to have a sneak peak.

Pranavam Ravikumar said...

Just fantastic snaps...! I loved it.

Anonymous said...

Lona, hope your Easter and your birthday were wonderful. You are have the same weather as us. Rain, rain, and more rain. We do see a break Saturday, but then back to rain. I am liking those temps though. I like your birthday gift of the butterflies, pretty color.

sweetbay said...

As always your pictures are beautiful. Love the picture of the Bleeding Heart. Exquisite!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Lona girl (post happy birthday again ? LOL).. hey we are sharing the same weather so will you swing by in your arc and pick us up too please ? hehe .. seriously .. rain, rain and more rain .. if I didn't know better i would think mom nature is doing it on purpose just when we bought the solar powered birdbath fountain !! haha
You are way ahead of me with your garden plants .. but then again, it may be the lack of sun ?
Love seeing your blooms in any case!
Joy : )

Becca's Dirt said...

Sorry I'm late Lona wishing you a happy birthday but Happy Birthday. In the evenings I was thinking about you but forgot when I got online. Love your butterfly lighted stake for your gardens. Those are the best gifts. Tulips all lined up - looks like they were set up that way. Pretty. Hope you are having a good day.

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

Bluebirds are a species that I would love to see in our UK gardens - alas Blue Tits have to suffice. Do you have Blue Tits in the USA?

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Lona,
When I get the emails from blotanical or Facebook, saying someone's birthday is coming up, I always save them, planning to get to the person to wish them a happy birthday. Most of the time, I end up forgetting until after the date, when I read their thanks to others for the birthday greetings. Well, I hope it was a great one!

You have some nice blooms. That violet is really cute. I love your stake! I hope it dries up enough for us to get out and dig in the dirt soon.

I showed Larry the area I want to have for the new flower bed, and he told me to go ahead and take over the whole area. It's going to be hard to wait until it's dry enough to dig in.

Anonymous said...

Usually, I love rain for my garden. But this is getting OLD! That's my theme for tomorrow's post too, just like you! LOL I did sneak out and get some plants moved and planted, but hubby can't seem to get the lawn mowed. I volunteered, but he wants to do it himself.

Joe Todd said...

Happy belated birthday, Lona.. Great photos,flowers,birds.. All the veggies I started from seed are doing well and the garden will be ready for planting on time.. A little more sun and less rain would be a help.. Til next time happy gardening