My Iowa Garden

Mosaic Monday

2012-01-30T07:38:00.000-06:00

Pictures Today

2012-01-29T18:55:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday

2012-01-28T07:19:00.000-06:00

At the feeder.

Pretty Cardinal.............

2012-01-25T21:03:00.000-06:00

A Snowy Day and Bird Visitors!

2012-01-24T20:53:00.000-06:00

2012-01-23T22:17:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it has been over a month since I have posted in my blog! Facebook seems to be taking most of my computer time and to think how much I used to enjoy blogging! I am going to make an effort to get back into it and reconnect with all my blogging friends! I see things have changed here in blogspot, is it better or worse? I will have to get used to the changes. I see it is all connected to Google+ which I haven't used? Can someone give me some info about it?

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-12-03T08:19:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-11-05T08:31:00.000-06:00

This is a Madagascar Moth.................this photo was taken at the Reiman Garden Butterfly House.

My garden Nov 1st

2011-11-03T17:47:00.000-06:00

This is my last rose of the season and the butterfly weed has gone to seed, the fennel is putting on new growth and is the most beautiful green!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:15:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-10-29T08:47:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-10-15T07:46:00.000-06:00

Some fall photos from my garden.

Camera Critter Saturday: Last of the Butterflies

2011-09-30T19:42:00.001-06:00

I took this photos this week, I think it may be the end of the butterflies for year here in North East Iowa.

Black Swallowtail and Caterpillar

2011-09-27T17:38:00.000-06:00

I haven't seen any of the caterpillars for several days, I hope they had time to mature and turn into butterflies!

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-09-17T08:08:00.001-06:00

The Viceroys I thought were Monarchs :).

Now I am not sure can someone tell me for sure??? :)))

Macro Monday

2011-09-05T09:40:00.000-06:00

macro Monday

Camera Critter Saturday- Sulphers

2011-09-03T09:25:00.000-06:00

I walked on the nature this past week, there were hundreds and hundreds of these Sulphers on the flowers along the trail.

Red Spotted Purple Admiral

2011-08-31T14:09:00.000-06:00

Red Spotted Purple Admiral

Question Mark Butterfly

2011-08-29T18:13:00.000-06:00

Question Mark Butterfly

Question Mark Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies and Caterpillar............

2011-08-28T16:51:00.000-06:00

Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch Butterfly Tracking for Fall 2011

Monarch Butterly Migration- you tube

A Strange Visitor

2011-08-25T08:44:00.000-06:00

Imperial Moth

I moved him to one of my flower beds after I took these photos.

Blooming Tues

2011-08-16T09:44:00.000-06:00

Blooming Tuesday

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-08-13T06:18:00.000-06:00

It has finally cooled down in Iowa and the butterflies are starting to come through!

Macro Monday

2011-08-08T19:10:00.000-06:00

Macro Monday

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-08-06T06:36:00.001-06:00

Weds in the Garden

2011-08-03T14:05:00.001-06:00

Bloomin' Tues

2011-07-26T18:49:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-07-22T18:11:00.000-06:00

The weather in Iowa has been hot and humid, hot and humid, did I mention hot and humid?

Hot Hot Hot Hot!

2011-07-20T16:39:00.000-06:00

Seems to be a red theme going on here, must be the day after day of temps close or over 100.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-20T07:51:00.000-06:00

Ruby Tuesday

2011-07-19T18:49:00.000-06:00

Ruby Tuesday

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

2011-07-18T19:06:00.000-06:00

This rose has blooms in 3 stages.

Composting and Eggplant

2011-07-17T17:39:00.000-06:00

This is my husband's compost bin, it has been taken over by volunteer potatoes and vines, I think it is a cucumber. I planted eggplant for the 1st time this year, it is doing quite well.

Pretty Pink Lily

2011-07-13T18:46:00.000-06:00

The weather has been beautiful the last two days, heat and humidity supposed to return tomorrow.

Daylilies

2011-07-12T17:50:00.000-06:00

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-03T19:22:00.000-06:00

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-07-01T20:12:00.000-06:00

This is a face off between a frog and my dogs on the nature trail this week. The frog hopped away unhurt.

Heuchera - Coral Bells

2011-06-29T18:17:00.000-06:00

I love the new Heuchera and all the new colors that are out there now, I have been adding a few new ones each year to my garden.

Ruby Tuesday

2011-06-27T18:49:00.000-06:00

Today's Flowers

2011-06-26T16:19:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday- Bath Time

2011-06-24T17:47:00.000-06:00

A female Baltimore Oriole taking a bath.

Roses and Clematis

2011-06-22T18:46:00.000-06:00

Notice the one tiny little rose bud?

Few Flowers from Reiman Gardens

2011-06-12T18:06:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday-Butterfly House-Reiman Gardens

2011-06-10T18:37:00.000-06:00

These were taken at Reiman Gardens Butterfly House last week.

Camera Critter Saturday-Yard Birds

2011-06-03T19:17:00.001-06:00

The 1st bird is a wren or jenny wren as I call them, the 2nd is a downy woodpecker and the last one is a ruby throat hummer.

Collage

2011-06-02T17:34:00.000-06:00

A few things in my garden, all but the crucifix, that was taken at a very small Iowa Cemetery.

Sunshine

2011-05-31T18:05:00.000-06:00

I like the way the sun casts shadows in all three of these photos. I think it makes them more interesting.

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-29T17:30:00.000-06:00

A poppy for Memorial Day! Let us not forgot those that have given their lives for the rest of us!

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-05-27T17:19:00.000-06:00

A day at the feeder, a rare blue bird was sighted last week :). I can't seem to find it in any of my bird books.

Old Fashioned Wax Begonias

2011-05-25T18:27:00.000-06:00

I remember these from Grandmother and aunt's gardens, they always over wintered some in the house. I took these photos at a local garden center.

Blue Monday

2011-05-23T17:49:00.001-06:00

This is the 1st time I have joined Blue Monday!

Blue Monday

Pretty in Pink

2011-05-22T17:55:00.000-06:00

Some pink blooms from my garden this week.

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-05-20T17:27:00.000-06:00

Baltimore Orioles may be my favorite bird after Cardinals, they are busying pigging out on grape jelly. House Finches and Robins will eat it also. I have a friend that says a Red Bellied Woodpecker is feeding at her grape jelly.

Photo Editing

2011-05-19T15:32:00.000-06:00

When I have the time I love to edit my photos and do different things with them.

Some Spring Blooms in Iowa

2011-05-18T18:23:00.000-06:00

Spring in Iowa

2011-05-17T17:41:00.000-06:00

Camera Critter Saturday-The Girls

2011-04-30T08:46:00.000-06:00

My pups were all tired out after our morning walk. The weather here will just not warm up, cold, cloudy and dreary.............. it is getting old.

Happy Easter Everyone!

2011-04-23T17:48:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Camera Critter Saturday Tree Swallows

2011-04-22T17:50:00.000-06:00

Recently at a local park we saw the biggest flock of swallows I have ever seen! It was really fun to watch them.

Spring Blooms

2011-04-20T17:03:00.000-06:00

Mother Nature is still playing tricks on us. We had over an inch of snow and slush yesterday. It is gone today but it is still very cool for this time of year. I have always heard that there will be more snow as long as the Juncos are still around and they have been around every day, so I have been wondering if they were correct and they were. I hope tomorrow when I go for my walk they are gone and I have not seen any at my feeders today so maybe this is our last snow, hopefully, anyway. Once again the Juncos were correct, I have been watching this for years and they have not missed once.

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-04-15T17:33:00.000-06:00

From My Backyard This Week

2011-04-13T07:59:00.000-06:00

Things are finally starting to pop out of the ground and the hyacinths are in bloom and I am even seeing some small pollinator bees.

Spring Crocus

2011-04-10T16:47:00.000-06:00

The crocus are in full bloom, the hyacinths will be close behind. It is 86 degrees here today.

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-04-09T09:22:00.000-06:00

Migrating ducks, candian geese, red shouldered hawk

Spring flowers

2011-04-06T18:11:00.000-06:00

I am not sure what this little blue flower is, it is really tiny and spreads in the lawn and blooms really early and the disappears. About 33 years ago I dug some peonies from my grandmother's old house and the bulbs were dormant in the soil. They are such a pretty blue.

I was having some fun with PSE.

White Tailed Deer

2011-04-05T18:03:00.000-06:00

There were 5 deer in this group, you can see the white tail up as a warning, I didn't think I looked that scary :).

I still cannot upload photos directly from Picasa as I always have done, wish google would get their act together. I have to browse and find the photo, which is not really that big of a deal but when you have as many photos as I do, it takes more time.

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-04-01T18:58:00.002-06:00

Spring migration is upon us, while taking the 1st photo I did not notice the two juvenile bald eagles in the tree watching the ducks, I cropped them out in the second photo. It is always fun to get a "bonus" when taking pictures!

I wanted to include a link to an eagle web cam that is about 90 miles from my house, the eggs should be hatching any time. It is fascinating!

Decorah Eagle Cam

Ducks and Geese

2011-04-01T07:40:00.000-06:00

The ducks are starting to migrate through our area, the top photo is a Coot, or Mud Hen or Hell-Diver. I'm sure everyone knows what the second photo is and I wish they were just migrating through but they stay here the year round.

I think Google must be having a bad hair day still, 1st they stole my blog and now I can't upload photos from within Picasa. Good Grief.

More Juvenile Bald Eagles

2011-03-19T06:14:00.000-06:00

I know my last post was of the young bald eagles as well, but wanted to post again for Camera Critter Saturday. The last pic is obviously not of the eagles but Jon Pickles voicing his complaints, which he is not shy about doing :).

Juvenile Bald Eagles

2011-03-15T19:10:00.001-06:00

I took these photos today. I think they are Norther Harrier Hawks but I am not positive. I also saw several bald eagles but could not get a decent picture of any of them.

Someone identified these birds as juvenile bald eagles, I think they are correct.

Today's Flowers

2011-03-13T15:57:00.000-06:00

From my garden last summer.

Camera Critter Saturday Monarch

2011-03-11T20:08:00.001-06:00

I made this collage from photos taken last summer.

Monarch Photo Taken Last Summer

2011-03-08T21:15:00.000-06:00

I had never planted Butterfly Bushes before as they are not hardy to my zone 4 garden but I did put one in last summer on the south side of the house in a protected area, I had scads of butterflies on it! So this year I am planting more and if I have to treat them as annuals I will just to attract the butterflies.

Trip to the Greenhouse

2011-03-06T20:24:00.000-06:00

I spent some time at my local greenhouse, one of my favorite places in the winter. Snapped these photos while I was there.

Photo Editing

2011-03-02T19:45:00.000-06:00

I was doing a bit of photo editing tonight, just playing around.

Today's Flowers- What's in Bloom at My House

2011-02-27T16:18:00.000-06:00

Today's Flowers

Just sharing a few things in bloom, my Christmas Cactus is still throwing out a flower or two. The second is an African Gardenia, the third is a winter jasmine, and the last is a Moth Orchid.

Camera Critter Saturday-Birds of Last Summer

2011-02-25T19:43:00.000-06:00

Thought I would post a few pictures from last summer of a Robin and a female Baltimore Oriole at my grape jelly. Still waiting for 1st Robin sighting in my yard. We saw some a couple of weeks ago about 50 miles south of here but I guess they stayed there or went back south :).

We're Famous!

2011-02-24T13:43:00.000-06:00

Teacher's Pets has featured us on her blog for Thankful Fur 3 Friends Thursday!

Thanks!

You can see that Callie Cat and Jon Pickles have much to say about this news.

Walkin the Dogs

2011-02-21T20:09:00.000-06:00

I took these photos over the past few days while walking the dogs. The bird nest in the top photo is very tiny, left over from last year. The geese are back waiting for the lake to open up.

Camera Critter Saturday -Shades of Last Summer

2011-02-18T21:38:00.000-06:00

I have been sorting through all my photos from last summer. I wanted to get some printed before spring gets here and I have lots of flowers to photograph, I came across these and decided to use this bee for camera critter saturday. The weather here in Iowa has been beautiful and spring-like. They say that is going to change on Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T06:45:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! Spring is soon to follow,

Todays Flowers

2011-02-13T16:01:00.001-06:00

Paperwhites and a amaryllis in bloom.

Camera Critter Saturday-Tribute to a Wonderful Dog

2011-02-11T18:58:00.002-06:00

On January 17th we had to help our dear sweet Boxer Boy, Quasi, over the rainbow bridge. He almost made it to 12, he would have been 12 later this month. He was a very sweet boy, we adopted him at the age of 5 from Midwest Boxer Rescue. He had a scar around his neck from someone letting a collar grow into it. He was perfect, patient and wonderful.

Friends

2011-02-09T19:54:00.000-06:00

Everyone needs a good buddy, right??? :)

Macro Monday

2011-02-07T18:20:00.000-06:00

Shadow Shot Sunday

2011-02-06T17:32:00.000-06:00

This is my 1st post of this meme............. this is a shot of a boxer figurine shadow.

Camera Critter Saturday Butterfly Wings

2011-02-04T20:30:00.000-06:00

I made this using cropped photos that I took at Reiman Gardens last December.

Bottle Trees and St Francis

2011-02-04T08:58:00.000-06:00

I love the southern custom of bottle trees! Poor St Francis was buried by the last snow storm. Hopefully he will be thawed by spring.

Snow and more Snow

2011-02-02T18:34:00.000-06:00

These pictures were taken before the lastest 3 days of snow. This last round brought us about 13 inches where I live, others received more more, the pictures on the news tonight of Chicago were something.

Changes

2011-02-01T13:07:00.001-06:00

The above 3 photos are all mine that I applied some changes to using the Monet App. I enjoy using Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro but this little app is fun and quick and very little work :).

And while we are on the subject of changes, I have went through several life changing events in the past weeks. On 11/19 I found out the company I have worked for the past 23 years had been swallowed up by a shark company (Form A Feed) out of Stewart, MN and would be moving all production and office work to their MN plant, therefore closing us completely down, they wanted our customer list and inventory is about it. It was not a total surprise as I knew the company had been losing money for the past several years due to a variety of reasons, none of which were addressed. It took Form A Feed until Jan 28 to move all the work to their location so my last day was last Friday. I am 62, so am at a bad age for finding new employment and purchasing health insurance. Three days after finding out about my job my Dad passed away at the age of 86, not a total surprise but it had come up rather quickly, he was in hospice care for a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago we had to have my beloved boxer put down, he was almost 12, he was falling down and at first could get himself up but toward the end, he could not. He had been treated for boxer cardiomyopathy the past 4 years, he was having trouble breathing the last few weeks.

So this is going to be a time for me to re-invent my life :).

Monet Flowers

2011-01-30T17:42:00.000-06:00

Does anyone have an IPad? Or an IMac and use the apps? I did this on my IPad with a 2 or 3 dollar app. It is my own photo. I have been having a great time with this app and actually I think I am addicted to the app store :).

Interesting Houseplants

2011-01-25T18:54:00.000-06:00

I took these photos at the local greenhouse when we went for our annual poinsettia purchase. Every time I look at these photos I want to go back and buy this trio, I think they would look great together in a basket but so far I have not made it back there to get them...........one of these days :)

Camera Critter Saturday-The Two Kitties

2011-01-21T19:25:00.000-06:00

We have two cats, the 1st one is Jon Pickles and he is constant trouble as you can see in the photo, the second one is Callie Cat and she is an angel.

Camera Critter Saturday

2011-01-14T19:30:00.000-06:00

More butterflies from the Reiman Garden Butterfly House taken last December.

Mellow Yellow Monday

2011-01-10T19:19:00.000-06:00

Mellow Yellow Monday

Today's Flowers

2011-01-09T10:25:00.000-06:00

This photo was taken at the Reiman Garden's conservatory, notice the two lady bugs on the flowers.

Camera Critter Saturday Reiman Butterflies

2011-01-07T20:41:00.000-06:00

A few photos from Reiman's Butterfly House last month.

Silver Vase Bromeliad

2011-01-05T19:18:00.000-06:00

We made it to Reiman Gardens for my birthday last month, the butterfly house was awesome as usual, and their Christmas display was outstanding. They had several of these bromeliads lining the windows on the way to the conservatory. Beautiful plants!

String of Pearls or Rosary Plant

2011-01-04T18:44:00.000-06:00

This is one of my houseplants, most people know it by the name string of pearls , (Senecio rowleyanus), it is one of my favorite plants. It is a plant that has been in houseplant collections for years, I remember my aunts having this plant but they called it the rosary plant.

Camera Critter Saturday- At the Feeder

2010-12-31T19:22:00.000-06:00

Have a safe and happy 2011!