Paperwhites

The conservatory at Reimans was decked out with a beautiful display last month when we were there, they had hundreds of paperwhites, the smell was awesome when you walked in.......what a joy it was!

Sunday Blooming Sunday

I do not have much in bloom right now but will share what I do have. Plus a stray african violet or two. The sun shone today, which made it a good day. We enjoyed a small road trip to the soy candle factory so I could buy wax to make my candles and a couple of new fragrance oils, well, one is a repeat, Orange Spice which is a popular scent with those that I have give a candle to, the new scent that I have not tried before is Orange Blossom. I also bought some soy tea lights at their retail outlet I don't make tea lights, too little and I would spill to much :) . Then we went to my parents to take them our for Chinese.

Sunday Snowy Sunday

As I am sitting here composing this post I am watching the snow fall! A rare occurrence here in Iowa for the last several years. We are under a winter storm watch, I am glad to see some snow, I like the white cleanness of it and am really really tired of cleaning mud off of the dogs paws each time they go outside and come back in. The ground is not frozen yet and it is January! Maybe if I get lucky it will continue to snow and I may get a day off of work, that would be wonderful, doubtful that it will happen but I can dream.

Last night I was doing more catalog browsing, I have jotted down a few shrubs I would like to try as well as a few perennials. One is Dream Catcher beauty bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis it is hardy to zone 4, early pink flowers, golden-yellow foliage in the fall, Black Lace elderberry Sambucus nigra , it is described as having purple-black filigreed foliage that resembles thread leaf Japanese maples, Japanese maples are not quite hardy in this zone so this elderberry interests me. Phlox 'Sherbet Cocktail' also caught my interest, it is a new color described as yellow edges with pink centers. I love Phlox, the scent always takes me back to my Grandmother's garden.

Yesterday I shared some pictures of my begonias that are in bloom, today I would like to share some other pics of plants in bloom in my little world. The above photo is of some paperwhites, they smell wonderful to me, some folks tell me they stink.