Tuesday Tuesday

What a change a day can bring in Iowa, yesterday was in the high 80s and hot hot hot! Today the winds are from the north and it is 57 degrees. While walking around my yard tonight I discovered a nest with 3 baby birds that has fallen to the ground, no doubt from the wind yesterday. My husband says they are robins. Poor babys, they could not have been more than a couple of days old.

Right now I have some pretty little pink dianthus in bloom, they often winter over for me, I always buy a few new ones and plant in with the ones that survived the winter. My Korean Lilac is its usual showy self this year and the Clematis are starting their show.

See the lime green flower pot with a sweet potato vine in it? I was given this pot with some fresh flowers in it as a gift, it is not really to my taste but I decided I should do something with it, I think the pot and the sweet potato vine are a perfect combination, what do you think?

Violas and Easter

I love these little violas, every Easter I take several half egg shells, the dark brown ones and plant violas in the half shell and make a center piece with a little fake green moss or grass for Easter, I did not get out to buy any violas this weekend, I need to hurry to get this project done for Easter this year. After they have been in the house for a week or so, I stick the plant in the ground egg shell and all.

Apple Blossom Amarylliss

Ya think this amaryllis is Apple Blossom Pink? Ya think maybe it was in the wrong bin when I bought it? :) I do, but it is pretty none the less. I have had a red one the past two years and wanted a change this year.

Surprise Lily, Resurrection Lily, Lycoris squamigera

This is one of my most treasured plants, I have about 30-40 of these, given to me by an old neighbor years ago. They are one of the first things to emerge and green up early in the spring then the leaves disappear, in mid august soon after a good rain, tall flower stalks appear. They are known as surprise lily, resurrection lily, magic lily and naked lady. My neighbor called them naked ladies. They are really Lycoris squamigera. They smell wonderful, anything that smells good is a fav of mine. I wonder if I used "naked lady" as a tag I would get some traffic to this blog????????????? I don't think I will try it :). I would like to move and divide some of the bulbs but do not really know the correct time of year to divide, I have read that they should be dug after their leaves die back and I have also read that they should be dug in the fall after blooming. So instead of taking a chance of losing them I just let them go.

Old Roses

The "old roses" grow so well in my garden, this is a scrapbook page I did with a photo of a old rose from my garden. My Mother and I took a cutting from a bush in a old cemetery that is no longer maintained by Chickasaw County, the tombstones are old and mostly made from limestone, some dating from the civil war time. I can not remember exact dates as it has been several (15?) years since we took the cuttings. I used to have lots of hybrid tea roses, but they are so needy and clingy :). I do still have 3 or 4, if they make it through the winter that is, it is always a guessing game when I uncover the teas whether they made it or not. But the old time bushes bloom and spread without any help from me.

My Iowa Gaden in January

Carolina Wren in Iowa

We received about 6 inches of snow in my part of the world today. We had an unusal visitor at our bird feeder today, a Carolina Wren. Last winter there were two of them at our feeder most of the winter, today was the first time I have seen one since last spring. We have not had much snow cover until the past week, so maybe that is why it is back at the feeder, it amazes me to see them this far north.

Sunnys On My Mind

Sunflowers

After the snow we had in Iowa a couple of days ago, the bird feeders have been far more active than they have for most of the winter. Anyway, it reminded me of the volunteer sunflowers that grew under the bird feeder last summer and this pretty little black and white moth that visited one day so I wanted to share this slide show. I wish I knew the identity of the moth.