Rain! Flowers, and Almost a Quilt.

Here is a Pansy bloom from one of my deck planters. The pansy flowers look super with the water on them, but the poor petunias in the gardens looked a bit bedraggled.

The right picture is one of the backyard gardens after the water was almost gone.

This was the view outside my studio window. Water from the driveway (most of the 1/4 mile of it) drains right around the end of the trailer. It's amazing how much water was flowing. More of the driveway in the yard. This picture also shows how hard it was raining, if you click on it and look at the bigger version.

Here is where the water shown above was headed. The area where most of the water was flowing, is lined with stone, I don't plant anything there, because of this. It's amazing how much the petunia plants along the left front of this garden have grown in the 2 days since. I did have a few Impatiens plants near the Hosta plants that have water flowing through them, but they came through great. The Hostas help to hold the soil in place, but muck and gravel has been building up over the crowns of them. When I dug to divide, I had to dig real deep.

Now for some color! This was a great surprise to me, when I walked into my greenhouse one day. This is a flower from a Taro plant in my water garden out there. I have never seen one of them bloom before. I don't really like orange that much, but this was about the color of orange sherbet.

This picture doesn't look like much, but it is the budded plant of a speckled leaved Echinacea, named Sparkler. It has the traditional flower color, but on a neat variegated plant. When we had our greenhouse business, we were known for having things that were neat, and different. I always picked out things I thought I would llike for myself, and many times they sold out before I could get one home. I did get most of the new colors of the Echinacea, though. Yelow, apricot, deep, glowing orangish purple (a hard to describe color).

My first Echinacea flower of the year.

OK, Most orange flowers aren't allowed in my gardens unless there is another plant characteristic that gives me a reason to let it in. This is one- It has deep purple stems, with deep green leaves, and is a tall grower- looks good next to my variegated Maiden Grass.

The Asiatic Lilies are starting to bloom. This is Butter Pixie, a short growing, early bloomer.

We have had more deer damage in the gardens this year. Maybe from dry weather, or maybe because they can find the plants this year- other years, they have been hidden in the weeds till July. The "Poor Lilies" are in the garden right outside our front door. I drenched things with "Liquid Fence" deer and rabbit repellent. That should help with future damage. The problems with Lilies is that the deer take the buds, so I have to wait till next year to see their flowers.

These are some more Pixie Lilies in pink. I do wish they kept blooming longer.

My woods garden after I planted the bright yellow Hostas and blooming wax Begonias, and Impatiens. I found the Hosta at K-Mart, It was labeled Fire and Ice- a variety with bright green and white leaves- this one was definitely mismarked. I now have to research to see what it's real name is- I was able to divide it into 3 pieces- A real bargain! Hostas have started growing on me more and more. I now wish I had brought more varieties home- we carried about 50 different varieties at our greenhouse. I think I only have about 15 or so. I'm not sure if the flowers will stay here, I sprayed them, but the critters seem to really like them. This is a great spot to sit on a really hot day.

This was a fun Picture I took. I was sitting on the glider that is under the Walnut trees, and took the picture, looking straight up to the sky. This is a good spot for sitting on warmer days, some day I plan to bring some handwork out there to do. The only problem- You need to listen for dropping nuts- They are small right now, but still sting.

Some marigolds I bought when I was potting up planters are blooming nicely. A few extra planters I potted up work great as hose guides to keep the plants in the garden from getting mashed when I drag the hose around for watering. This is the front garden. There are quite a few weeds here, also, but I am not fretting about them, I just pull a few hear and there as I walk by. There are better things to do than have a "perfect" garden.

The planters on the front step are filling out nicely. I started out with just a few, small plants, but with patience they are looking better every day.

A close-up of a  couple Zinnia flowers- they really love the heat we've been having.

Another thing that has been snacked on- This pot of lettuce is at the base of our deck steps. Wildlife up close.

That covers the flower and plant pictures I uploaded. Now for the "Almost Quilt"

I have my quilt for an onlline challenge ready for embellishing with beads, and other handwork.

This is my "Remember Me" challenge quilt so far. We were to make a quilt showing things we will be remembered by, etc. I have a degree in Horticulture, and worked for 25 years in the greenhouse business, so flowers had to be in it. I was going to only include flowers sna sunprints of flowers, using my favorite colors. I began to think more about it, and decided to include a couple pictures taken at our greenhouse. My first job out of college, was there, and it ended up being the last place to work in my field, after purchasing it, and having it fail. I feel that it has had a lot to do with what I am today. While looking through pictures, I began to think more about what else has made me who I am, and started looking through family photos- I have a lot in the computer. I ended up choosing some pictures of my grandmother and parents, which are in the top row. The group down the left side are photos of my boys, husband, and daughter-in-law, along with my grandson and granddog. The photos on the right contain photos of my grandkids- I have 5 now. My step-daughter has 4, and my son has one. SD is only 5 yrs younger than me, and had her son 9 mos. after I had our 2nd son. Our 3rd son was an uncle before he was born. 1st grandaughter was born 9 mos after my 3rd son. It was a bit confusing when we got all of them together when they were little. I also have a 5 generation picture with my grandma, dad, me, my son, and his son. Every time we all get together, we try to get a pic. My grandma is 93, and I want to get as many pics as I can. This was a fun quilt to do. I just used all my favorites, not thinking a bit about wether it would sell or not- It's not for sale. I plan to add some cobalt blue glass beads (I love cobalt glass), and beads for the Delphinium centers, and some other embellishing. I am going to work on it next weekend at the art show I am vending at, for something to keep my hands busy while I'm not demonstrating painting fabric. I always hope I will be too busy to get any work done.

Well, back to quilting for the show, the next 2 months are going to be really busy. If you want to know where I will be, I have the shows listed on my website. Here is the link: Show List Page- Andrus Gardens and More