Living My Day Each Minute As It Unfolds....

Enjoying Life

Busy With The Moment

Lets catch up 

Fall has eliminated gardening with flowers, picking bouquets, sweaty brows as weeding progresses.
It has brought a different joy into my life as September advanced into December leaving me dazed as how in the world did that happen so fast.
     Many of my days are spent in the house in the cool days of December, My home has many, many large windows letting me enjoy nature from the rooms with a view.  I take a lot of pictures now with the telescope lens, catchin sightings of nature like the squirell sitting under a feeder, eating the left overs from the birds.  There is a guard on this particulare feeder that Dick put up in front of my computer room so only the birds can enjoy it.  We leave the squirells have their choice of the other feeders we have in a different areas.

This is the feeder outside my computer window.  The view is
pretty dreary.  Trees are almost bare, but there is still some
green grass and a few shrubs hanging onto their leaves.  The
pillers with cement statues of horses frame the steps.
 Dick built  the steps leaing down to the lower gardens,
horse barn, chicken coop and the peacock's large pen.  It also
leads to the entrance of the Oak and Hickory tree woods that
cuddle a lovely Babbeling Brook, that sings it song while it
ripples around the many stones it holds captive.

We had a lot of rain this past summer so the Brook is quite full and singing a loud song not like other summers end where it would almost be dried up and just trickeling through.

Dick sitting on one of the two chairs we have facing the Babbeling Brook.
So peaceful a setting!

Looking up into the canopy above the huge Oak.

December 2016

Winter has set in,  getting at least one snow fall a week.  One week we got 10 inches covering everything.  It was so peaceful, so beautiful.  I love winter because of this very thing.  Schedules are canseled because roads are bad, but eventually they are plowed out.  We are on a back road and are last on their list to get cleared.   During the time between we we are free of traffic.  Time to grab a good book,  sit in front of the big windows, glancing out inbetween watching the many birds flying to the feeders regardless of the blowing and heavy snow coming down.

This is the deer that has a crippled front right leg.  She holds it
back against her chest, and when she walks will lean the elbow
part of the leg on the ground hobbeling with a deep limp.  She
somehow gets around pretty good regardless.  Dick puts out
two slices of hay for her.  But she mostly eats on the wild
things around here.  We see her off and on hobbleing
on the hill behind our home.

Cardinal sitting on top of shepherd hook which holds small feeder.

Squirrel guard is the round metal under the feeder.  

This small feeder is the only one with a squirrel guard on it, giving the birds a place of peace.  The other feeders are on the side of the house which the squirrels can find sunflowers.  There is also a thistle feeder hanging on a shepherd hook.

Heated birdbath is steaming from the fridged tempetures.  Large feeder is behind it and filled for the squirrels and birds.

This Downy Woodpecker was swinging in the storm eating the suet in the
small wire cage.  

Garden bench Dick used his metal art work on hold the 10 inches of snowfall we got in the last storm.

More feeders that the birds and squirrels use.  Thistle is hanging from
the shepherd's hook on far right of picture.

Doves and finches sharing time at the large feeder in the snow storm.

Fresh snow fall in lower area holding the Chicken coop.   Horse statues on cement pillers
frame the wood steps Dick built several years ago.  Leads to horse barn and Chicken coop.
Three apple trees in back of coop and the other small trees are Crabapple along the path down
to barn.

Snow fall that coated the giant Spruce in background.  We planted them 30 years ago.  This area was then just a bare farm field on the hill and surrounding acres.

Nature makes me feel so close to God our Creator.  He delights in us all.  So patient to wait for us to turn to him in Praise for all his surprises, and answers to our prayers.  Dick made me the I Believe sign with his metal art.

Sending you Blessing

and

Love

May your new year 

bring you peace and joy!

Kate

The 90 Degree Heat And Humidity Is On, Lilies Bursting In Beauty

Trumpet Lilies are my favorite lily.  The sent is outstanding.
The colors on the inside and outside are exquisite. 

Orange Trumpet Lilies are Giants compared to the yellow Trumpet Lily in background.  Their beauty almost shouts its heavenly message Rejoice and Be Glad !

The Yellow Trumpet Lily sings its own song July is for Joy, Joy in all creation. 

The Lily is the King of the gardens.  It stops me in my tracks, visitors oh and ah over them as they discover their beauty when touring the gardens.  I want to keep them blooming all seasons, but of course they have their time and place as we all do.  This yellow one is so pretty on the outside with the stripes.

The pink lily has outdone itself this year.  With a little fertilizer that has the high number in the middle for flowers I put on the gardens this spring, the heat and plenty of thunder storms with a bountiful supply of rain.  It has held it bloom almost the whole month of July.  The deep magenta color of the phlox partners up nicely with the lily.  Instead of demanding attention it compliments many of the other flowers of the garden.  You can see the yellow day-lily in the back also adds to the a-ha to the setting.  

The lovely yellow day-lily with the soft yellow white stripe and ruffled petals
 has a little darker throat.
            All so sure of itself it doesn't have to shout out it's song, merely  hums it.
A compliment to the center Asiatic lily creamy peach  with edges having a touch darker shade.

     There are many different kinds of day lilies.  This one is a Spider day lily with a deep throat of yellow reaching up towards the top of the rosy petals.

     There are some day lilies with a thick petal adding a white stripe and very ruffled like the peach colored day lily with a greenish accent to the yellow throat in the below picture.

These giant golden orange have multiple shades of color and contrasting with the
Rudbeckia daises you can see how huge they are.  I  always have to stake them
because the large clusters are very heavy.

Above day-lilies have a fun combination of yellow and Orange-red petals with the
yellow stripe and every other petal all yellow.  It has a fun name too but no longer know it.

This day-lily is stunning even being smaller with the deep wine color and pink stripe.  

The throat looks almost like someone 

turned on a light!  Love the gorgeous  shading of color on its petals and pink stripe. 

The deep wine, reds, and red-oranges really stand out in the garden and I
usually put a lot of light colors around it to accent it's grandeur.

Asiatic Hybrid Lily  hang down making it  hard to get its picture

Novelty  Lily  star shaped.

Small White day-lily with the red wine color accenting the green throat

       Again a White Day-Lily with halo of lite purple outlining the yellow green throat. 

Red cluster of Day-lilies certainly catch your eye in the gardens.

The Day-lilies' flowers only last one day but cluster with many buds on plants to continue their display.

The Asiatic Lilies come from bulbs, the daylily comes from a plant.  Most times the 

Asiatic Lily is planted in fall, but I often see a balb in spring and plant it then.  The

daylily can be planted anytime but spring and fall is easier on them because of 

the heat in mid summer.  

           

The yellow and white daylily with yellow stripe is a double with thinner petals.  You may 

see the old fashioned orange daylily double too, but most times the day-lily is in single form. 

 

My gardens are planted very close together.  That is  just the way I do things.  Others might have eight inches of soil  showing around each plant.  I do not follow anyone's rules about what to do, just do my thing.  It is only wrong in

someone else opinion.  I have had my gardens in Garden Walks which are about 5-6 different owned gardens open for a fee for charity.  I have had my own tours open on Saturdays.  At this time I am open to anyone going through if they call before, or friends come anytime and we stroll through the gardens while we talk and catch up on news.  Gardens are to be enjoyed in any way you want.  I use to be in Master Gardner's for 26 years and followed rules.  Then in retiring I decided some rules are made to be broken and do as you please.  :)  Just enjoy life, use your gardens in any way you want. 

 Just Enjoying Life

Thanking My Great Creator

For All The Beauty

That Surrounds Me

I Thank My Creator.

Tomorrow Brings Us August

One Month Left.

Enjoy!

Kate

Wisconsin Bursts With God's Blessings, Renewing Earth's Life

Turning the pages of my calendar

from one day to another brings me a new beginning.  Yesterday is past and tomorrow has not arrived.  Many surprises greet me when I walk out the door to check what nature has been doing in my gardens.  Spring flowers are almost non existent as summer pushes in.  A few late tall tulips hold out not to be outdone by the next season Summer flowers.

I know when I see the end of the tulip's show of color and divine design it is time to open another door of surprises bringing in Iris, first the mini and then the medium size until the grand aha time of the tall Bearded Iris.  

My very favorite mini Iris is called Peppy Long Stockings.  It is a delight to
discover its lovely blossom when I take my morning walk through the gardens.

 This light yellow Iris with the Blue falls is very soothing to set my eyes on.
The name of this little lady has been long gone and so is my memory of it.
But with all my flowers I love it just the same because looking at it I feel a warm
 smile budding on my face and heart.

 The plain Jane of purple gathers along with its sisters to
surround the small statues of the Crane, completing the setting nicely.

The peach Iris was the first to show up after its long sleep under the piles of snow and ice.  Her ruffled edged petals and the soft yellow throat blend so nicely.

Besides the Iris there are many other Spring blooming flowers.  I need to include them because they add so much color and form into the gardens as a whole picture.  

    


 Below is one of the Bleeding Heart plants .  

It is a stunning example of God's amazing creations for us humans to enjoy. A reminder of His Great Love for us 

Lilacs hold their own with stunning blossoms that nearly cover the bush they grow on.  They are happy to grow anywhere you plant them as long as they get some good earth and plenty of sunshine.  If it is part shade there won't be as many blooms but still pretty as can be.

Columbine are open and showing off their own fun form.  Each flower
brings me a new surprise of color and design.

The perennial Bachelor Button grows in abundance.  Almost like a weed would flourish.  It's neat flower is well worth the space it takes.  Just cut off the dead blossoms as they finish and it will continue to bloom for a long time.  By doing this you will also prevent it from spreading rapidly into areas that you do not want it.  I let it do its thing and just pull out the extras it produces.  

I miss my two greenhouses which we closed down years back when the energy crisis hit the United States.  It was just too expensive to buy the fuel to heat it at that time.

But I do have a potting shed where I store all my do dads I put into the garden as decorations, like statues, etc.  It is not heated but does have very large windows on the East and South exposures.
     In the beginning of Spring I was puttering around in there and found several containers of seeds I had saved them about five years ago from another garden.  I decided to plant the one that had the seeds of "Love In A Puff"  The seeds are round hard balls with two white hearts on them.  I had planted them in a garden called Free Spirit Therapy gardens.
      I developed the very large garden to be part of the large horse therapy called the same name Free Spirit horse Therapy.  The director wanted to have garden therapy added to the complex. She called to see if I would develop one.  It was a very intricate project and I had put in the five senses  areas plus a bird sanctuary on one end and the other held a butterfly garden.  One of the senses was for the touch area.  Love In A Puff developed a puff ball which held the seeds developing the heart image in it.  It was unique and the kids loved to pop the pod and pull out the heart seed inside it.
     Select Seed sells the seeds in it's catalog you can find on the internet.  It is the neatest catalog with all kinds of fun things to plant.
 I was so surprised the seeds developed for me in my potting shed after such a long time of sitting in the plastic container.  The only warmth they had was on sunny days shining into the large windows.
Just shows if you want seed to grow, just about anything will do.  Its the afterwards of taking care of the seedlings growing, that can get touchy.  These two windows face south and east.  Gets too hot in there from the sun shinning inside, I can open the double doors for ventilation remembering to close it all up if their is a frost warning.  :)

When Dick saw what I had done with the seeds on the shelf, he decided to add some long shelves for me to put some of the pots that I had transplanted the Love In A Puff seedlings.  To the left of the picture is an old table with my soil work place.

Dick also brought in a couple pails for me to water my new plants I had started in the  growing area.   In my greenhouses I no longer use I had running water piped in from the house.
     In the potting shed it has a wood floor so would be too wet if I watered like I did in the green house.  Puting the seedlings in trays without holes prevents that.  It makes me extremely  happy to be able to plant a few things again.  Maybe next year I can talk him into a heater so I can plant in January like I use to do in the greenhouses.

The potting shed holds an assortment of vases for bouquets, lots of clay pots I had found at a rummage sale, and other things needed for gardening.
     Never say never in life.  What I thought was a total loss when I had to give up my greenhouses, was only a temporary pause in life.  Where there is a will there is a way I always say.  Meanwhile I am enjoying the gardens now that it has warmed up outside.  Planted Zinnia seeds, and Cosmos seeds in the ground.  It's Memorial weekend, the last frost date passing.  Each day brings me new and beautiful flowers from the two acres of perennial gardens here.

First Tree Peonies To Blossom

Up Close View Of Peonies

The Clematis is now open.  This one I bought last year to replace one that had died and it is so lovely with the violet edge on it.

 Wild Sweet Rocket grows in the old horse pasture we no longer use. The two little horses, one a pony and the other a mini horse need only a small pasture.  We no longer have the big horses.  Over the years past, they have died, most dying of old age.  The field behind the view, we let a local farmer use and he has it all cultivated and planted with corn which is up.

Tall bearded Iris right after it rained out.

Columbine 

These white Columbine are doubles of a new kind I planted a few years ago.  So delicate and almost transparent.  Surprising how they can survive the heavy spring rains.

We often think we are too delicate to survive life's storms but somehow get through them.  We might pause a moment in life, regroup with the grace of God's never ending grace.  Just have to open to Jesus and His hand is already holding us.  Never ever give up.  You have enough of Him and His courage, to do this Hard Thing.

Love you all 

Kate

Let me know how you are doing

 I would love to hear from you .