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

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