House and garden and holiday picspam

[dreamflower]

Hi all! I thought I'd post some pictures-- I haven't posted much recently. Picspam behind the cut...

	Wreath for Memorial Day/Fourth of July Here's the patriotic wreath I made. I put it up for Memorial Day, and will leave it up through the Fourth, if it doesn't get too weatherbeaten. This one was a lot of fun to make. For Memorial Day we are not putting out a lot of decorations, but just before the Fourth, we'll put up bunting and some other decorations.
	Patriotic basket I made this with the leftover ribbon and silk flowers from the wreath.
	Our flag We fly our flag most of the time anyway, but thought I'd post a pic this weekend. Memorial Day is special to both of us, as both our dads were career military. My dad was retired Air Force, and his was retired Army. Even though both of them have been gone many years now, it's still a special time to remember them.
	Peonies These peonies by the back door are blooming nicely this year. This is the first time we've had more than one or two blooms at a time on this plant.
	Shasta Daisies in bloom This is our second year for this particular Shasta daisy plant!
	My unicorn bed this year The primroses and gerbera daisies are not blooming anymore, but the lobelia and violas are doing wonderfully. The vinca and the marigolds have yet to bloom. I didn't plant marigolds in this bed this year, but had some "volunteers" come up. The spiky leaves on either side are some weird invasive vine. I'd like to pull it out, but the DH is fond of it for some reason, so I told him OK, as long as he keeps it OUT of my flower bed!
	Radishes I harvested the rest of my radishes. It's hard to see how big these things are-- I was afraid they'd get tough and woody if I let them get much bigger. The long ones were at least six inches long! We've easily had this many already, with me pulling them one at a time for salads. Fortunately radishes keep pretty well in the fridge. Still have quite a few green onions left. I wanted to plant more, but can't find where I put the rest of the setts. *sigh* The potato plants are growing nicely, but I've no idea if there are any potatoes down under them... Also harvested and ate the rest of the mesclun. Still have loads of nice sweet red lettuce growing like crazy, and three plants of green leaf lettuce that hasn't bolted yet. I planted cukes and green beans, a pepper plant, and more radishes on Saturday. Hope to get the tomatoes out of the front porch greenhouse and into the back yard Monday.
	Carrot I only had three carrots come up out of all the seeds I planted, and so far this is the only one I've harvested. It wasn't very big, as you can see, but it was quite good, and I grated it into our salads. (Because it was so small that's the only way I could divide it up between the two of us.) Still, I'm counting the carrots a success, since this is the first year I've had ANY edible ones come up!

I've been working nearly every day, fortunately short shifts, but even so, it's a chunk of time right out of the middle. *sigh* It makes it hard for me to really get things done. But at least I am off tomorrow and can go to church. The DH is working this weekend, too, though he is off on Monday. I don't know yet whether I'm off on Monday or not. But I probably will have to work.

In other news about work, we have seven new ice cream flavors! Maple Walnut, Homestyle Strawberry, Limoncella, Amaretto Peach Charlotte, Peach Sherbert, Light Key Lime Pie, and Strawberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt! So far I've only tried the Peach Sherbert and the Key Lime-- they are really scrumptious!

Comments

[shirebound]

That basket is gorgeous! I love your creativity.

Awwww, sweet unicorn wrapped in beauty. :)

[dreamflower]

Thank you so much, dear! I do love my unicorn garden!

[addie71.livejournal.com]

Your flowers are pretty.

Oh, Amaretto Peach Charlotte and Strawberry Chocolate Chip sound yummeh!

[dreamflower]

Thanks!

I haven't tried those two yet, but I plan to!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Lovely wreath and basket! Your flowers look nice--I have a peony that's always a little reluctant to bloom but this year it put out five blooms.

And carrots always seem tricky to grow. My FIL is a gardener extraordinaire but his carrots never seem to do well, either, even when he's amended the soil with a lot of sand. They either split or corkscrew or grow in an L. Makes me appreciate those bags of big, beautiful straight carrots at the grocery store. LOL

[dreamflower]

We had never had more than two each year, but we had seven total this year!

I never got one fit to harvest before-- previously, they didn't even sprout, or they were tiny, pale and woody! I will persist, though! I mean it took me YEARS to get edible lettuce, and this year I've had plenty.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

The basket and wreath are lovely, and your garden is beautiful! It makes me want to plant more veggies, but my little plot of dirt isn't very good.

Thanks for the pictures! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, even if you do have to work! Hopefully lots of sunshine!

[dreamflower]

Thanks! Most of my veggies grow in containers!

(((hugs))) Same to you, dear, and a wonderful Memorial Day!

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

Lovely decorations! You do a great job. They remind me of my mother, who decorated for every occasion and then some! She had trunks full of wreaths and ribbons and stems of things and what she called her "set pieces," which were various holiday arrangements that were glued or wired to little covered boards and covered in plastic when they weren't set out on the tables! She even had a couple for the annual rodeo that came to town each year--complete with horses and tiny little lassos!

I'm glad to see your house and yard are intact; I worried about you during the storms last week!

[dreamflower]

Yes-- I enjoy decorating for most holidays as well!

The storms were horrific. None of the tornadoes came near us though we had rain, thunderstorms and hail. But our next door neighbor had a cousin who lived in another town and was killed by one of the tornadoes!

[the-mad-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Your peony is beautiful! My dad always tried to grow them but they don't seem to do much here.

I think it's too hot.

Lovely pics!
Hugs,
Rach

[dreamflower]

Well, I can't take credit for the peony! It was already growing here when we moved in! But we love it!

Thanks!

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Your home is gorgeous! And that veg looks very tasty!

[dreamflower]

Thank you! *grin*

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

Your garden is quite bountiful! I'd like some of the Lime and LImoncealla ice cream and some maple walnut too. :D

[dreamflower]

The Key Lime is wonderful! I want to try the other flavors soon, too!

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

Good gravy, you must be at least 3 weeks ahead (gardenwise) of Boston. Are you Zone 6 or 7?

Love the garden photos (esp. that peony) and I applaud your creativity. Both wreath and basket are quite festive!

I'm starting my full-on gardening mode (although I need to get a landscaper in to do some heavy-lifting, i.e., removing sod and digging out a border behind my white picket fence). With rampagingfrodo's assistance, I planted my dragon wing begonias in the teak planter this afternoon as well as setting up the Sun Parasol mandevilla vines in the big pot with its obelisk.

The backyard is shady, fit for hostas, coral bells, ferns and such, not the sun lovers that the previous owners (bless their hearts) planted. So the struggling plants need to be replaced. I have two tall trees in the yard: one oak and one maple. I would dearly love to get this Green Man sculpture for the oak, but I'm afraid it might scare my neighbor's little children! Looks like something out of Middle-earth, eh? There are also a number of solar powered yard lights that the previous owners stuck around here and there. They glow blue at night. I like to think of them as Fëanorian lamps. :^D

On the ice cream flavors, my vote would be for Limoncella or Peach Sherbert.

[dreamflower]

We seem to be Zone 7, according to the USDA. Of course, I'm still getting used to it after 50 years of living in the bottom half of Zone 8.

Oh, I hope we will get pics of *your* garden! We have no mature trees in this yard, which I miss, but our Capital pears are growing apace. We planted those the first summer we moved in, and they are quite tall now. We planted a redbud sapling this year, and it's grown a good 2' already. That tree sculpture is amazing-- I've seen others, but that's the best one by far! I wish I had a tree big enough for it! I think the children might like it!

All we use in the yard are solar lights! We love them, as they require no wiring. And nowadays they are fairly inexpensive.

The Peach Sherbert is amazing-- I think it may supplant Cherry Limeade as my fave sherbert flavor!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Your decorations turned out beautifully. And lucky you, with all those fresh veggies from your garden.

I hope you all have a nice Memorial Day weekend.

[dreamflower]

Thank you, dear! I hope your weekend is wonderful as well!

[obeliamedusa.livejournal.com]

Beautiful flowers! I love that unicorn bed. :)

Those all sound like good ice cream flavors. I love maple walnut fudge; don't know that I've ever had it as an ice cream.

[i-o-r-h-a-e-l.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing but I want those ice creams! :D