Color in the Garden

We were out of town for a week, and while we were gone, it was actually sunny. Unfortunately it was probably the only week of sun we will have all spring.  It's amazing what can happen in one week to a garden, especially when there's some much desired sunshine. 

So many things bloomed in that one week!  And so many of them purple!  

Chives

Irises

Lavender

Geranium

Centaurea Bachelor Buttons

Allium

Comfrey

Lilacs

I realized when we returned that I have way too much purple in my garden.  

When we first bought this house seven years ago, the flowers that were here were mostly pinks, purples and light blues, none of which are really my favorite colors in the garden. Over the years I've tried to add other colors, reds, yellows, deep black purples, oranges. 

What I didn't think through very well is when things bloom.  

The red, yellow and orange tulips are all dead and gone by the time all the purple arrives, and the yellow-orange of the day lilies and yellow-orangy blacks of the rudibeckia and sunflowers don't bloom until later. So for a while, my garden is very purple with some white, some blue-purples and deep pinks thrown in. 

Lily got mad when I said there was too much purple because it's her favorite color. I actually love many of the purple plants in the garden; lavender and allium are two of my favorites, and chives brighten up the whole yard while keeping away lots of garden pests, but this is the first year I realized the garden is very monochromatic in the late spring.

Hello Ladybugs

Hello first ladybugs we've seen this season.

Climbing on our chives,

Tucked in and on and around our Rugosa Rose bushes.

Lily and I wondered if they were on the rose bush to protect themselves from predators since the rose bushes have super long sharp thorns.

I think we disturbed their mating...

I love to see a garden full of ladybugs. Hi Nana!

Painting Garden Plant Markers

We're still a bit confused around here, the weather and I.  

One moment it's 60 and sunny and we are planting pea starts and ranunculus, and having a picnic on the front lawn...

The next moment it's 41 and freezing rain is beating sideways against our windows.

As a mom, I go stir crazy when the weather is miserable. Lily and Jasper love being outside in the sun, the rain and the snow, but miserable is no fun for any of us; the bitter, slashing rain can say, "Buh bye!" any day now!  I also go stir crazy trying to think up fun, new activities, games and crafts for us to play inside. (There's something about playing outside that never gets boring for them or me.)

However, one thing my kids love to do regularly is paint.  

At first, painting with the kids was stressful and manic for me, (can painting be manic?) Trying to keep up with their need for clean water bowls, new paper, Jasper's desire to paint himself, the table, his goldfish crackers...but things (generally) go much smoother now that we've all had some practice together.

I cover the table in a large piece of white paper and I have all of our watercolor supplies in one bin with tons of brushes and sponges and paints. Lily and I use the good paper, but I buy super cheap paper for Jasper as he goes through a piece every ten seconds.

Every year in the garden I try to come up with an easy way to make plant markers, but I don't go to that much trouble because as quickly as I can stick them in the dirt, Jasper is pulling them out and using them to play with and give his roly poly bugs a home.  This year I thought it would be fun to paint pictures of each fruit and vegetable, laminate them and attach them to craft sticks.  

So while the rain beat against the window one day last week, inside we painted flowers, gardens, bunnies, and sunshine, and started our garden marker painting project.  This was one of the coolest activities I've done with Lily.  She loved it.  I started by painting a vegetable, then Lily would copy me with her paint and I would write the word on her plant marker. So! Much! Fun!

We've only just begun and I can't wait to see how they all turn out.

To Begin Again

I'm completely unmotivated to begin gardening this year. And I'm not sure exactly why. The reasons are sort of mixed up and muddy in my mind.  The weather is having motivational issues too. Freezing rain, bursts of sunshine, snow just last week. 

It's like I need to yell to the weather and myself, it's Spring!!  Let's get going!!

For my 40th birthday this year, my brother made me this awesome seed starter set out of wood and mini terra cotta pots. 

So in one of our bursts of sun last week, Lily, Jasper and I started some seeds. We used these new (or new to us) Earth Plugs. (From Down To Earth Distributors Inc. If you Google Earth Plugs you get a whole bunch of interesting websites about how to make huge holes in your ears...hmm!)

I quickly grabbed the sunflower and radish seeds because I know that starting seeds with two little kids and no proper place to put them is really more about fun, fun and more fun, and not so much about what seeds you start or how many, if any, of those starts actually make it into the garden to thrive. 

Some years are more successful than others, and we can always count on our sugar snap pea starts!! I think I continue to start seeds every year with the kids because I hope they can see what happens when you plant a seed. 

I hope they love the transformation. 

I hope they are  awed by it like I am. 

Maybe this will get my motivation going.

Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere!

We found the most amazing spiders living in our garden and all over the yard this year.  I know they have been there in the past, but this year, we really paid attention, took pictures, made up stories, watched them spin silk over captured bumblebees.

Since it's almost Halloween, I thought I'd share a few photos of the gorgeous, unbelievably brilliant, and spooky spiders and their webs in Lily's and Jasper's garden.

This one isn't the best photograph, but there were seven or eight webs, hanging one after the other after the other.

For sure, Lily knows more about spiders at age four than I've probably known my whole life! The webs are so cool to look at, I even attempted to hairspray an old abandoned web (Lily made me promise not to ruin any home of a spider while said spider was still living on it) onto black construction paper to save it.  It was not successful.  Not everything can be captured; some things are just meant to be looked at and awed over.

Have a safe, happy, spooky Halloween week, everyone!

Bye Bye Sunflowers!

We had such amazing, beautiful, huge sunflowers this year!

Bright yellow,

shades of burnt orangey-brown,

and deep reds.

I even think they are gorgeous in black and white.

Some grew over ten feet tall and finally their heads got so heavy they tipped over, bowed down with gravity.

Lily planted and watered them all from seeds and they were a huge success.  They were in the same raised bed as the strawberries and garlic and all three crops did awesome; maybe they liked being planted together.  Plus it was such a good summer of sun for us, which we sooooooo needed.

Not only did the sunflowers brighten our raised beds, but like almost everything else in the garden, they became a source of fun and play for Lily and Jasper, from digging out the seeds to play with, to painting the leaves with watercolors and using them as paint brushes,

to playing hide-and-seek in their "sunflower forest."

Even the ladybugs liked our sunflowers.

Greg put Lily on his shoulders just to show how tall they had gotten.  I saw gorgeous fields of enormous, tall sunflowers from a moving train once in Italy, but this is the first time I've/we've ever grown any quite so enormous.

Last weekend we finally pulled and dug them all out, and of course, played with them.

 See you next year gorgeous bright sunflowers!!