Are Their Hearts As Broken As Mine?

This is not the post I want to write.

This morning I wanted to share the joy of my happy news 

of the hatching of my  five little eggs in the blue nest.

  I first discovered the nest ten days ago and since then 

have waited with sweet anticipation for the Baby Finch Five to arrive.

I must admit I peeked a few times to view their progress 

and snapped a couple of pics rather quickly when mama was gone. 

What a delight to see the babies emerge!

one by one until there were five little balls of fluff.

but sadly today the nest is empty, 

gray down feathers scattered to the wind.

 no sign of mama and papa
the melody of their morning song noticeably gone. 

I can only wonder...

are their hearts as broken as mine?

Nature can be so cruel.

Blooms de Jour

I took an early morning walk around my gardens this morning, just me and the early birds who woke me up with their "Ode to This New Day" celebration. I'm sure they wondered why I was out and about so early. I peeked in on mama House Finch, she's still warming her five little eggs in her blue nest. As I walked I marveled that just four days ago my blossoms were covered in four inches of snow. It's quite amazing that they could survive! 

Here's what's blooming today (be sure to click on each pic to enlarge it):

 "Coral Bells" Heuchera Saxifragaceae

One of my favorites! 

I have given Coral Bells place in every landscape I have designed, 

always at the base of a tree, 

simply because I love them there!

 

"Purple Robe" Rockfoil Saxifraga

This dainty crimson flower sits on a lush carpet of moss-like foliage

and blooms in early Spring and Summer.

It looks amazing growing next to the fountain stones in my garden!

"Periwinkle" Apocynaceae

Dark glossy leaves with periwinkle blue blossoms 

make this an easy favorite!

It's trailing habit makes it a perfect ground cover for slopes.

 "Sea Pink Thrift" Armeria Plumbaginaceae

Absolutely love these! 

I have planted them at intervals 

along the border of my planting areas next to my house.

They bloom from early Spring to late Fall.

Be sure to dead-head them for prolific blooms!

"Red-Osier" Dogwood C. Stolonifera

This dogwood has exceptionally bright red twigs

that contrast beautifully with our Winter snow. 

The small creamy white flowers appear in clusters 

throughout the summer months.

(Click on the pic and look close and you'll see a bit of leaf damage 

due to the Spring snow storm we had on Monday.)

Aquilegia "Columbine" Raninculaceae

This is a miniature Columbine which grows a mere 4-8 inches tall. 

I actually prefer the taller species of this plant, 

but delight in these little guys for now.

"Wine and Roses" Weigela Caprifoliaceae

This is my favorite Weigela. 

The bright red-pink trumpet shaped blossoms bloom in Spring

then the foliage turns a deep burgundy, 

a color I use a lot in my gardens.

"Lovely Yellow Blossoms"  Beautifaceae  :)

Do you know the name of this perennial?

Not many yellow flowers are invited to live in my gardens.  

I really do love the color but I am very particular about the shade.

This is one I enjoy and I can't jiggle my memory enough to remember the name.

Can you help me?

I've planted four of these mounding plants on my berms.

They bloom a delicious shade of yellow in Spring

and then I enjoy the greenery for the remainder of the growing season.

~~~

One of the things I love most about gardening is how my gardens are ever changing. My walk this morning revealed new buds on plants that I'm anxious to welcome. A few more days of sunshine and they'll begin to open.  

Now what could possibly be more exciting than that?!

♥ Today it's Simply Lovely ♥

What A Difference a Day Makes!

                                                 

             YESTERDAY                                                                                                 TODAY

 


















Spring Snow is inevitable in Utah

although yesterday's snowfall was quite unexpected. 

It caught us all by surprise!

The snow provided a "warm" blanket for the tender plants
from the cold air 

and by mid afternoon all signs of snow
were just a memory.

The concern for frost came during the low temps of the night, 

so the smart gardeners covered their tender plants.

And today?

♥ IT'S SIMPLY LOVELY ♥

Gotta love gardening in Utah!

No! No! No! Unbelievable...

SNOW!

and more snow...

 and still snowing!

4.5 inches and still snowing!
wet 
heavy 
SNOW! 


Yes, today is the 24th of May 
and somewhere underneath this blanket of snow 
blossoms are blooming... pinks and yellows and blues
and tomato plants
some with little yellow flowers
ready to set fruit!


Tomorrow's forecast calls for
SUNNY 
and a High of 69°F

(only in Utah)

MORNING SURPRISE... Today I peeked!

Every year a pair of House Finch make their nest in one of our Emerald Green Arborvitae. Unfortunately, natural tragedy seems to occur each year before hatching time so we've never actually got to see the eggs hatch and enjoy watching the babies. Mother Nature's population control.

 Male House Finch

Earlier this year, I became aware the Finch were once again nesting there. I watched from afar with anticipation. Several days after my discovery, the magpies also found the nest and destroyed it, eating the eggs. Another natural tragedy. Does anyone else dislike Magpies as much as I do?

 Female House Finch

 

Several weeks later I noticed the birds would fly from the adjacent arborvitae whenever I walked by. They are persistent little creatures and were building another nest.  Little mama is spending a lot of time in the tree these days, so I suspect she is sitting on her eggs.

♥   ♥   ♥

Today I peeked!  Much to my delight I found five tiny pastel blue eggs with black spots near the top. I was surprised to see the nest is built with bright blue strings from our worn out trampoline nearby, the perfect touch of elegance!

Elegant "House Finch" Nest

I snapped the picture and left quietly before mama came back from her break. I was lucky enough to catch the pair around the corner in the morning sky, singing to their heart's content.

The happy couple taking a morning break; 
their beautiful song fills the morning air in my gardens.

Keeping our fingers crossed these eggs will hatch!

Dahlia Fairy Castles in my Garden Kingdom

Gallery Dahlia Art Nouveau

"I fell in love with Dahlias visiting my Great Uncle's garden as a little girl.  He lived a few minutes from my home, but too far to walk, so mother would often take me there for visits.  Uncle Cliff was a tiny little man, 4'10", but he had a rather large heart for all things gardening.  He and his sweetheart, Elfie, were not blessed with children of their own, but there were many who adored them and loved to visit their beautiful gardens.  
 
Dahlias galore resided in my Uncle Cliff's gardens and he knew the names of each one of them.  The short varieties stood as sentinels at the edge of his flower beds.  Evenly spaced, they appeared to be the guardians of the garden.  My imagination gave reason to believe these perfect, colorful blossoms were actually parasol's for the tiny creatures who most surely lived in this garden kingdom. If one were extremely patient and had a quick eye, you might see them as they frolicked about.  Patience, unfortunately did not describe me at such a young age, however it never detered me from believing none the less.

The tall, stately dahlias planted  in the heart of the garden were the fairy castles of the kingdom, beckoning my fertile mind to dream of the princes and princesses who surely must reside there. Though I never actually saw them, if I closed my eyes and was very, very still, I could on occasion hear them whispering."

What sweet memories filled my mind 

as I planted Dahlia's in my very own garden this morning!

Dahlia's are perennials native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. In my garden, they are annuals, however the tubers can be dug up and stored over winter. The Aztecs gathered and cultivated the dahlia for food, ceremony, as well as decorative purposes, and the long woody stem of one variety was used for small pipes. 

I have chosen the Gallery Dahlia Art Nouveau to brighten my perennial garden this year.  It has beautiful red violet colored blossoms 4" across with deep green leaves.  It will grow 14-18" tall and produce an abundance of flowers throughout the summer months. Pinching the dead blossoms will encourage them to keep blooming. Dahlia's enjoy full sun with light afternoon shade in hot areas. I have planted three plants and I'm quite certain they will become a favorite in my garden this year.

Need Help Growing that Perfect Tomato?

Need Help Growing that Perfect Tomato?

Here are four essential ingredients to your success:
 

Soil Preparation
Great soil is the most important ingredient in producing delicious tomatoes.  Since I grow my tomatoes in square foot gardens I highly recommend following Mel's Recipe for Soil.  A rich organic soil is best.  Before planting, it's a good idea to incorporate up to 4 inches of well-composted organic matter each year.  This builds up essential nutrients in the soil and helps to provide good drainage.  Apply 1.5 cups of all-purpose fertilizer (16-16-8 or 10-10-10) per 25 square feet before planting.
 
Sun
Tomatoes are heat-loving plants, so make sure to plant them in full sun! Your tomatoes should receive at least 8 hours of sunlight per day.  That is the minimum requirement. Any less and you 'll be disappointed in your tomatoes.
 
Water
Water tomatoes deeply and infrequently, applying 1-2 inches per week. Use drip irrigation if possible.  Irrigate so that moisture goes deeply into the soil. Irregular watering (over or under) can cause blossom-end rot, a dark leathery spot on the bottom of the fruit.  Keep soil moisture uniform especially as tomatoes begin to ripen to avoid cracks in the skin.
 
Fertilize
Avoid heavy fertilization of tomato plants which encourage excessive foliage growth and delays fruit maturity. Side dress with nitrogen (34-0-0) using 1-2 tablespoons per plant at 4 and 8 weeks after transplanting.

Follow these tips and you'll be on your way 
to enjoying a great crop of tomatoes!

In Search of the Perfect Tomato

May 15, Tomato Planting Day

For as long as I can remember May 15th has always been the day to plant tomatoes, a bit of wisdom passed down from Father to daughter. This Spring has been so cold that we weren't sure it was going to happen, but today was the perfect day and  
our tomatoes are in the ground! 

Tomatoes have always been the star of our vegetable garden. For many years we planted dozens of plants that provided bushels of tomatoes to make enough quarts of stewed tomatoes to last our growing family an entire year.  Our needs have changed as children have married and began their own gardens. What hasn't changed is our love for tomatoes. They are still the star of our garden.  This year we decided to try something new. 

We are in search of the perfect tomato. Keep in mind that some tomato's are best for canning and others for the sheer pleasure of eating. This year we are concentrating on the "delicious for eating straight from the vine" variety.

Our research has brought us to discover five different varieties to experiment with.  With our plants in the ground our experiment is well under way.  Our potential favorites are each new to us and we're anxious to reach harvest stage of our experiment.  Patience is required.  Only time will tell if they will remain our favorites after the taste tests are conducted later in the summer.

Sun Gold - A very sweet, tangerine-colored cherry tomato. Word is this is a highly requested favorite! We planted this one for the grand kids to pick.

Cherokee Purple - This heirloom tomato is said to have medium-sized 10-12 ounce fruits with rose/purple skin and a brick red interior. Very rich tomato flavor.  Sounds delicious!

Hawaiian Pineapple - A large, golden-orange beefsteak heirloom tomato with fruit that that grows up to 1-1/2 lbs. The taste is described as luscious, very rich, and with a sweet pineapple-like flavor. Hm-m. Sounds too interesting not to be included.

Fourth of July - This tomato claims to be the first on the block to have vine-ripened red, luscious tomatoes. The flavor is described as particularly good for an early tomato, and improves even more as the season warms up. it's always good to include an early variety to jump-start your taste buds!

Brandywine - Many gardeners believe this heirloom is the best tasting tomato in the world! This pink beefsteak type has rich flavor and can weigh up to 1 lb. We have great expectations for this variety.  We actually planted three of these!

Maybe you'd like to conduct 

your own research and experiment. 

What varieties are on your favorites list?  

Let's compare again when the harvest begins!

In the Shadow of the Mountains

Delighted to live in the Shadow of the Mountains!

Early evening sky looking southeast from my back door.

Storm clouds to the northeast.

North view from my gardens, clouds lifting.

My Farewell to Winter

Our mountains have a fresh blanket of snow...

Winter's final frolic before his acquiesce.  

The valley is green and alive...

 Awakened by the warm breath of Spring.

 Two contrasting worlds...

one bidding adieu

and the other sweet anticipation.

Both beautiful in their own right.

Hail Today and Gone Tomorrow?

Feeling really great vibes that warmer days will soon be here!

Warm temps are in our forecast.

And I'm crossing my fingers that my tomato plants

can go in the earth this weekend.

I Have a New Love!

Limelight Hardy Hydrangea

I tend to get a little giddy when I discover a plant that's new to me.

This is one of those!

I discovered this shrub on the Proven Winners website.

 and instantly fell in love.

Hydrangea's are a little tricky to grow in Utah

 but this one promises to be a success as long as it gets a little shade during the day.

I've already planted one in my garden and now the hard part begins...

finding patience as I wait for it to grow!

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today...

and in my Garden, too!

Finally!

Our weekend is Spring!

Oh how we hope she stays.

 Yesterday we worked and worked and worked

in the gardens.

Moved some perennials.
Made place for my Garden Bench.

Enlarged a flower bed.

Planted three new Wine and Roses Weigela.

and today we rest.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Freezing in My Garden!

This is the Spring of Great Patience

Our early morning temperature this morning 

27˚ F

These little poppies are survivors!

The day declared Frost-free in this zone

May 15

Hm-m. Most likely not this year.

I looked out my window this morning to view the damage. They said it was going to be cold and it was. Br-r-r!  These spunky little poppies bring hope to my soul.


May 15th is generally the "safe day" to plant here in my corner of the kingdom, without fear of Frost. Most years I plant before that date with no problem. My target is to be well on my way to being done before Mother's Day. This year is different. We are experiencing Global Freezing here and I am declaring this the Spring of Great Patience. 

Icicle Spring

Icicles on the path

Icicles on the trees

 

and on the leaves

Is this the New Spring?

Veggie Gardening at its Best!

"Planting a garden, even a small one, 

allows for a greater degree of self-reliance. 

With the right information and a little practice, 

individuals and entire families 

can enjoy the many benefits 

of planting and tending a garden."   

Provident Living 

We have always had a vegetable garden. It is an integral part of our core belief to be a self sustaining family. When our children were young, (our eldest is now 33) we had a rather large plot where we grew enough vegetables to eat throughout the summer and preserve plenty for the Winter. We had rows and rows of tomato plants, squash and eggplant, carrots, parsnips and peas and even potatoes. 

We irrigated our garden as my father had done, by furrowing long rows between the plants and setting the water to flow down each row. This method worked well to provide our plants with much needed moisture (it gets very hot in Utah during the summer) but it also allowed those pesky weeds to propagate equally as well.  An enormous amount of time was spent weeding and watering our garden. On the bright side, it provided our many children with more Summer chores to keep them busy and out of mischief through the summer months, though not entirely out of mischief as boys will always be boys, not even to mention the spice the girls would add to our days. I can't help but think that it also planted deep within their souls a love for the earth and our creator as they worked to keep our garden growing.

It wasn't many years into using this productive (as in lots of weeds) method that my husband discovered a much better way. He designed a drip system that would place the water at the base of each plant using a mixture of pipes and tubing. Turning it on was effortless, by simply turning a valve, the dripping would begin. The drips would all flow in unison feeding the thirsty roots of the vegetables.  No more weeds in the furrows, as water never flowed there. A few weeds would pop up around the base of each plant, and a few starts would peak through the soil after a rainfall, but they were easy to remove with little effort. (Remember that we live in a virtual desert in the summer and soil that doesn't get watered doesn't grow plants.) So we covered up the furrows, and that was the end of our irrigation days.

Fast forward a few years to a new home and a new yard to landscape.  As wonderful a change as our drip system brought to our lives, so has Square Foot Gardening changed our lives now.  We love our Square Foot boxes.  We have four boxes planted in a sunny area of our yard near the kitchen entrance to our home.  Our "living at home" family is much smaller than in our days of irrigation, so we don't have the need to plant as much, only 4 tomato plants instead of the 3 dozen we planted back in the day.

We fill two boxes with strawberry plants.  (We love that our grandchildren head right to the strawberry patch whenever they visit to pick the fresh strawberries to fill their tummies!) Another box is where my fresh herbs reside alongside any other vegetables we choose to include each year. The final box has room to hold four tomato plants in cages, just enough for fresh salsa and salads. (I should note that I have not given up on planting squash, much to the chagrin of some of my children. I love all types of squash and would never abandon planting them.  They hold a special place in my yard with my melons near the raspberry bushes, but that's a different day's blog.)

We love the look of our boxes, we used redwood, and we enjoy the ease this format gives to harvesting but we especially can't say enough about  the soil that enables our veggies to grow weed free. The soil is indeed the secret recipe to our delicious veggies!  I've included the recipe for soil in the link bar at the top of this blog.

Our garden boxes are watered by the amazing sprinkling system that my husband so masterfully designed. You may wish to visit My Garden Library to view "Sprinkling System" for inspiration and information for your own garden. I have also provided a link to "Irrigation Tutorial" in My Favorite Garden Links.  

On occasion, a weed seed or two will migrate to our boxes, surely coaxed by the promise of such rich, beautiful soil to thrive in, but  they are quickly removed with ease. Our square foot boxes are truly vegetable gardening at its best!  If you haven't tried this method of gardening, here's a link to get you started:  Square Foot Gardening

Waiting on the World to Change

This has been quite the year in Utah for the passing of the Season. 

Winter then Spring,
Winter then Spring,
over and over again.

How much longer this pattern persists, no one really knows.

It's inevitable that Spring will eventually win over Old Man Winter. 

Today is lovely after yesterday's snow,
but a bite of cold still lingers in the air. 

The lows are still well below freezing
so no planting for me yet. (Sigh.)

I walked around my gardens this morning. 

Everything seems to be in a holding pattern
until a bit more sunshine comes to warm the earth.
 
Until then I'm just waiting, 

waiting on the world to change!

Utah Gardeners,
I have posted the May Gardening To Do List on the upper link bar.  

Now all we need is sunshine!

The First of May

“The fair maid who, the First of May,
Goes to the field at break of day
And washes in the dew from the hawthorn tree,
Will ever after handsome be.”

The Real Mother Goose

Artist: Arthur Rackham

According to Old English folklore,
the dew at sunrise on the first of May is magical!
Any maiden who arises early to wash her face
with this magical dew will have a beautiful complexion
for an entire year.   
(I know, don't you wish I had told you this yesterday?)

Our dew is frozen.

Snow in the forecast... still. 
Spring is trying so patiently to emerge 
but Winter keeps sneaking back to blow his icy breath.

I walked through my favorite nursery to bask in the sights and smells of Spring.
Oh the anticipation!
I need to plant some flowers in my garden!
Wait for it... wait for it...