surveying the farm

coming home from our holiday in florida was great.
there is so much going on here it took me days to take it all in.

the hay has been cut.

the farm house is starting to look a little better even from the front.

we have spent most of our time, energy, and money

working in the back but finally the front is shaping up nicely.

there are blooms and flying creatures everywhere.

vessel out by the mailbox is filling in with gerbera daisies,

viola, pansy, ivy, & ranunculus.

one thing i noticed right away was this wonderful garden cart.

it has a great patina. i am curious but act as though i don't see it.

dh finally says jesse has something to show me. a lady at the farmer's

market had her plants displayed in it and they asked her if she would

sell it and she said to you guys i would...jesse bought it for me...i am delighted.

i have been using it every time i am in the garden...what have i been doing

all this time without it. thanks jesse!

the veggie garden has exploded with life while i was gone.

cucumbers are waking up.

companion to carrots, onions, beets, the cleome has bloomed.

i brought home a few goodies from my trip . we went to meem's nurseries.

i had eyed the birdbaths at duncheon's nursery & landscaping

the last time i was there...but i was traveling by plane...this time

i drove and left lots of room in the back for interesting finds.

this one went into the fenced veggie garden.

the boys have their first pepper.

this is a cover crop in the corn field, velvet beans.

it will add nitrogen into the soil.

chocolate mint spreading nicely.

hand thrown seeds of a mesclun lettuce mix with a few zinnias in the middle.

corn.

cangreen lima beans.

red leaf lettuce.

blueberries.

tomato plants.

purple bush beans... and this isn't all the veggies.

our pansies are hanging on with the cooler temps.

lochinch butterfly bush about to bloom...purple with orange eye.

i brought home a few plants too...but you probably already knew that.

dragon winged begonia...planted in a chocolate pot

to bring inside during the winter.

another birdbath for my wildflower garden...planted

just beyond it is milkweed...i couldn't resist.

of course, meems gave me some stuff...fire spike to the right side of my broken vessel.

the wildflower garden is just getting some blooms...red pentas.

buttercups.

cosmos.

to my surprise we have blooming cactus on the front fence line.

i have done nothing for these or with these.

but they are gorgeous...

the wildflower meadow is not doing what i expected but i am

enjoying it just the same...nothing of any consequence has come up

in it... just the usual...where did all my seeds go?

it still adds a element of whimsy though.

my lone teddy bear magnolia is doing well but has a

few years of growth before it will fill in.

gazanias are blooming.

a market find...this hydrangea is quite beautiful...i didn't know it was pink.

when i bought it the flower was whitish green with red tinges.

but up close it is glorious.

a variegated morning glory putting out at least one lavender blossom.

cardinal climber morning glory vine making their way up the pergola.
they have a tiny red bloom.

blue mist spirea about to bloom.

another vine on the pergola.

hostas and fire power nadina really greening out on my side yard.

fuchsia.

persian shield.

chocolate mint coleus

kingswood torch red coleus.

sweet caroline ipomoea, bronze

oakleaf hydrangea

i love their papery white blooms.

nandina buds and blooms.

little princess, pink spirea bushes blooming and attracting all sorts of flying creatures.

newly purchased black glazed pot from annie's garden shed in florida...planted with

fuldaglut sedum, paul's glory hostas, touch me nots, creeping jenny, and caladiums bulbs

from meems(miss muffet.)

the hostas have a very light lavender bloom.

this is my first attempt at having sedum.

doesn't the greenery look like little green blooms?

and first touch me nots.

chocolate vine on old gate...no blooms yet.

elaeagnus pungens bought at farmers market

should have small very fragrant white blooms in the fall.

i put this in the ground in my front yard just off the front porch.

buttercups at the picket fence.

it is so nice to be home...but there is much to do...