Be back soon!

Off to visit family for 10 days. Will be missing Phoebe-dog, the kitties and my gardens, but soaking up on grandchildren activities.

Enjoy the month of June my friends!

Wonders Never Cease

This is the amazing story of  Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’.

I purchased a single tiny plant of Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty about 8-10 years ago on a shopping expedition with dear gardening friends. It cost me about $3. I planted it in a shady wet spot and it did not grow and was engulfed in weeds.  After a couple of years we moved it to a different spot where it began to thrive! It grew from 2 small leaves to this:

Last week I noticed a few small buds hiding under the spotted foliage. I was amazed.

Today I braved the mosquitoes and went to investigate those buds once more. This is what I found:And this!I am told that later on I should check for “showy fruit”!

What a marvelous plant. I wonder why it hides its beauty so?

Catching up With the Little Ones

Mid-June is fast approaching and I’m about to begin packing. Off to visit the grands!

Because it was a rainy day, I went to town and found each little person a book. (My secret delight!)  The 14 year old will be getting some summer clothes this time, since he hasn’t read any of the books he received in the past…. except for the photo journals we send him after visits.

Before I leave I have a visitor coming, a dog grooming appointment for Miss Phoebe (who looks like a woolly mammoth now), a dentist appointment and pet and plant sitters to make lists for.

Once we arrive, there will be tightly scheduled trips to a new property where MANY trees have been planted- ( http://gardenbugworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/nature-and-the-little-ones/) and to the North Country Fair for musical pleasure and to check out (at last!) the Reed pirate ship playground. Every summer it is improved upon bit by bit and has turned the Fair into a more family oriented destination.

Playground as of 2011

We will be meeting Pepper the new dog for the first time. Baby Forrest is moving about far more than when we last visited, Leo is now a talker, and Ivy has turned into a junior gardener.

Ivy says, “eight more sleeps” until we get to enjoy each other again!

Sharing with Claudia at A Favorite Thing

*****

I left my heart in Haiti… They tell me I’ll never get it back! Do visit updates here as well!
http://haitidreams.wordpress.com/

A Garden walk with Surprises!

Two friends dropped by today for a spontaneous garden walk. I really should do this more often because other people see things that I do not! I’m more inclined to spot weeds, but my friends see things like color, shapes and fruit!

Today we saw the fruit on my young Katsura Red Fox. It is blue! Now I wonder what that means. I see no information on this on Google…. but what a treat!We also saw the Tamarack’s tiny cones.Then we noticed that Arisaema Black Jack has returned! Thank goodness! I thought he had vanished over the winter.And there’s a bloom coming on Veratrum Nigrum too. But even without, I love the foliage!Now here’s a delight! Podophylum Spotty Dotty is not only huge this year, but it is sporting clumps of buds under its huge leaves for the first time. So exciting!Looks like they will be red!The Enkianthus shrub is blooming, but only minimally. Last year it was weighted down with blooms, but this year there are only 3-4 clumps. They are subtly beautiful!You can see here how much I like bell-shaped blooms. These are Nectaroscordum bulbs coming into bloom.

A close-up with morning dew.Later, before it got too dark, I was able to catch this photo of Disporum Night Heron, one of my all time favorite plants.And last but not least, this hedge of Berberis appears to be on fire. The new growth is shockingly bright!This proves that we need to take the time to walk about and enjoy our gardens, not just fret over what we haven’t accomplished!

June in the Garden

We had two glorious gardening days this week, and now it is wet and chilly. But somehow the plants are doing what they are supposed to and the cloudy, gloomy weather is great for taking pictures.

When you can’t get out there to dig, mulch and prune, then put together a few containers. Well, I started with two…

My first was a pot of pale yellow AgastacheThis was followed by a container of coleus surrounded by silvery dangly foliage.Perhaps tomorrow there will be more!

I put on a jacket and did a walk about. Here is some of what is growing now.

Atlas poppiesDictamnusFringe treeGeumHeuchera with a brownish leaved geraniumNative Cornus alternifolia with a hostaMulleinNectaroscordumPrimulaSalvia EvelineThalictrum in front of Black Lace ElderberryIris and Dame’s Rocket by the pondNow if only the weeds weren’t also thriving~!

Wordless Wednesday in the Garden

CorydalisMourning Dove on nestWhite Candelabra PrimulaYellow lily – martagon typeCandelabra Primulas with HostaViburnum ‘Shasta’BaptisiaClematis DawnPale yellow AquilegiaFunky Iris

Computer Club Moves Ahead at MOHI in Grand Goave Haiti

Sharing some samples of drawings that computer club kids have been working on at Mission of Hope International:

(I’m all smiles!)