The Rock Hunt...

About three years ago I started collecting rocks with the idea of making a path through my garden. The collecting was slow-going. It was difficult finding enough rocks that fit the criteria. First and foremost they had to be flat. They also had to be relatively thin and not too small.

Wednesday night a friend that helps me with the garden called and said she knew where we could get all the rocks we wanted. I picked her up at 10am this morning and we went on a "rock hunt".

We loaded the back of my truck with as many rocks as our muscles would allow. We had to leave a few behind that seemed perfect because the more we loaded the heavier they got.

We took them back to the garden and unloaded them. She dug the path while I carried them and placed them in the ground.

Just a few of the many rocks. 

 My helper preparing the path for me to lay the rocks.

 A section of the pathway.

 I'm exhausted!!!

Have a great weekend.

My First Black Iris...

Have a great weekend!!!



Pretty In Pink...

Have a Wonderful Weekend!!!

My New Garden Project...

From the Spring issue of Small Gardens magazine.

 Have a great day!!!

For The Love Of Gardening...

Before the weeding was complete

 they made their debut,

but

as you can tell

I really

love

the ornaments.

Have a nice day!!!

Chandor Garden's...

Moon Daisy earned two flex days from school and decided she wanted to spend them with MeMaw and Paw-Paw, so Friday she hitched a ride with her Paw-Paw and showed up on my door step. She hung out with us at the house over the weekend and then Monday we drove around the area looking for unique places to take pictures. I will post a few later in the week.

Today I took her to Weatherford, Texas to meet her mom. While there we took a walking tour of Chandor Gardens. Chandor Gardens is a series of "garden rooms" featuring English and Chinese motifs. Douglas Chandor, an artist who painted portraits of President Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, among others, created these gardens starting in 1936.

Upon Chandor's death in 1953 his wife, Ina, opened the gardens to the public until her death in 1978. The gardens were neglected for the next 16 years until 1994 when Melody and Chuck Bradford bought and restored the property. In 2002 the city of Weatherford bought the home and gardens and  once again opened them to the public.

 Moon Gate

 Tiered Copper Fountain

 Pixie Pond

 Mount Cox

 Chi-Ling Fountain

On the left is Ina's Walk which was the initial feature of the garden in 1936.

 The Trellis Pond

 Court Yard and Chandor Home

 We had a great time. The home and gardens are unique and interesting. I have only given you a small taste. I look forward to visiting again in the spring when the Wisteria petals will "drip like purple rain from everywhere" and all things beautiful will be in full-bloom. Imagine.

Have a blessed week!!! 

Spring Preview...

Looks like we are going to have a bumper crop of Bluebonnets this year. Our back yard is covered.

Have a great weekend!!!

Sunday Pleasures...

1. A Beverly Lewis movie to watch.
2. Spicy Chicken Soup for supper.
3. An apron all cut out and ready to sew.
4. A pot of Mums to plant.
5. Kitties to feed.
6. Chihuahuas to hold.
7. Blessings to count.

Scarlet Beauties...

My entire flower garden has either burned up from the intense heat and lack of rain or been chewed to death by hordes of grasshoppers. I went out to pull weeds today and discovered this bit of splendor scattered about.

  

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever...

John Keats 

Fruits and Veggies...

We passed a roadside fruit and vegetable stand today and absolutely could not resist.  

The cutest, friendliest little boy and girl were selling their produce in the brutal Texas heat.

We came straight home and made sandwiches with cantaloupe and tomatoes on the side.

Have a great day!!!

Goodbye Bluebonnets...

If bluebonnets are a sign of spring then the lack of bluebonnets are a definite sign that summer is on it's way. Today I harvested bluebonnet seeds. The window to harvest is narrow and I almost missed it, but there was enough left to fill a gallon baggy. I will scatter these in the barrow ditch in the fall and cross my fingers.

 When the seeds are ready to be collected they become very dry and turn from green to grey in color.

If left to their own devices the seed pod will twist and burst open expelling it's seeds. When you pull them from the stem you have to hold them tightly until you get them in your container or they will pop open and leave you empty handed. I love the feel when they pop open in my hand.

As soon as one beautiful flower dies out others are ready to take their place. There may be no bluebonnets, but the beauty continues. God knows exactly what he is doing.
.

Have a Great Day!!!!    

Tiny Miracles...

Sometimes things happen that are so small and insignificant that we forget to be thankful. Occasionally they are so tiny that we even forget they're miracles. That happened to me about ten years ago.

I walked out the front door to get in the car and there it was...the tiniest, tiny pine tree I had ever seen. Perhaps one inch high at most. I squealed as if it were the best Christmas present ever. My husband and two kids came running, expecting to find, I don't know what. When they saw it they laughed. I convinced hubby he needed to go get a piece of wood and stake that tiny thing for fear he might mow it down. They laughed some more. He drove the stake in and they laughed some more.

 Here it is some ten years later. Tall and straight.

Needless to say they aren't laughing now and hubby says he is continuously looking on the ground for others. Oh, and did I tell you it is even in the perfect spot. Thank you Lord for tiny miracles that grow to become big miracles.

    

Spring Beauty...

The beauty of spring is all around us. It seems a shame that sometimes we fail to notice. God gives us such a beautiful world merely for our enjoyment. 
This morning as I let the dogs out and as purple is my favorite color, I couldn't help but notice a display of gorgeous purple and yellow flowers growing beside my daughter's back deck.

I have no idea what they are so I will have to refer to my truly amazing "Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas" book and look them up. I have spent many hours with this book in my hands. It gives information on over 500 Texas plants-trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, grasses, weeds, fruits, vegetables and ground cover. The best part is he lists the problems each plant has.  He notes which insects they attract, whether they are drought resistant, if they are invasive, and how to plant and maintain them. I have gone through the entire book and put checks by anything I thought I might be interested in planting. I left off anything that attracted an undesirable insect, was too invasive, or just not to my liking. Before I go to the nursery I refer to the checked plants and see at a glance what I might like to purchase and usually take my book along for quick reference. I highly recommend this book as your "one-volume encyclopedia" on Texas Gardening and now the "Plant Detective" is on her way to figure this one out. Any ideas?  

Ruthie's Garden...

Ruthie's Garden is a garden named and worked in loving memory of my mother. I was in Fredricksburg, Texas with my dad and three sisters shortly after my mom passed away in 2008.

My sister's and I decided we would each plant a flower garden in her memory. We purchased metal birds, pot hangers, seeds and the like in anticipation. I picked out a dry, parched patch of unused earth on the north side of our house and set to work. Now three springs later it is finally beginning to take shape. This weekend I mulched, clipped, watered and weeded until every muscle in my body is sore, my fingers are full of stickers and the back of my neck is sunburned, but I am thankful to God for this little piece of solitude and more than a little happy with the results. I won't be home for another two weeks, but will return with colorful annuals, ornaments and lights to enhance it's whimsical personality. If you like to garden here is an idea I came across in a gardening magazine. Decorate an old mailbox and mount it in your garden. Use it to store your small garden tools. I have the mailbox, but haven't decorated it yet. Will post a picture when I do. I can hardly wait to see how Ruthie's Garden turns out this year I think she would approve.

 Perfumes are the feelings of flowers. ~Heinrich Heine

Garden Rocks...

Today we went to Home Depot to get a wheel barrow. The old one had rusted through and it was time to work the garden. I was able to get 1/3 of it weeded, mulched and watered. After setting the sprinkler out I decided to redo some of the rocks I use as plant name stakes.

I still need to put a little varnish on and they'll be ready to put in the garden. I may have time to do a couple more tomorrow and hopefully get another 1/3 of the garden weeded and mulched. I feel like I accomplished something today and was able to get some much needed exercise.   

  

First signs of spring...

 This small, beautiful bluebonnet is just one reminder that spring is on it's way.

 

Soon there will be hundreds and hundreds covering yards, fields and highways.

I can hardly wait!!!