Wow! That's a gorgeous shot! You work so well with the camera, Maria! Your photo albums are wonderful! I've bookmarked your page, and will go back to see more when I have a few hours of free time! LOL! It definitely has been a busy summer! And it's not over yet! I still have lots to do outdoors, not to mention taking care of all my indoor bulbs. Since I was way too afraid to allow my bulbs outdoors this spring and summer, I doubt many will bloom next spring... although, I could be surprised. I do plan on purchasing a few new ones this fall, though, so I will have winter blooms! We were going to go to the Netherlands this August to attend the wedding of a dear friend, but with gas and airline prices the way they are, we had to cancel. Airline tickets alone would have cost several thousand dollars, which we can't spare right now. I'm very disappointed, but I am going to attend the Chicagoland Orchid Festival, and even though it won't be quite the same, it will be fun. I should come away with a new orchid or two, and I have Cindee to thank for pointing me toward collecting these wonderful plants, as well as bulbs! Xuan, I doubt the Clematis pods will be anywhere near ready to ship this month, but I am watching them. I will harvest when they're ripe and hang on to them for your next family member to visit the States. In the meantime, I may be able to harvest a few other seeds for you. I will email. I'm behind on shipping out care packages, too... very shortly, I will have several types of seeds harvested and ready to ship... most are perennials from my gardens, but I know a few friends wanted to try some! As I finish getting things ready, I will let you all know what I have. Well... here's hoping the rest of the summer is fabulous for everyone! I just charged the camera batteries, and will head outside shortly to capture a few more summer blooms, so look for those sometime soon! Happy Gardening!

Ahhh, May is here, someone please tell it to our weatherman, our furnace still cuts in at times most years it's done it's thing by the end of March. Things are starting to pop in the garden finally, The Rhodos are starting to bloom and as I walk around I can see things are starting to bud up. I have to say the weeds are doing extremely well, I've never seen such vigor. We gave up on trying to keep the front lawn looking good a few years back, pouring fertilizer and weed killers on it finally got to me so now we just pick out the occasional dandelion and let it do its own thing. The front lawn? is now full of wild white violets, specie crocus, and a escapee from a flower bed (Veronica repens I think), which we are encouraging to spread, I have to say it's very pretty. DH is a wood turner and a lot of the wood he gets has a lot of different mosses on it so we are trying to get more of it in the lawn, some of it is really beautiful and so soft to walk on. Now after saying all this I will probably be digging up some of this in the fall for more flower beds, I have about 30 Lupin seedlings that have to go somewhere. The big news for me this month is I have a new great granddaughter London Ava 6 lbs. 9 ozs. arrived on the scene in Kelowna as her grandparents were still on the road trying to get there for the big advent, little monkey wouldn't wait. We got the phone call from DD, who had just been talking to the beaming new mommy, cell phones really are great for some things. MrMorton, so sorry about Spyro, a kitty I had did the same thing, Pussums was 16 and had been in poor health for some time, One night she climbed up on my lap, started to purr, looked up at me as if saying goodbye and peacefully slipped away. Yes, I've been weepy too over the loss of everyones pets, it just goes to show that we are all a bunch of very caring people and although distance keeps us apart we are always there for each other and although we all wipe the tears away at such posts it also lets us know we are not alone. On a happier note I finally found a seedling of the white flowering variegated Lunaria (Silver Dollar). I bought at a private plant sale over on Salt Spring Island last year, I actually stood there until they were potted up, this doesn't seem to be readily available, I have the purple with the variegated foliage and several of the plain leaved types in different shades of mauve and purple. I usually just cut the stems and give them away , let others do all the peeling LOL. I will harvest the seed off this variegated white so if anyone wants a few seeds of this send me an email. I only have the one plant so first come..., it is planted away from the other colors so hopefully it will come true. If I manage to get some decent pictures I will post them in the gallery but knowing me and cameras... we'll just have to wait and see. Happy May everyone Annette

The shrubs are so beautiful. It's amazing the rhodies can bloom in that shaded wood. I lost my Beauty Bush to that last windstorm. It was such a gorgeous thing. I need to get my sis to start me another one. She is supposed to be doing an old fashioned spirea van houttei for me too. I love the old ones. Your weigelas certainly outshine my two.

Hello stranger, wonderful to see you posting again, I am looking forward to all your Rose Pics. Your Dutch Iris's are a dream, I cannot get mine to flower here so after three years I gave them away. Beautiful rhodo, and the Aquilegia is magnificent, Thanks for shareing...Cheers..MM.