May Flowers
As it turns out, May was a month of flowers around here. We don't even usually celebrate May Day with flowers or grass or sweets or May poles, but we may have to start.
We started the month with a happy reappearance of flowers on "old" plants. These verbena and alyssum survived the mild Arizona winter and the previous hot Arizona summer to make this happy coupling.
I picked up this mini-rose bush after Thanksgiving, but it only recently began flowering. (Did you know that after big holidays item in the floral department at the grocery store go on super-sale!) The flowers open to a pretty yellow with bits of pink on the leaves.
These are nasturtiums! I have never grown nasturtiums before and these were a long time coming. We planted them in the ground last Fall. A little plant grew up but it stayed little for a very long time. The leaves are so interesting that I just decided to leave it alone rather than pull it out. This spring it began getting long and viney and then these interesting orange-ish flowers popped out.
This pot came from my Grandma Baxter. She had a green-thumb and she always had a pot with a small (and asymmetrical) bougainvillea planted on her patio. It was just like this one with bright pink "flowers" and green leaves frosted white around the edges. I seem to have inherited her green thumb, even though I long ago killed her original bougainvillea. Maybe some day this one with grow nice and asymmetrical, just like hers.
For Mother's Day I planted these little flower pots for the ladies in the family. I saw them over at Blissfully Content and knew that I had to copy them! (Just FYI, you should water the plants well while they are still in their original pots. Then transfer them into the jiffy-pots as close to gift-time as possible...otherwise your pretty fabric handles will get water/soil stains.)
This year for Mother's Day I learned something very important. I made a list of exactly what I wanted (what would make me happy) and I got it and it made me happy!
This pot used to be a fire pit....until the boys threw logs into it with such force that the bottom popped right out. It broke into three nice big pieces so I put the pot flush on the ground, re-fitted the broken pieces and now I have a big flower pot. So for Mother's Day I asked for a big bag of potting soil and flowers to fill the broken pot. Tyler and the boys made some nice selections!
And there were even extra flowers to add to this pot.
These beautiful flowers also arrived on Mother's Day. My sister brought them over for our lunch celebration so they became our center piece!
Remember what I said about flowers being on sale after holidays?? This little rosebush was on sale after Valentine's day and this is the first time I've seen in it all it's freshly bloomed glory! If I can keep the aphids off I should have a few more blooms soon.
And last-but-not-lease, these two beautiful flowers came from Tyler for our 11th Anniversary!
These are hydrangeas! They are stunning. Purple and violet with blues and pinks. So vibrant it doesn't seem possible that they are real...but they are.
And these are cut flowers, also for our anniversary. So pretty.
It's nice to have my kitchen sink flanked on both sides with big bunches of flowers.
I'm not sure I'm ready for May to end. It has been a month full of flowers!
How about you? What's growing in your garden? Do you have any favorites that you can put on your list and bring home from the grocery store?
We started the month with a happy reappearance of flowers on "old" plants. These verbena and alyssum survived the mild Arizona winter and the previous hot Arizona summer to make this happy coupling.
I picked up this mini-rose bush after Thanksgiving, but it only recently began flowering. (Did you know that after big holidays item in the floral department at the grocery store go on super-sale!) The flowers open to a pretty yellow with bits of pink on the leaves.
These are nasturtiums! I have never grown nasturtiums before and these were a long time coming. We planted them in the ground last Fall. A little plant grew up but it stayed little for a very long time. The leaves are so interesting that I just decided to leave it alone rather than pull it out. This spring it began getting long and viney and then these interesting orange-ish flowers popped out.
And our last big revival was the jalapeno plant. I don't think jalapenos are supposed to be perennials, but this plant sits close to the house where it was protected all winter and not forgotten when it came time to water. At any rate, it survived. When I noticed it sending out new leaves and little buds I cut it back to about half its height. And now we have jalapenos coming out our ears!
This pot came from my Grandma Baxter. She had a green-thumb and she always had a pot with a small (and asymmetrical) bougainvillea planted on her patio. It was just like this one with bright pink "flowers" and green leaves frosted white around the edges. I seem to have inherited her green thumb, even though I long ago killed her original bougainvillea. Maybe some day this one with grow nice and asymmetrical, just like hers.
For Mother's Day I planted these little flower pots for the ladies in the family. I saw them over at Blissfully Content and knew that I had to copy them! (Just FYI, you should water the plants well while they are still in their original pots. Then transfer them into the jiffy-pots as close to gift-time as possible...otherwise your pretty fabric handles will get water/soil stains.)
This year for Mother's Day I learned something very important. I made a list of exactly what I wanted (what would make me happy) and I got it and it made me happy!
This pot used to be a fire pit....until the boys threw logs into it with such force that the bottom popped right out. It broke into three nice big pieces so I put the pot flush on the ground, re-fitted the broken pieces and now I have a big flower pot. So for Mother's Day I asked for a big bag of potting soil and flowers to fill the broken pot. Tyler and the boys made some nice selections!
And there were even extra flowers to add to this pot.
These beautiful flowers also arrived on Mother's Day. My sister brought them over for our lunch celebration so they became our center piece!
Remember what I said about flowers being on sale after holidays?? This little rosebush was on sale after Valentine's day and this is the first time I've seen in it all it's freshly bloomed glory! If I can keep the aphids off I should have a few more blooms soon.
And last-but-not-lease, these two beautiful flowers came from Tyler for our 11th Anniversary!
These are hydrangeas! They are stunning. Purple and violet with blues and pinks. So vibrant it doesn't seem possible that they are real...but they are.
And these are cut flowers, also for our anniversary. So pretty.
It's nice to have my kitchen sink flanked on both sides with big bunches of flowers.
I'm not sure I'm ready for May to end. It has been a month full of flowers!
How about you? What's growing in your garden? Do you have any favorites that you can put on your list and bring home from the grocery store?
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