monday musings.

keep love in your heart. a life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

{oscar wilde}

this very moment is a seed from which the flowers of tomorrows happiness grow.
{margaret lindsey}

flowers are restful to look at. they have neither emotions nor conflict.
{sigmund freud}

flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world.
{ralph waldo emerson}

happy monday, y'all.

{semi} wordless wednesday: name that bug.

since i posted about a dragonfly last wednesday, it only seems fitting that i continue with my wednesday bug theme...

adam & i were in the backyard on sunday when we noticed this crazy looking bug flying around our butterfly bush.

is it a bird? no. {interestingly enough, not long after spotting the bug in question a hummingbird flew in for a brief moment.}

is it a bee? no. but it's color does remind me of a bumblebee.

is it a shrimp? ha ha ha. no. but, adam thought that the bug's body was shaped like a shrimp.

we're not sure what the heck it is. we watched it for a good 15 minutes as it flew from flower to flower on our butterfly bush. 

my guess is that it's a moth of some kind.

for now, we are referring to this guy as a humming-bumble-shrimp. you know, until an entomologist can set us straight or i find out what it is on google...whichever happens first.

got plants?

{disclaimer: this is a l-o-n-g post with pictures.  i'm just warning you now.  by the way, did you check out my wordless wednesday post?  i'm super proud of my bee pictures.}

we're serious about our plants.

really, we are.

about 5% of our garden is either store bought {the okra we planted last year} or has come back year after year on its own {all of our herbs, tomatoes & peppers}.  the other 95% of our garden comes from plants that we sprouted from seeds.  it's a seemingly simple, yet frustrating, process that requires a lot of careful planning, trial and error & a bit of luck.

trust me.

we don't have a greenhouse nor do we have much of a green thumb.  we just enjoy growing & tending to plants that repay us for all the love & care by providing us with fresh fruit, veggies & herbs.

as for the other flora in our yard, well, we paid good money for all of it & the landscaping of our backyard has been a process that has lasted MANY years {never ending, it seems}.  even our most overgrown flower beds provide us with new plants to split & share with friends and family.  we recently created a new flower bed in our yard {we got rid of our swingset} and a lot of what we planted came from other parts of our yard or from my parents' flower beds.  recycled plants, y'all...it's as green as you can get!

and, because i am proud {super proud} of what we are doing within the confines of our privacy fence, i'm going to share a few more pictures of our garden goodness {because showing off our green thumb wasn't enough}...

onion blossoms are big puffballs of pretty, aren't they?
such a big difference from the picture i took a couple weeks ago.

 dill...covered in dew.

this is the first time we've grown dill.  we sprouted dill seeds...twice.
the first attempt was a big mess.  our second attempt?  success!

 our tomatoes have blossoms!
i honestly don't remember if these are grape or roma.  this is one of the plants that came back on its own.  adam seems to believe that they cross-pollinated last year.  i'm not sure if that's possible, but, who knows, we may just wind up with a grape-roma hybrid!

chives.  i think this is my second or third time sprouting chive seeds this year.
i'm looking forward to adding fresh chives into scrambled eggs. yum!

earlier this week, i was watering the garden and noticed that our beans are sprouting.  

have you ever had a fresh green bean?  i'm not talking about the kind you can buy by the bagful at your local grocery store.  no, i'm talking about fresh off the plant. 

delicious.

sprouting green beans {or any bean or pea, really} is super easy.
no wonder beans were my "go to" plant for science projects as a kid.
really. if you're looking to start a garden & want to sprout your own seeds, i suggest starting with beans.

another easy plant to sprout from a seed & grow:  sunflowers.

these aren't just any ole sunflower.  they're are mammoth sunflowers.

we grew some last year.  at the plants' peak, i think they were about 15 feet tall with flowers that were just over a foot in diameter.  they were crazy big.
we also had smaller sunflowers growing along our back fence.

is there anything prettier than a zucchini blossom?  they've bloomed a bit more since i took this picture on monday.  i cannot wait for fresh zucchini.  our yellow squash is showing signs of blossoms, too.

adam has always been hesitant to grow any kind of leafy green.  i don't know why.  we tried {last year} to grow lettuce & failed miserably.  i'll admit, this IS our second attempt at growing both arugula {or rocket} & spinach {pictured above} and i think we've been pretty successful thus far.

 we turned our old metal fire pit into a planter box and that is where we sprouted the arugula & spinach seeds.  the fire pit cover is currently sitting on top of the sproutlings {is that even a word??} in an effort to keep our oldest boston terrier, frisco, out of the dirt.
{trust me, you should have seen what he did to this shortly AFTER i planted the seeds.  i wouldn't be surprised if there's spinach & arugula growing out of our pavers.}

not long after we moved into our house {back in 2002}, i came home with three oleander plants.  only one survived.  in fact, it barely survived.  the other two drowned.  adam put in a french drain & i haven't had a plant drown in our side yard since.  

i'll get a picture of the flowers.  promise.

 the lavender is blooming the teeniest purple flowers.  i wonder if i can cook with this lavender?  i'm not sure of the variety.  does anyone know? 

 first, i think orange is my new favorite color {it was red}.  

second, i think poppies are my new favorite flower {it was gerbera daisies}.  

third, i am in love with the tissue paper like quality of the poppy's petals.  

i believe these are champagne poppies.  between my three poppy plants we have yellow, white, orange & pink flowers.

    and, because it is the proper {southern} thing to do, i have a magnolia in my yard.  

actually, i have two. 

our landscape plan called for a sweet bay magnolia, but i want to say that i bought a star magnolia.  of course, this bloom looks nothing like a star magnolia's bloom, so maybe i did buy a sweet bay way back when.
we have an ann magnolia in our front yard.  

p.s.  my daddy hails from mississippi...also known as the magnolia state.

 many years ago, my mom gifted us with about five small lily plants.  this is what five small plants have turned into.  yes, it is covered {and i mean COVERED} in buds.  our side flower bed {which is ridiculously overgrown} is about to explode with color.

and, last but not least, i have a mum that's ready to bloom.  this plant was something i picked up from wally world a few autumn's ago and it's been so neglected & uncared for.  it's still in the same tacky, plastic, wanna be terra cotta pot it came in.  but, you know what?  this plant has been the most forgiving plant i've ever had.
{watch, now that i've said all of this, it's gonna die.}

linked up with frugal gardening 101: the busy mom's guide at getting freedom from debt - go check it out! 

{semi} wordless wednesday: green thumb

a peek into my backyard...

 the blueberry bush we purchased on mother's day.
aidan is beyond excited about this plant.

our cilantro sprouted early & has teeny white flowers. 

we love cilantro & use it often.

 a couple months ago, our fig tree was pretty much chewed up
& destroyed by our boston terriers.
now it has big, green leaves and is looking very healthy.
i just hope we can enjoy the figs this year.
last year, the birds got to them first.
{we have a fake owl in our backyard now to scare the birds away. we named him hooty.}

 excuse the janky looking ground.
our new paver patio will come right to the edge of this flower bed.
the pink flowers? that's gaura. so easy to grow & it comes back like crazy.
{seriously, we had gaura growing in one of our horseshoe pits!}
the shrub behind it? spirea. it's getting ready to sprout clusters of pink flowers.

 so far, only the gaura with pink flowers has bloomed.
we also have gaura with white blooms.

 when we bought our house, there were two grape vines in the backyard.
i don't know know the variety. the grapes are always small.  small & green.
we don't eat them but maybe i should make wine with them. ha!

 i have never had a hydrangea with pink blooms.
we bought this on mother's day & planted it in the backyard
where i grew bee balm* last year.
i hope the blooms stay pink {i need to test our soil}.
our hydrangea in the front yard is blue.

*i am currently growing bee balm again this year, but it's
in a pot...for now.

 my mom gave us this lavender plant & it stayed in a pot on the front porch for years.
we finally planted it in the ground in our backyard.
i could sit and smell this plant all. day. long.

 our red onion plants are about to bloom.
think dandelion, but better.

i'll have to get a picture once it's fully bloomed.

 poppies!  well, poppy.

we have three small poppy plants and each has blooms of
yellow, pink, orange & white.

 i love my knockout roses.
three small plants turned into three huge bushes!

 i love cutting the smaller blooms and putting them in a 

bud vase on my coffee table.

new to our garden this year: thai basil.

our sweet basil is still coming up, but the thai basil
has already bloomed.
such sweet purple flowers!

linked up with frugal gardening 101: the busy mom's guide at getting freedom from debt {go check it out!}

{semi} wordless wednesday: ranunculus

in the spirit of budgeting, getting out of debt & saving money, i bought a new camera.  doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?  didn't think so.  but, i couldn't pass this camera up.  for those of you who know me well, you know i've been yearning for a fancier camera.  you probably also know where i bought it from {today's special value?  yes, please!}.  but, yeah, about that qvc thing...that's a whole 'nother blog topic.

anyways, about the camera.  it's in between a point & shoot and a DSLR...it's a 'tweener!  i haven't played around with the manual settings yet, but i'm really enjoying the auto setting.  i tested out the camera by taking pictures of the ranunculus clippings i bought last week while at trader joe's.

{i edited these pictures with adobe photoshop elements 8.0 &
i think the pictures look a little grainy.  it could just be me.}

my kodak point & shoot is nice, but it would not have taken these shots with such clarity.  my new camera isn't the fanciest camera out there.  the picture quality may not be the greatest.  i'm not very skilled when it comes to photography.  nor am i skilled when it comes to editing photography.  i'm still learning.  but, the main thing is:  i'm happy.

psst...don't forget to enter my scentsy giveaway!

a blaze of color.

a close-up of one of two pineapple sage plants in our flower beds.  i love the glorious red flowers that sprout up this time of year.  the contrast of the red against all of that green is so beautiful.  and, yes, like the name suggests, this herb has a lovely pineapple-y aroma.

okra blossoms.

we've been blessed with a bountiful garden.  

currently, we are absolutely loving our okra plants.  we've never grown okra before, but one day adam came home from the store with two okra plants {everything else in our garden was sprouted from seeds} and we haven't looked back since.  the plants are currently as tall as our privacy fence & both are producing some absolutely wonderful tasting okra!

we've enjoyed adding the okra to homemade succotash & frying up okra covered in cornmeal is such a yummy treat!  our next goal is to pickle & can some okra so we can enjoy it into the fall & winter.  {seriously, pickled okra is yum-o.}

and, not only are the plants thriving, but its blossoms are stunning!

interesting to note:  the okra plant is related to the hibiscus plant {okra is also related to cotton, too}.  if you didn't know any better, wouldn't you assume that those blossoms were from a hibiscus plant??

to learn more about okra, check out this site.

wordless wednesday - you are my sunshine

{from our garden}

GEARING UP FOR SPRING...

Old man winter has come and gone in Southeastern Virginia (or has it...I mean, it was freezing cold this morning and the ground was, dare I say, frozen??) and so our yearly yard clean up began a few weekends ago. It started off by getting the patio furniture cleaned off and sweeping the pavers. That led to weeding the flower bed and pruning the different bushes and trees in our backyard. The weeding and pruning led us to basically overhaul our flower beds so we laid down a weed barrier and mulched all of the flower beds in our backyard. It took two yards of mulch, but it was done (yesterday). And, during the process of all of this backyard business, we decided to move around a few plants and will soon start dividing some of the hostas we have back there because they are getting out of control! Oh, and did I mention that we got the garden ready and currently have red onions, rosemary, cauliflower, bok choy and brussel sprouts planted?

So, all of this backyard business is my toot for today because we did it. The backyard is ready for the spring weather, cookouts and horseshoe games that are sure to come once it warms up a bit.