Where do YOU sit?

I treasure Saturday mornings when I don't have to do anything specific, or be anywhere. Unless it is really cold-I always have my coffee outside. Yesterday morning was one of those wonderful times. Hubby left early to go play golf, and I headed out the patio door. As I sat there looking around my yard, I thought of Nola and her new outdoor room; and I thought of Balisha and her front porch; and I thought of Brenda and her new patio that is being built. I wondered if they were enjoying their coffee outside on this beautiful morning. One thought led to another..and it got me to thinking...where does everyone sit and enjoy their garden?

I sometimes sit in this old red chair. Hubby sits in this chair quite a bit. It's so old and rusty-I know if chairs could talk, it would have lots of good stories to tell.

I don't sit here very often-sometimes if we have company, but this chair is just cute and seems to be happy on the flagstone patio.

Sometimes I sit here on the wicker furniture. It is old and the paint is peeling--which makes me love it even more! There is a ceiling fan that gives a little air circulation when it's hot, but most of the time I sit here when it's raining. This area is covered and it's heavenly to sit with a cup of tea and watch it rain.
This is where you find me most of the time..in the swing. I usually end my day here, listening to the pond and relaxing. On the weekends, I might sit here in the morning and watch the sun come up over the house. At night I sit here and watch the stars come out. This is without a doubt my favorite place to be.

But this Saturday morning I sit here, on the patio, pond side. I have my coffee and I am making a list of what gardening chores I have for the day. This is a great place to sit...you can see the beds along the walkway and the wildflower garden; you can see the bird feeders; you can watch the fish play; and on nice evenings we have dinner here.

I have been an outdoor person my entire life. I often come home at noon and eat lunch outside. I walk out back early every morning to enjoy the freshness of a new day. I end every evening outside thanking God for all this beauty He has created. We are all so very blessed!

So..where do YOU sit??

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

John Muir

"Garden Junk"

This time of year there's not many new things blooming in the garden. We are all waiting on fall for mums and asters I guess. So I am joining my fellow garden bloggers and looking at "other things in the garden." Some call it "whimsy", I think of it as my "garden junk" since most things I find at flea markets or antique stores.
This little table is something my best friend gave me years ago. It was old when she bought it and as you can see, it is still aging. I put it on the flagstone patio joined by old tins, a birdhouse, candles and plants.



Most of my "junk" is along the garage side of the backyard. When they built the fence, I moved all my "stuff" in this empty bed, and it looked so cute, I decided to leave most of it there.













This is a little red wagon I found in McKinney. I had been looking forever for a small wagon, so was really excited to find one this size.
















This Garden Angel watches over the corner wildflower bed. I am just starting out with wildflowers, so she has been very busy this year!

These are just a few of my birdhouses. I keep these in an iron planter on the patio right outside the kitchen.

And my very favorite is this garden stone. My husband surprised me with it several years ago on our 25th wedding anniversary. The stone sits tucked in the ivy right by the pond. I look at it everytime I sit in the swing, and I am reminded of how truly blessed I am!

A Crispy Dilemma

I have a dilemma. Before we had one of the Bradford Pear trees removed, our backyard was almost full shade. Taking down that one tree has completely changed one side of the little yard. Several years ago I planted hostas in the little bed that runs along the fence. They always come back, and always last until late fall. However, now with all the sun on this one side--they are crispy critters!




The hostas don't go all along the entire bed, they are in an area that curves out on each end.

You can see how burned they are getting, plus the sun has faded the bright green color they usually are to very light green.


So, here lies my dilemma. The Hostas are alive, they just look very unhappy. Should I just leave them alone? Should I dig them up?






Should I wait until next year and make a decision? They get plenty of water, it's the hot sun that is baking them.

This time of the year, especially with the hot, dry summer we are having, everything looks pretty unhappy (except for the Rudbeckia--they are always happy!). But, even if next summer is not as hot, the hostas will still get sun most of the day. I hate to dig up plants that are still alive. I don't like giving up on them. What to do, what to do. This is one to ponder...any thoughts will be very welcomed and appreciated!

Deadhead.....or not!

I have gardened since I was a little girl. I learned most things from my Mother, who learned most things from her Mother. I think lots of gardeners will say the same thing. One of my Mother's most important gardening jobs is deadheading. That lady is a conscientious deadheader! And, I learned early on there is a proper way to deadhead. Mother is especially particular about petunias--and her petunias are beautiful and live forever (even re-seed!) in this Texas heat! (You can't just pick off the spent flower, you must pinch back to the first set of leaves! ) However, my curiosity has gotten the best of me lately, and I want to know; do I have to deadhead everything? So, I decided to do some research, and this is what I found.

Deadheading, as you know, is removing spent flowers. There are different types or ways of deadheading; deadheading buds, deadheading flower stems, pinching back, shearing back and pruning. It's lots of trouble though, so why deadhead? Because not only does it keep the plants looking more attractive, but if the old dying flowers remain on the plant, they go to seed and stop producing flowers. Okay, but now I want to know if all flowers must be deadheaded. I have read and read trying to figure this one out.

I always deadhead my geraniums; I read you do not need to deadhead profusion zinnias so I have not and they are beautiful. I read to leave the old blooms of coneflowers on for the birds. I don't deadhead my Black Eye Susans, I am too busy picking them (so would that be considered deadheading even though they are not really dead?) , but I don't think they bloom as long as others I have seen.





Coleus are easy. They are not here for the flowers they produce, so just pinch the little flowers off so the energy can go back to the plants. I will admit though--I have several coleus and sometimes I let them flower a little. But I will not hesitate to prune these beauties way back so they will be bushy.




To deadhead or not to deadhead--that is the question. In my searching the Internet and reading articles I found a list that really helped me. I hope it will help you too. I know I am not the only one that dreads going out to the garden with pruners in hand to really shear a plant back, but I have no problem heading out armed with my garden scissors to take off the old blooms. My only problem is forgetting my glasses and accidentally taking off the prettiest flower along with the dead! Oh well....if I do, I have plenty of vases!

"It's not easy being green..."

I sat in the swing earlier this morning drinking my coffee thinking of how nice everything in my little backyard looked even though it's the middle of summer. I always take my camera with me on these early mornings outside, and as I tried to think about what "flower" to take a picture of, it dawned on me that while the blooming plants are pretty, it's the "green things" that make this little yard look so lush this early Saturday morning. The Perennial Gardener did a post recently on things ignored in your garden. I thought of her post this morning as I looked around at all the pretty green because I realized what I ignore in my garden is what the garden is made of. It's the basis from where we start. It's the beginning. We add flowers for color, and I love my flowers, but on this Saturday morning, I am loving the green. I love the different shades of green, I love the texture and I love the definition it gives to my yard. It's not easy being green--you are ignored and taken for granted. So, thank you to all the green in my yard for making my little garden look so good this morning!

One of my many hostas

Maiden Hair Grass

Wood Fern behind the pond

Boston Fern around the Bradford Pear Tree

Umbrella Plant

Coleus in old picnic tin

Asparagus fern

Wandering jew planted in old chair