Garden Blogger's Bloom Day plus May 15, 2014col

Welcome to my blog, today I'm featuring What's Blooming Now, to see what is blooming in other places around the world join hostess Carol for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

Everything is nearly a month ahead in blooming, so I already have a lot of roses blooming.  Zepherine Drouhin remains Queen of my rose garden with her fantastic early bloom.

A mini with my favorite rose color is My Honey-

Calla lilies are blooming-

Irises are blooming-

The scented Lemon Lily is blooming-

Many of the hardy geraniums are blooming, sanguineum-

Columbines are weaving their magical spell-

Lupines I added last year are blooming-

The magnificent Rhododendrons are blooming-

The smaller native bumblebees love them-

They can be pruned to have marvelous twisty interiors-

As can the weeping cutleaf Japanese Maples-

A small visitor on the door, a damsel in distress-

Today I'm also linking with-

Orange You Glad It's Friday, hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

I hope spring is bursting forth in bloom for you as well!  Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy reading your comments, and will return your visit and comment on your blog as well.

Happy Mother's Day, May 9, 2014

Welcome to my post, today I am linking with-

Orange You Glad it's Friday hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura 

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Macro Monday Mixer hosted by All the V's

This week my seed-grown Geums also started blooming.  They are twice the size of the developed varieties at around 2" / 5cm.  Mrs Bradshaw is a gorgeous red-

A Geum I started from seed that has medicinal roots is Geum urbanum or rivale, it gets tall and has small 1/2" / 2.25cm flowers.  It can spread like a weed.

A taste of orange Nasturtium-

An unexpected treat is the blooming of my Queen of the Roses, Zepherine Drouhin, early-

The last of the Anemone nemorosas to bloom is the delicate prima donna double, 'Vestal'-

A silvery-leaved fuzzy plant I missed last week that is totally wild, seeding and blooming whereever it wants, that decided to grace me with its presence in my garden, Mullein-

In the shade garden another Columbine I grew from seed, 'Krystal'-

And now for a few critters, I found a nice garter snake, this one with a yellow stripe so I'm calling it 'Lemon'-

What a cute smile on this gardener's friend, who eats slugs, and has a twinkle in his mysterious silver eye.   I make them shelters of newspaper mulches and occasional piles of brush.

In remembrance of my mother, Elizabeth, here are a few photos from her 4 years as a missionary in a small Indian village called Yolos in the mountains near Oaxaca, Mexico.

It was an arduous mountain trip to get there.

There she met my father, they got married and had my brother Dwight then me.

My father was sick with malaria and enlarged heart so they left when I was 11 months old.

My brother was fearless and would pull the tails of the giant sows.  "You'll never raise that one!" Said an observer.  But I was terrified of the half-wild dogs of the village and came away with a dog phobia.  I eventually overcame it.   Happy Mother's Day to you mothers out there!   I have 3 children, a son and two daughters.

Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments as well. 

The Silver Carpet May 2, 2015

Welcome to my blog, today I am linking with-

Orange You Glad it's Friday hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

A couple of wonderful, slowly spreading sun ground covers give me that fuzzy silver fix, Antennaria dioca 'rubra', Pussytoes, with tiny flowers just opening-

Dwarf Lamb's Ears- Stachys 'Silver Fleece' avoids a lot of the downfalls of its larger relative, which can get really big messy inflorescences.

Here with a very silvery plant, Santolina, Lavender Cotton, which can get big and bushy.

Another cute ground cover, more of a lawn flower, is the Lawn Daisy, Bellis perennis, here I sought out pinker flowers among the white.  They are low enough to escape the mower except for the flowers.

More of those orange Geum shots, 'Queen of Orange'-

My Viking Aronia is blooming, it is a fantastic backyard fruit, the antioxidant content (ORAC) of Aronia is the highest in native American fruits.  There are also dwarf varieties and Nero that stay smaller.

The Columbines are beginning to bloom, they give my garden a feeling of being what has been described as a "Hobbit" garden.

And a silvery chick as well, another grandchick with feathered feet, a very large and energetic chick that likes to suddenly burst into runs and dodges, hard to photograph.  I think it is a cochin.

Silvery colors help to light up the darkness, just as orange brightens up life-

Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and comment, as long as google + isn't the only option, in which case I will comment here or email.

Made in the Shade April 27, 2015

Welcome to my blog, today I am linking with-

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Marie

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

More Geums from the Rose family are blooming this week, this is 'Mango Lassi';-

Geum 'Queen of Orange', which is the tallest- CORRECTION-  'Totally Tangerine'-

Dutch Tulips tend to be eaten by squirrels or voles in my yard, but species Tulips are somehow not appetizing and can repeat every year, Tulip batalini 'Bronze Charm'-

A few ferns, they mostly like to grow in the shade, most like moist soil, Polystichum aculeatum, Hardy Shield Fern-

Polystichum setiferum 'Divisilobum', the Alaskan Fern-

An elegant but deciduous fern is the Japanese Painted Fern, with delightful shading and silvery tones-

A fern I need to look up, very nice leaves-

And now, another fun peep at another grand-chick, this time a Silkie-

These are very unusual chickens.  They lack barbs to hold their feathers together, which gives them the fluffy furry look.  They have an extra toe, making 5, on their feathered feet.  They have black skin and bones, which makes their bill look blue.  As they mature their feathers tend to flop down over their eyes so they can't see well.  This is one I photographed at the fair last August, they tied her head feathers up out of her eyes-

The delicate little Silkies are not good at protecting themselves from other big chickens or predators, they need protection.  I feel like I need protection sometimes so I am glad to have a faithful Shepherd, Yeshua (Jesus), who promises to be my Strong Tower.

Hannah

   or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and comment as well, as long as google + is not the only option, in which case I will comment here.