Daffodils ~ Happy Earth Day!

My studio sale is over for another year, and my attention turns to my garden.

My daffodils are blooming like crazy, just in time for Earth Day – Spring is my favorite time of year!

I feel revitalized, energized and I fly out of bed each morning to see what’s new.

Right now a new daffodil opens each morning!  Beautiful colorful sunny daffodils.

I love variety – color, size, plain and fancy; and a variety of bloom times.

Daffodils emerge from a bulb, and are also called narcissus and jonquils.

As you can see I have a lovely collection.  These are just my early varieties.

Other spring bulbs are also blooming – fritillarias, hyacinths, and more.  A few of my early tulips are showing color but not open yet.

Today I’ll just show you daffodils.  When my daffodil clumps are large enough I divide them and plant them in empty spaces throughout my garden.

I don’t always wait until they die off.  I’ve moved them while blooming so I know what variety I’m planting and can see where they belong!

Large and small, tall and short.  Multi-stemmed and regal tall singles.

I love them all and when I see them smiling like this, I smile back!

Happy Earth Day everyone!!

 

Decompression from an Art Show

Thanks to everyone who came to my studio sale, making it a big success.  We had so much fun but like every weekend art show, I’m left utterly exhausted.

Yesterday I began the clean up, but I move fairly slow after a big event.

Today I hiked Rowena Crest, with magnificent views and wildflowers galore.

The drive is breathtakingly beautiful this time of year with bright green bursting out everywhere.

Looking down at Meyer Park and the Columbia River from the top of Rowena Crest.

Fields of Balsam Root above the Columbia River from the top of Rowena Crest.

The Lyle Bridge from the top of Rowena Crest.

What is the name of this tree?  I know I should know it, but can’t remember.

Time to head back.  Wonderful day of R & R.  My energy will return soon.  I hope!!

Back at the highway, looking up at Rowena Crest, you’d never know what immense beauty rests there.

One more look back at bright yellow beauty before heading home to finish packing up from my yearly studio sale.

Thanks for stopping by!

What? It’s June?

I think the highlight of my month so far, was finding this Metallic Green Bee on my allium.  Maybe they’re common in other parts of the country, but I’d not seen one before!

Another highlight – my foxtail lilies are starting to bloom!

My Gas Plant (Dictamnus purpurea) isn’t as robust as it usually is, but I love it nonetheless.

On the other hand, this penstemon patch is crowding out into my path.

I have Siberian iris blooming….

…and my tall bearded iris will soon be in peak bloom.  See my new Tall Bearded Iris page under my plant list!

I have a colony of wild orchids in my upper shady garden.

And the yellow pouch flowers are well underway.

Here they are up close.  Calceolaria ‘John Innes’.

I love this little geranium, but love it’s textured foliage even more.

Speaking of texture!

Texture with color:  Heuchera, Georgia Peach!

Last for today’s entry:  Pink Fluffy Flower.  I know that deep in the recesses of my brain, I know it’s name!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m working on a major renovation that I hope to post about soon!

Evening Grosbeaks Return in Full Force

It’s like watching a version of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’, when Evening Grosbeaks return to our feeders.

These are a couple of males awaiting their turn at the overcrowded feeding stations filled with sunflower seeds.

Happy Mother’s Day

Mamma feeding Baby

Wishing you a happy Mother’s Day, whether you’re a Mom, Grandma, Auntie, Friend or Mentor. Thank you for your kind and loving heart.

And as always, thanks for stopping by, hope your day is wonderful!

Sunny Yellow Daffodils

A frantic month of work has kept me out of the garden and in the studio, culminating in the Glass Craft & Bead Expo, a major glass conference and trade show, where I taught new groups of students the fine art of working with glass powders.  Returning to my garden is a joy beyond imagination where I can reflect and regenerate.

I knew my daffodils would be blooming, but was surprised and delighted this morning to find a butterfly!

I love the ‘Butterfly’ Daffodils….

This is Palmares, said to be pink, but it’s really not my idea of pink at all.

I am always searching for and ordering the elusive pink daffodil, and they usually fall short.

I end up with a lot of salmon that someone is calling pink.

Sometimes, it’s downright orange! Would you call this pink???

I admit to loving them anyway.  Who doesn’t love the cheery yellow harbinger of spring?

Especially since the deer don’t eat them!

I have other yellow flowering plants & bulbs growing that my neighborhood deer don’t graze.  I have a collection of Frittilaria…this is Raddeana.

Common forsythia…

My beds runneth over with dandelions!  My herbalist friends tell me to eat them, so I sometimes do.  Especially in a salad with other colorful flowers.

The tips of this Euphorbia can appear yellow at times, next to the gray leaves.

Back to my lovely daffodils.  They’re just beginning and I DO have some new PINK daffodils that haven’t emerged yet.  I’ll let you know if they’re really pink this time!

I also like collecting the unusuals like Rip Van Winkle.  I love having distinctive flowers that are different from my neighbors.

As more of my plants emerge, I’ll keep you updated.  Thanks for stopping by after my long absence!  Until next time…….

Did you know that you can ‘subscribe’ to this blog?  You get my newest post delivered to your email by subscribing at the very top on the right column.

Hello Yellow, Goodbye Summer!

Sunflower

Who doesn’t like yellow, the sunny happy color?  I waited all summer for my cannas to bloom & they finally did the last week of September with fall hot on it’s heels.

Canna Lily

This has been such a strange year for all my blooms, leaving a normally lush bountiful garden with just a few spots of color nearing the end of the season.

Detail

I don’t have that many cannas this year, as I’m not so good at overwintering them, so I buy them annually at Horn Canna Farm.

Kniphofia 'Vanilla Ice'

I love the yellow kniphofias and have been searching for a raspberry pink ever since reading about it.  Do you know where I can acquire one?

Bird Food

We had butterflies swarming our yellow butterfly bush this season.

Yellow Butterfly Bush

Decided to include a yellow Goldfinch, one of my favorite birds!

Mamma feeding Baby

Not to mention my yellow birdbath the goldfinches love:

©Steider Studios

And a sunny yellow coreopsis:

Coreopsis

And more of my yellow work hanging around:

©Steider Studios, Garden Fairy

She’s a little pouty because she’s a summer girl and is NOT looking forward to being covered in snow.  Wouldn’t you like to have a little glass fairy hanging around in your garden?!!

Thanks for stopping in.  Until next time…