Hi everyone and Happy Tuesday to you!
Joy sent me some pictures to share with everyone and they are gorgeous! She has SO MUCH COLOR in her back yard! You’ll see!!!
Just a few pics of the yard before the rain comes. Roses, iris, apple tree blossoms, and Callie Cat who doesn’t help much. If you can see dirt or gravel, I’ve weeded it. The concord grapevine is just budding out too.
(Your purple Irises are beautiful Joy!!!) :o)
Joy also sent this:
Daughter just sent this pic of the grands. It’s right behind their house. No pot of gold though. 🙂
Wow! A double Rainbow! That is a very neat picture, Joy!
Thanks so much Joy! I loved your pictures… now we’ve traveled from New Zealand to California this week! How fun it has been!
See everyone tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, my, such lovely pictures of your yard and flowers, Joy! They are all so beautiful. Nice to see Callie cat, and your grands in that spectacular rainbow, too.
Every time I see irises, I think of my 5th grade teacher (who was my favorite teacher); Mrs. Naslund grew irises, and had just about every color you can think of. I went to see her several times over the years, until she passed away. She and I corresponded for many years, too. Such a dear, and probably the main reason my favorite name is Elizabeth, because that was her first name (although she went by Betty, she was always Mrs. Naslund to me, even when I was in my 40s!).
And those roses….those deep orange roses. They are just breath-taking!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Oh thank you for the reminder. I should snatch up a few iris from my old garden. All of ours are handed down by family related to William B Otwell in Carlinville, Illinois.
He is the uncle of my mother in law, Mary Jane Otwell. He and his wife owned that garden and it was a great sensation long ago.
It is wonderful that you kept up with your favorite teacher. There were some incredible teachers back in the day.
Thanks on the yard and pic taken by our daughter of the grands. How wonderful that you were able to keep in touch with your teacher from fifth grade. I’m sure that she was very appreciative. 🙂
My favorite teacher was my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Dietz. I think Hilda was her first name. She had an amazing reputation among student who had her and I was so determined to have her that I walked into her classroom on the first day and took a seat. Problem was I wasn’t on the roster and when they tried to make me leave I burst our crying. Fortunately my mother was at school that day since my sister, Beth, was starting first grade so they went and got her. It was decided by everyone that leaving me in Mrs. Dietz’s class was the best thing for me. It was my best year in elementary. I wish I had kept up with her over the years but I just assumed teachers moved on focusing on their new student. But thankfully she had a class picture taken back when they weren’t doing that, so she paid for it herself. I not only have a lovely picture of my favorite teacher but so many of my classmates also thanks to her.
Oh Joy, thank you so much for taking us through the “California Botanical Gardens”! Just kidding about the name, but wow, what a lovely yard you have, and yes, colorful too! You seem to be farther along in your blooming time than we are here in the Midwest.
So that’s the “famous” Callie cat! She certainly looks like she likes being in your yard!
You say that if we see mud or gravel, that means you have weeded in that place. Do you put mulch around your plants? If you do that you won’t get so many weeds and it certainly does improve the way it looks. Also plants don’t dry out as fast with mulch around them. Just a thought, since we use mulch and have good results with it.
Those orange and yellow roses are just beautiful! Are they a special kind?
What a wonderful, one of a kind picture of that double rainbow! How lucky to have gotten that shot!
That is a beautiful set of pictures you sent to Jeanne, and thank you both for showing us!
A quick thought on mulch. Yes, that is used here too. And the beds are mulched. However, I have been digging out blackberry and mint coming up within the flower beds. Between iris plants and roses etc. Like the green coming up behind Callie Cat is blackberry. Other person has been helping occasionally with his saber saw and was able to cut off some privet at the ground. So that helps in the killing of it. There are still lots of places to dig out blackberry though. Then, the mulch can be returned and plants returned too. Regular old weeds aren’t much of a problem. It’s the privet, blackberry, and mint that are the tough ones. Grrr Thanks for liking the blooms. 🙂
Good morning dear ones. Jeanne, thank you for sharing Joy’s photos.
Joy, Oh my, your garden of flowers is spectacular!
Those purple iris are beauties! Everything looks neat and tidy and really inviting.
I love Callie cat. Your rose bushes are beautiful, I love roses. I love all of the budding plants!
The orange ones are stunning. You have a lovely property. I love the paths, and everything is ready for Spring and Summer- delightful.
Your grand kids are amazing indeed. This is a very special picture. A treasure really!
I am so happy you shared these pictures today. Now I REALLY miss my old gardens, but that is okay, I have others, just like yours, to enjoy.
We have a neighborhood garden plot in our new neighborhood and I am looking forward to seeing what many of the neighbors are growing. I do hope they have an open house, or perhaps I can get an invite onto the property.
Tuesday already. I have lost track of the schedule here, my oldest daughter (Christina) is coming today with a big van and going to try to take what she can from the old place. She will spend the night and I will take good care of her.
If I do not add anymore comments on comments, well, it is because I have to do some focusing. I hope all of you have a wonderful day. I will try to get a picture of my beautiful daughter and myself.
No rain for us this whole week. so we might have to bust out the sprinkler.
Thanks on the garden. And good luck loading that van today. Take care.
Wow, Joy!! I can see that all the work you go in that yard was really worth it! You could charge people to come see it! I love all the colors, the orange, purple, and bright pink colors. We have wild iris on the roads here, I love seeing them as we drive by. yours are so lovely. I admire anyone that can grow roses. I do have a climbing rose and the white flowers are blooming now, but it is the only one I could manage to stay. Thank you so much for sharing and your too, Jeanne.
You are so kind. I do have some CA iris, but while uncovering them from ivy, I knocked off blooms. But, I think that they will produce some more. They aren’t like regular iris exactly. I haven’t been back to that area since the storms. I’ll have to look. 🙂
Thanks Jeanne, for sharing my pics today. If you look behind Callie Cat, that is blackberry that still needs to be removed. It’s everywhere! I’ve been trying to clear cut/dig out offending privet, blackberry, and mint which has decided it likes the same places where my iris grow. So it is a challenge to not destroy the iris, but get the blackberry etc. out. Didn’t get any weeds pulled yesterday because it was still too wet and very cold. But, today looks promising. If I get the big beds cleared and other person can dig out some big clumps with the pitchfork, I might be able to start in replanting. Over the years, I’ve lost a lot of plants to the big stuff, not only common weeds. Next to bloom should be the artichoke plant. Only one left now, but it is a good producer. We have the tomato plants we picked up at Costco ready to plant as soon as it dries out enough. 🙂
So much for the garden report! Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
Along with many other things, David and Sean have been working hard on our veggie garden. They are not planting in the ground this year but in grow bags. Easier to control the plant environment and also keeps the weeds and moles, etc. at bay. David says we should be getting some tomatoes and cucumbers shortly. We love cucumber sandwiches and bacon and tomato sandwiches.
Oh I hope that the cukes are productive this year here. Last year was a bust. The bags sound like a great way to pplant. Hoe you can get some pics to share. 🙂
Joy, thanks so much for sharing pictures of your beautiful and colorful yard. I see now why you spend so much time lovingly taking care of it. You definitely have a green thumb. And the picture of your grands under the double rainbow was absolutely breathtaking. And Callie cat is beautiful. I’m assuming Callie is short for Calico because that’s what she looks like. Your Irises are so lovely. I’ve been looking into the artificial plants for outdoors. The place where I want to put them gets little sun and nothing thrives there. They are supposed to not fade in the sun but I don’t think that will be a problem anyway in that bed. I plan on putting some pretty gravel on the bed and planters on top of that. Between no sun, slugs, and moles coming up from underneath whatever we planted there seems to diminish quickly.
Oh yes, those artificial plants of higher quality do have fade resistance. We use them at the cemetery too. They last and look great. I think that’s a good idea to add some color to a difficult spot.
Definitely in need of color. That bed ruins my curb appeal LOL. I’ve found some really lovely artificial plants on Etsy. I need to do a little research on how to “plant” them etc. The one ad I saw on Facebook showed a woman just placing them in planters. I thought while they do look nice, the first time a strong wind comes along the plants will belong to someone else.
I asked you yesterday but too late in the day for you to see it I think, but do you have any of the Meadow Tweens? They are really adorable dolls. I was just looking since I’ve committed to Moppet Bailey but I wanted to see if you had any. I love the slender look to them. Since most of the other Meadow dolls are definitely toddlers they are so different.
So many dolls here, but yes I do have one tween. I think I decided to stick with the smaller size and the Moppets, and the larger ones as well. Not to discourage you, because they are adorable. It was just my decision as I had so many of the others. I think they would be fun to sew for too. 🙂
Such beautiful pictures and flowers, Joy! I especially love the last flower picture, and the rainbow one is gorgeous! Callie Cat is beautiful.
Lucia is in surgery now. She was feeling dizzy with the medicine they gave her. I hope it goes well. 🙏
Dear Karen, Praying for Lucia. Please let us know when she is in recovery. I still have my tonsils and adenoids, but I did have to have ear tubes twice as a child, not that they solved my ear infections.
Thank you, Laura. I just talked to the doctor a few minutes ago. He is done already. It went well. I haven’t gotten to see her yet. I am glad you still have your adenoids and tonsils. I’m sorry the ear tubes didn’t help. Hopefully Lucia will be able to sleep better now. They want to observe her here overnight.
Also, Joy, if you don’t mind me asking, do you think you got more colds from not having your tonsils or adenoids anymore?
You asked Joy but I wanted to mention the experience of a friend of mine. Her son kept getting colds a lot and they told her if they removed his tonsils that would help. She was skeptical but did it anyway and it worked wonders for his health. I don’t ever remember him having problems after that. My sisters and I all have our tonsils and adenoids (I think they atrophy on their own over time) as does my children but we were rarely sick so there was never any mention of surgery.
Good to know! Thanks, Barbara!
The reason I had my tonsils and adenoids removed was because I would often get bronchitis or colds. I guess it worked as here I am. 🙂
That’s great! Thank you! =)
Karen, I’m hoping and praying that Lucia’s surgery will help her. That is a very common surgery for children, and I am sure she will be in tip top shape in no time!
Thanks so much, Linda!
What gorgeous flowers and flowering trees, Joy. Your purple irises are lovely. Your rose is beautiful. It looks a little like the Tropicana one my grandmother had in her rose bed. She has a huge rose bed filled with many varieties Peace, Mr. Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth , etc, and my favorite Mirandy.
Now my favorite is Zephirine Drouhin introduced in 1868 (100 years before I was born) and is nearly thornless.
Great job getting all the weeds gone. Callie Cat makes a good supervisor. My one little boy kitty likes to sit in his stroller and supervise as well.
That is a stunning double rainbow picture. Thanks for sharing your wonderful garden.
There appears to be a tour of Hobbiton on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/ihqouGmra9g?si=FiM_gmNhGHcNbOls
Amazing!
Thanks Laura. I wish I could remember the names of my roses. I’ve had them probably forty years now, and I’ve forgotten the names. Tags disappeared years ago too. Bad me.
Hobbiton is quite amazing. Tks for sharing. 🙂
joy your flowers are absolutely beautiful. I know you work hard to maintain them and that’s wonderful. In the front of our house, I have a bush that looks like the pink delicate flower a couple of pictures down. I just picked all the dead blossoms off and I don’t know if that’s normal that they don’t
stay long on the plant.
And the picture of your grandchildren, especially in front of that rainbow is really neat- That picture is worthy of blowing up and putting in a frame.
Tks on the yard. And daughter’s picture. I am considering getting an enlargement made. 🙂
Karen, I hope Lucia gets well quickly. My second son had his adenoids out because they were making him deaf. He was born with a sub-mucous cleft palette (no hare lip). Because it was covered by a membrane it wasn’t picked up until he was 3. It affected his ability to talk properly and he couldn’t say most consonants so ‘car’ was ‘nar’. However, he couldn’t pronounce an ‘s’ either which was why the Dr thought he was deaf because it was a consonant he should have been able to pronounce. It turned out he had never heard the sound. He had two ops after that, one to close the palette and one to lengthen it. When we were visiting after the ‘closing’ op the staff were really worried that they had cut his vocal cords because he didn’t say a word to anyone for the week he was in hospital. That is until the last day when he didn’t stop talking! Although the ops fixed the speech problem he had to have speech therapy for quite a while because he had got into bad speech habits. It did have an upside, he got free orthodontic treatment when he needed it. Unlike the NHS in UK our health service doesn’t stretch to Dentistry for over 18’s.
Joy, your flowers are so lovely, I love spring and it seems so far away from us at the moment lol. I love your roses in particular. When I get to heaven, I am going to ask God why he didn’t make snails that eat the weeds! We don’t have deer, or rabbits (not in the city anyway) and certainly no bears but LOTS of snails. Callie Cat is gorgeous. I don’t know why but I always thought of her as a black or tuxedo cat. The name should have given me a clue lol.
The photo of the rainbow with the grands is wonderful. Getting it framed is a great idea.
Thank you Jeanne for showing my photos and Joy’s. It has been lovely.
Have a great day
Dear Anne, That is so interesting about your second son! Thank you for sharing! I am glad they were able to figure out his problem. I had to have speech therapy when I was young, too. I remember bringing home a card that said “snow” on it to practice the s.
Thanks so much Anne for your lovely comments on the yard here. And very interesting about the speech/surgery/etc. of your son. Sounds like he recovered well. Our youngest had a speech problem, so I had her tested. It was developmental, so she was over it by first grade. Interesting as she could not pronounce “L’s” or N’s. Her name started with an L and her friend with an N. She would come home from preschool talking about Mickey. I couldn’t figure out who that was to make a playdate. Turned out that it was Nickie. 🙂