A-Z Project

(+3 insets above) Note: I have a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! (More posts are there now!) A couple of years ago, I got a really nice deal on end-of-season spring bulbs, and Steve and I spent many hours digging holes and planting them out in our meadow around the beloved Oak tree which stands guard there. We didn't have much soil to contribute, so we dug in the clay dirt, plopped in some potting soil, added the bulb and covered it up. We set up sprinklers and watered every day. In the end, not a single bulb flowered. We were so disappointed. Last year in April, I looked out into the meadow and saw something blue. No. Could it be? I ran out to see, and yes, it was an anemone!!! I got my camera and took many pictures because I expected that it would be eaten by the next day, and it was. It was the only flower to bloom. (See the insets above). This year, April came around and I looked at my anemone pictures to get the exact date. A few days before, I began making rounds, but the blue anemone didn't come up. Discouraged, I almost gave up the hunt, but decided to check the next day, just in case. As I approached, I saw something red and held my breath. Shouting in happiness, I bent down to look. "Ohhhhhh!!! A RED ONE!!" Again I ran for my camera and took pictures. Even though it lasted just a day, I am so happy I captured images of this lovely red de Caen Anemone! Explored on May 24, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset, showing our metal trough planter full of flowers) Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! (There are several posts now, the bottom of each links to the next) Last August, I asked Steve to bring home some seeds so I could conduct an experiment: I wanted to see if I could get a fast-blooming plant like a Zinnia to bloom before frost in November. He found a 25¢ deal on flower seeds and brought home a bunch of them. One of them was Sweet Williams. When I discovered they were "biennial", I thought they would never bloom, so I took a bunch and tossed them in my metal trough planter and some in my front flower garden, since it wouldn't hurt and I didn't think they would grow anyway. (The deer ate my experiments, boo!) This spring, something strange plants started growing in each garden. The tops were green and fuzzy, sort of like a Tribble on a stem. Having no idea what this odd plant could be, I waited and wondered. I specifically didn't look on the internet because I simply love flower surprises! One day, about three weeks ago, I saw a bud forming and I could see that the whole top would be covered with them. A couple of days later, the first flower opened and I could hardly believe the beauty of this gorgeous flower! It was a Sweet William, and I'd never seen one face to face before! Stunned by its beauty, I remembered they are in the carnation family, so I leaned in to smell... mmmmmm... sweet and spicy, the classic and unmistakable carnation fragrance! About then it suddenly ocurred to me: the metal trough was FULL of these "Tribble Tops", dozens and dozens of them, plus a couple in the front flower bed. I was in for a SHOW!! (See the inset picture) What a show it has been, and I am so dazzled by these flowers! They are a mix of colors ranging from white to purple, with varigated forms, and they are positively, drop-dead gorgeous. They are now among my favorite flowers, and I'll be sharing more pictures through the year! :) Explored on May 27, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset) (By the way, I have three articles for Part 8 on my Garden Adventure articles...ENJOY! Part 8a—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Good Part 8b—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Bad Part 8c—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Ugly I have tried a few times now to grow tulips. The deer and other animals thank me for my efforts and eat them all before they bloom. Next year will be different because I'll have fencing around my garden but this year was another failure. I did get pictures of one brave tulip that managed to make it nearly to the day it would open! (See the inset) A couple of years ago, Steve and I got the chance to to to an Emu farm, and it was an experience I will never forget. Aside from the emus, the farm was complete with a vegetable garden, an orchard, and everywhere there were flowers planted, including this tulip. Thanks to my A-Z project, I finally got the chance to process this picture, one that I was so happy with and have wanted to share since I first saw it. :) Explored on June 3, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

Note: my latest garden article is up! :D Part 9—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden: We Have A Pumpkin Patch!! A few years ago, Steve and I went to a nearby county fair and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of the farm animals. One of the sows had an enormous litter of piglets and we spent a long time cooing at their cuteness! I learned something today about the word "Ungulate". I always thought it meant "hooved mammal", but that's not entirely correct. Wikipedia gives this definition: "Ungulates are a diverse group of large mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. The term means, roughly, "being hoofed" or "hoofed animal". As a descriptive term, "ungulate" normally excludes cetaceans, as they do not possess most of the typical morphological characteristics of ungulates; recent discoveries indicate that they are descended from early artiodactyls, and thus are directly related to other even-toed ungulates such as cattle, with hippopotamuses being their closest living relatives. As a result of these discoveries, the new order Cetartiodactyla has been proposed to include the members of Artiodactyla and Cetacea, to reflect their common ancestry; however, strictly speaking, this is merely a matter of nomenclature, since it is possible simply to recognize Cetacea as a subgroup of Artiodactyla." I had no idea that whales were considered to be ungulates!! My apologies for not being around much lately. The garden is keeping me very busy, along with everything else going on right now! Explored on June 11, 2014, highest placement, #2.

I watched this beautiful ladybird beetle hunting for breakfast among the dew-covered poppy leaves one morning, and when it paused by a dewdrop, I got some pictures! My garden has many ladybugs in it and I couldn't be happier, because these predators kill aphids and many other insects that destroy my plants! More apologies for not being around lately. It has been a lot of work trying to keep ahead of all the animals that are trying to eat my plants, and though I am still keeping ahead of them, this has left me feeling desperate, frustrated, worried, and depressed. The insects have all but annihilated my dozens of Zinnias which were doing so well. I have them planted in three sections of my garden and they are all just tatters now. I'm fighting back with more and more unfriendly measures as my options are taken away. The ground squirrels are chewing and digging their way into my gardens and eating entire plants. My dill and basil are gone, and some of my beautiful and lushly growing sunflower plants. It seems that the moment I repair one hole, they've created two more. So, it's all-out war and this makes me very unhappy because I just want them to leave my gardens alone. I get it...they are oases of plants and water, and I knew there would be trouble. But I didn't realize that the ground squirrel population has exploded this year for some reason, and they are making me crazy. However, that being said, I've got lots of things doing really well, and just wait until I get to the letter "Y"! :D If Garden Wars isn't enough to keep me busy, there are two colonies of ants attacking our kitchen and we have been trying for about three weeks to get rid of them. They must be under the house, because perimeter ant block has zero effect on them. Whenever we take care of one spot, they find another way in. It's horrible and so annoying, especially when I think I've finally taken care of the last place of entry, and the next morning they are coming in another way. ARGH!! I've also been busy with work, my book, and other tasks. I have surprisingly little time for my photography, and unfortunately, my zest for sharing the wonderful things I see is severely damaged with all of the frustrating situations going on. I am working on balancing everything so that I can have some happy time with photography on a regular basis! :) Explored on June 24, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+4 inset images above) This is the elegant and beautiful Oregon Fawn Lily, which blooms here in March. The purple version, the Henderson's Fawn Lily, grows on our property, but to see the white species I need to walk along the ridge line trail behind our house. About a quarter mile away I find them here and there, and they grow fairly profusely about half a mile away, near the far end of the trail. These flowers range in color from a luminous off-white to a light creamy-yellow and grow only about 6-8" off the forest floor. Update: I was planning to do another A-Z project, but I'm going to put that on hold. My A-Z partner, Chrissy , suggested doing a series on different colors, but I also want to begin posting pictures from my garden. So far I have California Poppies in yellow and cream, a brand new cream Anemone, tiny purple snap dragons, and some little white daisies. To begin the show, about two weeks ago, "False Sunnies" began blooming, and these seeds were given to me by my friend Pam J ! Explored on July 5, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

I thought it would be a lot more fun to find a natural "X" for my picture, and I found this one in my archives which I took in-between rain showers one day. Update: Things are getting better!!! My garden is beginning to explode into bloom! ► I have managed to fend off the ever-determined ground squirrels. ► I have beat back the bad bugs long enough for my plants to get large enough to survive and now to flourish and begin to bloom. ► The deer have never even considered trying to jump my fences. ► The one bird who was eating our tomatoes seems to have moved on. ► The ants have been eradicated from our house and are almost gone from my flowers. I didn't realize that all of this would affect me so much, but honestly, it felt like everywhere I turned there was a pest to deal with. I couldn't even sit at my computer without seeing ants. But finally, it looks like things are calming down. With that, I have more time for photography, posting pictures and commenting. Let's hope things continue to improve! It's horrible to feel like there's no place safe from some kind of infestation or attack.

My latest article is finished, "Ant Invasions!" If you've ever battled with ants, you will know how we felt! You can read it here: Ant Invasions! I would like to present the FIRST FLOWERS of my RAISED BED GARDEN!!! These flowers are very special to me, because I raised them from seeds that were sent to me by my friend Pam J after I told her how much I loved them. We ended up trading several types of seeds, and though I didn't have luck with some of them, these sprouted and so did bunches of Maximillian Sunflowers, which are currently growing larger every day. These flowers are called "False Sunflowers", and grow wild in the Midwest. I love them so much, thank you Pam! Explored on July 14, 2014. Highest placement, #3...

Note: my latest article is up which shows my raised bed garden in bloom! Part 10: Dreams of a Big Flower Garden: An Explosion of Color!! I have finally arrived at the last letter of the alphabet, and this is one of the beautiful Zinnias that have bloomed in my garden! By the way, "zazzy" is slang which means, "a basic cross between zany , pizazz and snazzy to create an adjective suggesting that something is too great to be confined to one word." I have three sections devoted to Zinnias, each with a different kind. This section has Dwarf Zinnias, and I was really surprised to find that about two dozen seeds germinated for me. The plants took off like wildfire...that is, until Cucumber Beetles discovered them. The insects ate many of them down to the ground, and severely damaged the others. I had been so excited and happy because all of the sections of Zinnias were doing so well, and within a couple of days I lost many of them and was facing the death of all of them. I was desperate. Though the chili-garlic spray I was using worked a little bit, the seedlings continued to be damaged. I finally tried a insect powder which I sprinkled onto the leaves and it worked! Finally my Zinnias were left alone, and to my amazement, many of the seedlings that were basically dead came back and are now creating buds! Hooray!! My Dwarf Zinnias are almost all shades of pink, but there's one orange-red one too, and there are others yet to begin blooming, so there may be other colors as well. I'm so happy to share my first Zinnia flower with all of you, grown from a tiny seed, and what a nice picture to end my Alphabet project with! Explored on July 21, highest placement: #1.