Thursday, May 31, 2012

Harvest, plus bloomers

The harvest has begun here in my midwestern garden.

Lavender in bloom







I've had lots of snow peas to eat and share.



The blueberries are just beginning to come on. I saw a robin land in one of the bushes to feed; he can have a few I guess...



Many blooms are present in the garden as well. Come along with me and I'll show you a few.


Pricky pear cactus in bloom







'Bishop's Castle' David Austin English rose



 Mr. Frog peeks out above the heuchera.



Filled with blooms! 



'Carefree Beauty'



Coreopsis



Shrub rose



Larkspur is abundant in my gardens.



Vignette on my front porch






"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant."  Author unknown

Thanks for visiting!
Beth

Linking to Fertilizer Friday

Monday, May 28, 2012

Tea Time Tuesday - Patriotic Tea on the porch

Welcome, blogger friends! I hope you enjoy my repost from last summer - tea on the front porch. 
Are you ready for a Patriotic Porch Party?


Red, white and blue...
Colors of our flag
And also of our home!

The house is white with blue shutters and a red door.


A cup of tea in a blue Pfaltzgraff cup
on a little red table
on the porch of our colonial style home


where we proudly fly Old Glory every day of the year.



The little blue teapot was a thrify find for me,
and one you've seen before.
I thought it went well with the red, white and blue
Patriotic Tea on the Porch!
Did you notice the inscription on the bottom of the teapot?


I'm enjoying a simple black tea and I've added two sprigs of chocolate mint; one was used to flavor the tea, then discarded, and the other makes the photo image pretty!


Be sure to stay awhile; the red rocker awaits you...


Happy Memorial Day! I welcome you to sit in my rocker and have a cup of tea anytime!

I'm linking my Patriotic Tea on the porch to several fabulous blog parties. I hope you will check them out; the links are listed here.

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper
Mosaic Monday at The Little Red House
Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage
Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites and Artful Affirmations
Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Tea in the Garden at Bernideens Tea Time Blog
Tuesday Cuppa Tea at Antiques and Teacups


Warm Regards,
Beth









 

Thursday, May 24, 2012

It's All About the Pinks

Thanks for stopping by Beyond The Garden Gate, where I blog about my garden, my table (especially tea), and my life. I'm so glad you came; be sure to leave a comment so I can stop by and visit you too. Welcome to my new followers as well.

It's like summer has begun already in my midwestern garden, and today I'd like to focus on a color that is now predominant there:  pink!

This is Buck Rose 'Carefree Beauty.' Buck roses were developed at Iowa State University by Dr. Griffith Buck, and are extremely hardy.




Here I'm showing clematis 'Princess Diana.' This is her second year in the garden. It's been said of clematis that the first year they sleep, the second they creep, and the third they leap. I can say she's probably doing a little more than just creeping! And I love her!








 Did I ever tell you that foxglove is my favorite flower? Well, foxglove along with lupine, echinacea, hemerocallis and nigella.

Most foxglove are biennial, meaning they die after the second year. In another area of my garden, I shook seed from two existing plants last fall (Camelot series) and I have over a dozen new plants coming up. It remains to be seen whether they will bloom this year or not. Some foxglove are green only the first year, bloom the second, and then die.

There are other foxglove that are longer-lived, such as the yellow one shown in this post.



These foxglove may be of the Camelot series; I'm not certain.

I've had success growing foxglove in part sun as well as full sun.




An insect has taken a liking to my foxglove too. Speaking of insects and other things creepy crawly, there seem to be more of them at this time than ever. I've had untold numbers of anthills in the yard and garden, ticks on the outside cat (and me), and yesterday I came upon an Eastern tent caterpillar in the lupines. We've had a lot of trouble with rose slugs too, something I'd never seen before. Mosquitos are bad too, although our record dry conditions (17 straight May days without rain so far) should decrease mosquito populations. No Japanese beetles yet, but I'm prepared with my trusty garden gloves and a bucket of dish soap.




Would anyone care for tea in the garden? lol
This is yard art!



Pink Nigella




Do you like repetition in the garden? I do. I think it unifies your space. I have a lot of coneflowers, mainly purple coneflowers but a few others as well.

This is the end of today's pinks in the garden, but I have a few other things to show you too.




Daisies - an example of repetition in my gardens




Love this color contrast: Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'



Larkspur, a self-seeding annual with a definite cottage garden flower look




Primula - Danova mix




 White rose in the Moon garden



Achillea 'Paprika'




 Loosestrife



Every little flower here will someday be a blackberry! Mmmmmm...






"Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden?" ~Robert Brault


Thanks for visiting!
Beth

Linking to Fertilizer Friday



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Welcome to Beyond The Garden Gate! I like to blog about the beauties in my garden, and today it's the roses. I don't know the names of most of these, so just enjoy the images. I am loving stepping out my front door and taking in their fragrance and the visual beauty.




'Double Delight'

















"It pleases me to take amateur photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look professional." ~Robert Brault



Thanks for visiting!
Beth

Monday, May 21, 2012

Dinner on the deck

It's dinner on the deck for Ron and I tonight.


I made orange spice iced tea and I'm serving it in Grandma's cut glass pitcher.


Ron's not a tea drinker; he's having lemonade.


I purchased these colorful floral melamine plates at the Master Gardener plant sale...they were on the "garden art" table. I thought they would be cute for occasions like dinner on the deck.


Peonies from my garden make a lovely centerpiece.


When you eat outside, you sometimes get visitors...actually, he's here for the grape jelly.


Dinner is grilled chicken and baked potatoes...we're eating light so we can save room for dessert!

 I continue to practice my cake decorating skills. I'm having lots of fun doing that!


These are candy clay roses. I learned to make them by watching a YouTube video. Here is the link for a tutorial on making candy clay roses.


Devil's food cake with white buttercream icing and a side of vanilla ice cream...mmmmmm!


 Admiring my pretty cake


"Iced tea may not have as much wisdom as hot tea, but in the summer better a cool and refreshed dullard than a steamy sweat-drenched sage-leave sagacity to the autumn!" ~Linda Solgato


Thanks for joining me for the following parties:  Tea Time Tuesday, Tea In The Garden, and Tuesday Cuppa Tea.

So glad you stopped by!
Beth



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