Yes, I'm still here. No, I don't have any one/good explanation as to why I've not posted in so many months. Yikes. I have been waiting to share a few things till they're fully completed and wrapped with a shiny bow, and sometimes, things take longer than originally anticipated...and in the meantime, since we're busy working on these projects, I run out of time to tell you about anything else.
One of the things I've been wanting/meaning to share about is our flower beds and garden. I tried to take pictures throughout the growing season of allll the things we planted. Some of these continued to flourish well into fall, and then Thanksgiving and the holiday season hit...and for once, I didn't have the post started and ready to add finishing touches to once we had a hard freeze and things stopped growing...so...you get to read this in the dead of winter. Maybe it was for the best, and this can serve as a reminder of the warmth and color that is to come. Haha.
You might remember another
post about these projects from a couple years ago. Since everything was well-established this year, I thought I'd
fill you in on how everything
filled in! ;)
Anyway, this will be mostly pictures along with some brief explanations.
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| We inherited iris from a few different people. |
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| (This variety was one of my grandma's favorites.) |
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| They didn't bloom last year, so it was fun to be surprised by what came out this year! |
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| "Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?" |
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| This sweet rose bush came with the house. |
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| A neighbor gave us some "surprise" bulbs, so we were surprised by these daylilies! |
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| Sweetspire |
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| Our first bee balm blooms. |
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This stuff blew our minds...it covered probably twice as much ground by the end of the season.
PLEASE let us know if you want any starts - we have two patches this size! |
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| These lilies were not a surprise. ☺ |
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| We thought we'd lost the mums after they were confused by a couple unseasonably warm days in the dead of winter, but two of the three pulled through! |
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Our neighbors shared some hostas shortly after we moved in, and they've done so well!
I even used some of the leaves and blooms as decoration for a church women's event at the end of the summer. |
Of course, I didn't get a picture of the full bed...mostly because things were in full bloom at different times (which was intentional), but you get this idea! Now, for the garden:
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| Just a bunch of baby plants out there! |
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Our first harvest!
(We got maybe five more snap peas after this...) |
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| My little helper, who had previously turned down cucumbers, appointed himself as "Quality Control" for the entirety of the season. No argument here...this is one of the reason we planted a garden. ☺ |
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| We probably should've counted the amazing number of cucumbers our five plants produced over the course of the very wet, not-too-hot spring/summer. No, I never put up any pickles - we just gave a bunch away...and ate a lot. |
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| Tomatoes were a welcome addition to our produce collection once they finally started turning! |
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| We had no problems with deer this year, PTL! |
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| Our one watermelon vine! |
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Pulled these off right before the first freeze.
There were MANY more on the vine, at one point - we'd taken several off early on and left a few on to chance the freeze. |
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| Not too bad! |
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I think I've already told you about this little surprise petunia, but as a refresher:
I thought it was a weed, at one point. It was a tiny little leaf of a plant growing among (obvious) weeds in my annual pot, and I almost pulled it in preparation for more annuals this year. But...I decided to leave it, and I'm so glad I did! |
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| It just kept on growing... |
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| ...and surviving... |
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| ...and blooming... |
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| ...all the way through the end of October! I've never seen anything like it. It was the best surprise! |
There you have it. Like I've said before,
one of the purposes of this blog is to document pieces of my life for posterity's sake. So, while I
don't expect you to have been waiting on pins and needles to see how all our new plants fared, I
do appreciate the interest (some of) you have in the less-exciting details of our life. ☺♥
Gardenly(?),
Kensy
Favorites of the day:
Baja Shrimp Tacos from Twisted Fresh
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Favorite Things parties!
And my favorite thing for the parties this year? Handmade greeting cards!
I made 8 sets of 10 over the course of several months to take to two different parties. |
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everything about this...but really, my husband
I snapped this picture a couple months ago. It's what I came home to after a morning of playing on worship team at church...and after a night of being up with a sick kiddo (his/our first run-in with "throw up"). Not only did Bryant stay home to care for Jacob that morning while I was gone, but he also did the laundry, baked bread, and did all the dishes. ♥
This is just one shining example of how well he cares for us. |
