It's a wrap!

I just can't believe January has come and gone already.  We started January with snow and ended it the same way, but today the sun came out and melted most of it off.  I stole a peek at my winter-sown containers today even though I really didn't expect to see anything and I didn't.  I have delphiniums I will be winter-sowing tomorrow.  Last week, on Tuesday, I started mesclun in a recycled salad container and Thursday I had sprouts already.  The sprouts are about an inch tall already.  I can't wait for fresh, homegrown salad greens.  I also cut some red twig dogwood cuttings a couple of weeks ago and stuck them in a jar of water in my kitchen.  They have little tiny roots!

My hubby has the basic structure of our chicken coop started.  I am having fun trying to decide how I want to 'decorate' the chickens' new home.  When I ask him about color schemes and the endless possibilities for decorating it he just rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and walks away.  How rude!

Here is the coop:

I am hoping to have fresh greens in a couple more weeks:

The weather cooperated last week and allowed me finally clean-up my irises.  How embarassing the mess was!  You can see a little bit of green poking through.

Much better now!

I better go now, my husband is slamming cupboard doors in the kitchen, his way of reminding me it is dinnertime.  Let the countdown to spring begin!

Sunrise, Sunset

This week has been one of those weeks which makes me appreciate what Mother Nature gives to us, even if it is in little spurts here and there. Our weather has been rather dismal, overcast, windy, and just plain yucky. To top it off I have been huddled inside my office, starting at 4:30 am each day, gathering everything together for my CPA for tax season.

I have a great view from my office window of the sunrise and Monday I received a treat. Unfortunately, the beautiful sunrise was the last time I saw any type of blue sky until Wednesday at sunset when we were graced with a gorgeous display again. Today has been beautiful blue skies and sunshine. One of those days you are happy to be alive.

Sunrise on Monday.








Sunset on Wednesday

Why I am here

When I joined the blogosphere last year I spent alot of time perusing some the most wonderful garden blogs, admiring the dedication in recording through the written word and camera lens the journey known as gardening and life. It took me several months to decide to create a blog, worried my pathetic attempt to share my journey would seem like a travesty compared to others, but I forged ahead anyway. At first it was a way of letting my family in Ohio see how my garden had grown through the years I have lived in Idaho. Apparently, they weren't too impressed because none of them are followers! Maybe I was wasting my time but then one day I received a comment from Laura @GardenInDesert and she became my first follower. Over the months I have come to realize that the things I enjoy most about blogging is not what I share but it is about what you have shared with me. I look forward to the New Year sharing with old friends and making new friends.

Over the past few weeks the snow has come and gone and come and gone again. I have not been idle though. I have my order ready for baby chicks, which should arrive in March, and have been nagging the dear hubby to make a chicken coop. I decided to try my hand at winter sowing this year. During winter soltice I planted 5 milk cartons with rudbeckia, penstemons, poppies, gallardia, and datura. Yesterday, I planted 3 more cartons with clematis, agastache, and lilies. I have several more containers to plant as the winter progresses. I can't wait to see what happens in the spring! Also, I finally have a plan for the little planting area by my dining room. I wanted to install a pond but there is a cherry tree close by and I didn't want to have the job of skimming cherries out of the pond. Instead I found a copper water feature that will hang on the wall in a magazine. The cost to buy it is prohibitive but I am going to make one instead, again with the DH help. I have also decided to take a photography class. Maybe I will be the next Ansel Adams! And last but not least I have made my list of plants and seeds to order for the garden this year.

These are the five containers I planted on winter soltice - December 21. I quickly found out the best containers for winter sowing are NOT milk cartons. 2-liter bottles and plastic juice cartons work much better.


The next morning we had several inches of snow blanketing the ground.


Witchy-poo was happy to have her spot back after I was done with the winter sowing. She keeps me company while I am working in my office. That might have something to do with the fact it is a toasty 75 degrees in here...


Here is Yang the other half of Ying and Yang. Since the waterfall was turned off for the winter both Ying and Yang will climb on top of it and peer over the front. I'm sure they are wondering what happened to those big koi that were swimming in the pond this summer.

First major snowfall of 2009/2010

We just turned off the waterfall a couple of days ago. It is so odd to go to my office and not hear the sound of the water. It is eerily quiet in my backyard now.

I'm not sure if I like the kaleidoscope of colors in the summer or the more monochromatic colors of the snow in the winter in my little corner? Both are beautiful.

View through my office window.

Viburnum Berries.

I love this photo! Hebe has a hat and stole to keep her warm!

God's little creatures leaving the paw prints on the pond.

Bush Clover - Lespedeza thunbergii

Connie, the beautiful purple weeping plant is a bush clover or lespedeza thunbergii. It starts blooming in late July or early August and will bloom until a hard frost. I really wasn't impressed when I bought the plant because it looked like skinny twigs but it took off over the summer and grew into this wonderful bush that weeps into our pond. Each spring I prune it back to about 4 inches and by late summer it looks like this!

Finally able to snap a few photos of a couple of my furry friends who love all the 'hiding' places in the garden. Witchy-poo, who I have enjoyed for 12 years, is the black cat and the siamese kitten is Ying. My other cat, named 'Grey One', is just too bashful to have her picture taken.