Seriously...

I know you know the phrase, no good deed goes unpunished... boy has today felt like that. While trying to make a cheesecake, I had pressed in my graham cracker crust and was going to pick it up (the spring form pan) and move it over by the stove, when I picked it up the bottom of the pan fell out and out went the crust all over the floor... that's the kind of day it has been!

Thankfully I had enough ingredients to redo the entire crust, but by the time I cleaned it all up and set to making a new one... well tic toc goes the clock! And to show you just how befuddled I was... usually when I cook, I'm a clean as you go kind of gal, because I rather dislike all the clean up at the end...

Oh well, dinner won't have a lot of clean up so I suppose I will survive :-)...

Okay on to better things, our lovely beds are a bloomin!  Even the camillia which usually is all done by the start of March has to decided to continue blooming!  She's a beaut!

 Next up are the long beds (I only got one good shot of the very front one, maybe later I will try to grab a better one of the one closest to the house) with irises, tulips and daffodils.  The daffodils are on their way out, while the tulips and irises are just making their appearances!

Happy Spring!

The Worker you say?

Today is a great day! Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker! Why is that so great? Well, Joseph is our patron in the Llama house! Why else is today great? Oh, because it is first day of Mary's month of May! Woohoo. Double bonus.


So in honor of such a great day, I finally got around to planting my newest rose bush (that has been sitting in the back yard for a few weeks waiting for just the right time). I'm super excited to see it bloom. It is a Climbing Joseph's Coat! As soon as it blooms I will definitely be putting up images of it!

By request... more shots of the tulips.

In a previous post showing some of the different varieties of tulips we have growing this year, Nicole asked to see them in bunches... here are two of the beds in our front yard that have tulips. We have a total of three beds with tulips, but I was having a difficult time photographing them due to the very high winds we are having today... these were the best two shots before I gave up.

There are probably 20 buds that are just emerging from the ground and another 15-20 that will be opening with in the next few days... by my estimate. Along with the tulip foliage, there are irises that have lovely green frowns that are up. They too will be blooming around Easter. Once those get going then will come the gladiolas!

In the garden

One time, some friends were coming to visit, and we told them to find our house, just turn left on our street and stop at the best lawn. We weren't kidding! Our little flower garden isn't the most impressive thing, but we are getting some great results from the bulbs we planted last fall. Here are some photos of what we have growing out front.

These hyacinths smell amazing. They're in containers on either side of the walkway up to the door.

We bought a variety of different tulip bulbs and planted them randomly, rather than a single color.

weekend update: updated

Well, there are no photos to show because it doesn't look like much, but we accomplished a lot yesterday. We got all three of the flower beds in the front of our house ready for spring. What a big job. One bed had nothing but irises which have multiplied like crazy over the past four years since we planted them. Another bed had only gladiolas, which also seem to have multiplied a dozen times over in just three years. The third bed had nothing but some dead stuff that we hoped would return. Why do "perennials" never actually return the next year in our garden? I blame the climate. Our plan was to add a lot of tulips, and spread everything out over all three beds, to have color all season long. First the tulips come, then the irises, then the gladiolas, and finally canna (which we will plant in the spring). I *think* all of these will come back on their own every year and we will have a very colorful, zero maintenance garden. (Probably will have to add more tulips every year, but that will be easy enough.) So, it only took us 6 hours to dig everything up, divide the bulbs, mix in fresh compost and bone meal, spread the bulbs, cover with dirt, and cover everything up with mulch. Still need two more bags of mulch, we always under estimate that stuff. But, it's mostly done, and it will look amazing in the spring and summer. Can't wait to see the fruits of our labor!

PS - down another 2.8, go me.

===
Update: Ouch. Apparently we haven't been using all of those muscles so much lately. Still feelin' it.

Irises

So much for "Spring!!!"...

Remember these? Spring is still under there somewhere...

Daisy prefers warm toes. But the statue looks pretty in the snow.

This is probably the best snow these Texans have ever seen! So light and soft. Not that icy sleety crap we usually get. You could ski on this stuff, I imagine. And you can actually roll a snowball. This Snowman is as tall as MommLlama. We put him on the patio so he'd stay out of the sun and outlive all the neighbor kids' totally weak and lame snowmen. Ha!

We made a fort by filling a 5-gallon bucket with snow. By we, I mean ME. I tried to get the boys to help, but they weren't interested. So I got to karate chop it down all by myself. Oh yes, I did. Just like the Little Red Hen, if you don't help bake the bread, you don't help eat it! Look it up. I'm sure there will still be a lot of snow tomorrow for them to make another one.

Bobcat needed some help getting his boots off.

Roses in bloom

What a busy Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It started off with morning mass, and then some time at the local fast food joint for a little breakfast and indoor playtime.

When we got home and let the dogs out, what did we find on our rose bush in the back... roses... a few fully opened and several buds.

At noon we met with our new engaged couple... for some reason we are qualified to mentor engaged couples preparing for their marriages... I'll be honest, I was a little nervous (no this isn't our first couple... it's our second to actually have come over... two were a no go). But all turned out great. They are a very nice couple, and we connected with them right away. I'm actually really looking forward to our next meeting!

After they left, we jetted over to my parents home to hang their Christmas lights on their house... and mom made gumbo (especially for me... 'cause I asked real nice). Then home again we came for a late bedtime!

Gladiolas

The gladiolas are beginning to bloom! You wouldn't believe how super easy and low maintenance these are. And the colors are just so vivid. They seem even brighter this year, since we've added bone meal to the soil. The yard looks great too (although it needs to be mowed in the below photo - if it would just stop raining for 15 minutes that would help...) Needless to say, we are totally winning the unofficial best-yard-on-the-block rivalry!

Gardening

I never knew, living in apartments, that I would enjoy gardening so much... here are two lovely reasons that I love to garden.

These are a sampling of the Irises in the front yard. Yellow, dark purple and a lighter shade of purple. These bulbs came from Daddio's grandmother's property, and multiplied in our garden like crazy.

These are from our rose bush in the back. I cut a few new ones every week or so to replace the ones that have lost their luster.

Fresh flowers in your home really do make a difference, and if you have the great pleasure of cutting them from your own stock... well, it warms the heart a little more every time you look at them.

Road Trip

We are headin' out on the road with DH for a short trip. Thank goodness, we could all use a break from everything (except for DH who will be working of course). So hotels, no cooking for me, and swimming here we come.

In other news... YAY MAV's . That was a fun win, and nice to George back out on the court with his 7 points! Looks like the groove is comin' back.

And one last thing... How does your garden grow... mine grows with tulips, irises, amd lots of color. Here is just a sampling of things happening...

Bulbs... bulbs... and more bulbs!

What do you do with a little money burnin' a hole in your pocket? BUY 160 TULIP BULBS! That's right, come spring I will have tulips coming out of every flower bed and pot in my yard!!! I spent a little more than an hour triming up my rose bushes, and clearing out the lantana, and trimming my chamillia in preparation of the bulbs.

As soon as it stops raining I will be out there with my little bulb planter, 3 boys counting and helping, and a bucket 'o' bulbs! Oh the glorious flowers that will proclaim that Spring has SPRUNG!

Watch them as they grow

The boys are now caring for something of their own. No it isn't a pet, it's a plant. Last weekend we went to a nursery and let them (guided of course for proper climate) pick a plant that would be theirs tocare for. And boy oh boy did they have fun picking plants that they liked. Bobcat picked Marigolds, Bubba picked some odd but cool tropical palm, and Snookie chose Geraniums (sp?). When we got home, with my help they each got to plant their flowers in the pots... what fun was that :-). Bobcat did a great job and was so gentle with each of his little marigolds. Andrew helped out pounding on the plastic container to get his palm out... well, Snookie, he tried to help but the call of the front yard was too much for him to bear! That kid just needs to run around sometimes and there is no gettin' in his way.

So now either before lunch, or after nap time we all trot out to the front yard and water our plants.

They take pride in watching them grow and know that they had a hand in the success of that plant. Which I guess isn't too different than the way I feel about them as I watch them, teach them, feed them, and love them!