Resilient Succulents for Cactus Monday

It's amazing to me how a species wants to survive. This poor cactus (sorry I don't know the name) was knocked over and half of it was broken off. I could have cried - but I didn't. I sat it back up and took care of it, like usual. Now a year later it has sent out new shoots all over the place.

Moving my 8 year old jade to a new place had tragedy strike. It too fell over and broke some major branches but here 4 months later are the new shoots replacing the branches. Sorry for this particular blurry picture.

It will look good once again as it gets rejuvanated. "I will survive!"

Be sure to visit Cactus Monday over at Teri's Painted Daisies and see what stories others have to tell.

Master Gardener Garden Tour

This weekend the Master Gardeners sponsored a garden tour. To fulfill my obligation of volunteer hours, I worked as a volunteer in this yard - taking tickets or answering questions about the plants or other things about the garden. The above is a crown of thorns - there were several pots of these huge pots full of crown of thorns that were in beautiful bloom.

The owner had so many vignettes around the yard and patio - it took lots of looking and examining to see them totally. I was glad I had 4 hours to spend. See the little jester in front - I loved him.

Wouldn't you like sitting here drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper here?

Here is another one of those "head planters" - I've got to find one!

Notice the trunks of these trees that create a back-drop for this chair - these are the trunks of Rose of Sharon bushes that the owner had stripped off the lower branches. They are several years old so they are big bushes. I thought it was a great idea and this lends such texture to the yard. Note the visitor in the yard wearing a coat - it was chilly here in Kansas on Saturday - in the 60s.

7th Birthday

Grandson, Phoenix, is seven years old today. He celebrated with all his family last evening (on Mother's Day). He had all of his living grandparents and great-grandparents with him to celebrate. He's a lucky little boy!

Happy Birthday, Phoenix! We can hardly believe it's been 7 years since you arrived in this world!

Phoenix did a very special thing for his birthday. He had a party and invited his friends but rather than bring gifts, they were to help him buy shoes for an orphanage in Africa (one of our friends is a missionary working there).

Read all about it here: http://africanfaithjourney.blogspot.com/

Garden Party

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting a Garden Party today. Hop on over and see the Spring gardens ready to "show their stuff" in this new gardening season.

We are a little further behind the southern part of the U.S. for our planting time. I've just recently hauled out plants to put outside. As the spring and summer progress, things will fill-in.
This is one of my vignettes in the yard. This barrell has a pump that is hidden by the plants in the picture which recirculates the water and makes a nice splashing sound.

The pond plants are emerging and this will be heavily engulfed in plants come August (we'll be pulling them out of the streams). I love the sound of the splashing water.

We have had Koi for about 18 years. There's something relaxing about watching them swim. Of course, there are goldfish which liven the pond with their brilliant orange and their fantails. Welcome to a small part of our Spring Garden.

Old Lattice - 2nd Time Around

Last year the strong Kansas wind whipped my plants to "smithereens" so we tried to think of a way to keep that from happening. We have a "storage" area on the back part of our lot hidden away from the neighbors where we store "yard leftovers" - rock, screen, lattice, brick, wood pieces, etc. We had the leftover lattice from a rental we once owned. That renter had lattice everywhere ("overkill", one might say). We tore it out and kept it. We've used it before on an arbor for a year but then decided we wanted something different there. So, here the lattice is again used as a backdrop and wind barrier. I do have a couple things to hang on that lattice but am still looking for a sun I know I have somewhere. I'm hoping my plants will look better and I won't have to be running out to stand pots back up after they've blown over.

Be sure to check out Diane's blog, A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words for 2nd Time Around Tuesday. You'll see lots of ideas for using something another person has discarded.