Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. We're in the back yard again this week, and here's how it looked earlier today.

The miniature calla lilies are blooming! I was so thrilled to see this.

Hubby is making one of the flower beds larger and I'm trying to decide on a spot for them.

The Limelight hydrangea is blooming.

The flowers are huge!

A child's school chair rescued from the trash.

The wind mill is on the back hill next to some rose bushes.

The bike planter got a new look. Purple petunia's in the basket and sedum in the little pots. I hope these plants handle the heat better than the last ones.

Susan, thank you for hosting this fun weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

I thought you might be tired of seeing the flowers in the back yard, so I'm sharing pictures of the front yard this week.

Starting at the left, assorted day lilies, Billy Graham rose bush, ivy leaf geraniums, more day lilies, Henry Fonda rose bush, more day lilies and a brush cherry bush.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

See the house on the left? We lived there for 20 years. We bought our next door neighbors house 10 years ago. Our son bought our old house and remodeled it. Pretty cool, huh?

I've alway loved houses with front porches and suggested to my husband several times that we add a porch to the front of our house. (Well, actually I nagged at him constantly). Whenever I found a picture, I'd show him. One day I found the perfect porch picture in an advertisement. I cut it out and stuck it on the refrigerator. Our porch is very similar to that little inspiration picture. I just wish the flower beds were a little wider... ☺

Susan, thank you for hosting this fun weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!

Diane

Outdoor Wednesday: Summer in Sweden

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

My friend Winnie, who visited with us in April, sent pictures of the backyard garden at their house in Sweden. (This is a momentous occasion - I'm always asking for pictures and she always forgets to take them!) When they bought the house, the yard was quite an overgrown challenge that she's worked on for a couple of years. The stones in the stone wall were all dug up while the yard was being leveled and she built a wall out of them. She's so resourceful!

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Winnie has a new nickname this summer. She's been weeding and planting on the hill area which is quite steep, so we're calling her Ms. Mountain Goat. She's discovered a few muscles in the process that have protested the mountain goat routine. ☺


Beautiful blue flowers, (and I can't remember what they're called).


Hubby Steen is admiring the garden. See those huge boulders - she dug up the topsoil that was covering them up!


The deck area was added last year to the yard. Quite a difference a year has made.


Susan, thank you for hosting this fun weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!

Diane

Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern DayDreamer.

My neighbor had the afternoon off from baby sitting her little granddaughter yesterday and we headed for Santa Cruz. You'll never guess what I forgot to bring with me.... Yep, I forgot the camera. So no pictures of ocean waves and surfers, or the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, or adorable cottages with white picket fences and pretty flowers.

We wandered around town a bit, dropped by Starbucks for some caffeine, then drove around looking at houses and the ocean, all the while dreaming of living there. On the way home, we stopped by the Green Thumb Nursery in Los Gatos. It's like walking into a gardening wonderland and me with no camera again.

This is such an adorable giant teacup planter my daughter in law found at Walmart, but was at a loss of what to plant in it. We've both looked, but nothing was appealing to either of us.

I almost did a happy dance when I found the perfect plant at the nursery. It's an angel vine wrapping around a little rusted metal arbor.

Look how sweet the angel vine looks in the teacup planter. She's thrilled with her new plant in her beloved teacup planter. I told her it's an angel vine for an angel... She liked that...

I'm amazed the amaryllis is still blooming and couldn't believe my luck when I was able to take Sammie's picture without the usual squinting her eyes, or running for cover whenever I point the camera at her.

(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

Susan, thank you for hosting this fun weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!
Diane

Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

We have a lovely Mother's Day tradition that I'm very fond of. My son or I buy plants, then on Mother's Day, he digs the holes and plants them while I direct his efforts. Our tradition began about 4 years ago when I bought several rose bushes. The plants and pots were large and I was having difficulty digging the holes. My son asked what I'd like to have for Mother's Day, and I asked him to plant my roses. I love this tradition because we can spend time together outside and I have the memories of whatever he's planted.

I bought a Moro Blood Orange tree in April, before my company arrived, and hubby hadn't dug that hole yet, so the orange tree became this year's Mother's Day project. I love blood oranges and I'm a fan of Jain's blog, Once in a Blue Moon. She had the most beautiful pictures of blood oranges that grew on her tree. I drooled every time she posted pictures and recipes using them, so I researched which trees do well in our area and went on a quest.

Ah ha! I found a large, beautiful tree at Reagan's Nursery. (Okay, I also came home with 2 new rose bushes, but that's another post.) Fresh from the nursery, the new tree is waiting on the front porch for one of the guys to carry into the back yard. It even had 2 oranges hanging on the tree. They were so delicious! I just peeled and ate!


My son and daughter in law had to work very hard to dig this hole! You'd think with all the rain we had last week that the dirt would be easy to dig in. Nope, that clay wasn't budging. The post hole digger was brought out and their comical antics were quite entertaining, but the hole was finally dug and the tree planted. (Now I need to clear all the lawn away for a new plant bed. ☺)

Chief approves of the future new shade spot, but didn't care for having his picture taken. ☺

Susan, thank you for hosting this fun weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!
Diane

Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern DayDreamer.

The Amaryllis are blooming and they've outdone themselves this year! Years ago, I bought amaryllis bulb kits to use as Christmas decorations. After the flowers died back, the bulbs went outside and were eventually planted in a couple of pots. I had snail problems though and didn't have much success with the plants blooming until I discovered that fertilizing them helps immensely!

The red amaryllis amazes me. After the snails finished this bulb I almost threw it out, but had read that the bulbs could be divided, so I tried planting it in a little pot and a few years later, look at it now! It's a full size bulb again and with the help of some fertilizer, it's gorgeous.

The bulbs in this pot seem to multiply every year and it's very tight in there, but they bloom like crazy. The fertilizer has worked wonders for them too.

Another view and you can see one of the birdhouses my hubby or son need to mount on the post... It's been waiting for a few years to be put on the post, but I'm very patient. ;0} Poor birds could have had a home...

You know how I love rusty yard art... Doesn't this one look like Roxy?

This one looks like Murphy, our cocker spaniel.

Susan, thank you for hosting this delightful weekly event. You can visit A Southern Daydreamer to see the other Outdoor Wednesday posts, by clicking HERE.

Enjoy!
Diane

Outdoor Wednesday at Pebble Beach

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

I'm sharing pictures of Pebble Beach at Spanish Bay today. The pictures were taken in December 2007.

A lone chair sitting in the grass with the beautiful ocean view beyond. The grass area is behind the Pebble Beach Golf Club.

The building off to the far distant left is the Beach Club.


Low tide and the beach below the Beach Club. My son and friends were tossing rocks into the surf.


It was such a beautiful day and fun to walk on the hard packed sand, but I kept checking for the incoming tide.


Thank you, Susan, for hosting Outdoor Wednesday! Please visit Susan's blog for links to the other Outdoor Wednesday participants.

Enjoy!

Diane

Outdoor Wednesday and What's On Your Wall Wednesday!!

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.


It's sunny, but a little chilly today and the blue skies are just a big tease for the warmer weather. I'm sharing pictures that always make me smile and I hope they put smiles on your faces too.

I pooch sit occasionally for Coco, my DIL's family Yorkshire Terrier. In July 2007, they adopted Chanel, another little Yorkie puppy, to their family and I got to pooch sit both little girls. I was so excited. Baby Chanel was 9 weeks old when they brought her home. A month later I was pooch sitting again and took pictures this time. (I think they each weigh about 4 lbs.)

Baby Chanel - 9 weeks old!


Baby Chanel sitting in my Wave Petunias. (She was about 13 weeks old.) The petunias didn't die last winter, they just continued to grow & bloom. I hope they last this year, but we've had some very cold nights, so I may be planting them again.


Chanel is sitting by a Limelight hydrangea. The flowers are amazing on this bush!

Big sister Coco sitting by a hydrangea. Coco was about 2 years old then.


Coco wasn't so impressed with the big flowers.

Please visit Susan's blog for the links to other Outdoor Wednesday participants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to the first What's On Your Wall Wednesday hosted by Barb at Grits and Glamour.

I'm sharing two Thomas Kinkade paintings located in our family room with you. We have several of his paintings, I love the houses, but my husband prefers the mountain scenes and these are two of his favorites.

Lakeside Hideaway

Mountain Majesty - Beginning of a Perfect Day III

Please visit Barb's blog for the links to the other What's On Your Wall Wednesday participants.

Enjoy!

Diane

Outdoor Wednesday

This is my first Outdoor Wednesday post! Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Our winter weather has been quite warm this year causing the plants to think it's Spring! I couldn't believe the roses were blooming like this and just had to take a picture. The yellow rose is peeping out of a scented geranium bush. It's a Henry Fonda rose. I think the English roses are Evelyn and Geoff Hamilton.


Please visit Susan's blog for the links to other Outdoor Wednesday participants.

Enjoy!
Diane