A BUTTERFLY VISIT

A BUTTERFLY VISIT

August 18, 2012

 

This afternoon I was in the house, cleaning.   Dennis was in the kitchen and he summoned me, “Can you come here?”  I thought he probably needed help finding the stove again, you know how men can be sometimes………they just need a little assistance.  He surprised me.  He was in front of the stove.  He found it just fine.

He was watching a beautiful yellow and black butterfly outside the kitchen window above the sink.  (He found the sink too…..)  I’m kidding, he really is the cook in this house and he can make the best Italian beef in this world.  

He said I might want to grab the camera and take a picture of it for the blog.  Oh!  Sometimes he is way ahead of me and today was it.  I was so interested in the butterfly that I was not thinking of anything.  It danced between the plumes on the purple butterfly bush and was soon joined by a bee.  I tried to get a picture of the bee but it was shy and flew over to the hosta and crawled inside a white hosta bloom.

I thought a movie might be more fun for you to watch than just a picture of the fluttering creature.  Check this out:

              Madame Butterfly Movie

 

This was a special moment today.  The air was fresh and cool.  The birds were very chatty too.  The pond waterfall could be heard in the background.  I really have to thank D. for calling me quickly to the window today.  

We have visited the Butterfly Garden in St. Louis, MO.  It is a wonderful glass house where they fly around free.  They land on your head, your nose, and your shoulders, as you stroll in their garden.  I highly recommend a visit.  As you leave, the staff checks to make sure there are no hitchhikers on you as you go through the doors.  www.missouribotanicalgarden.org

With the common use of pesticides destroying our natural habitat, the Monarch is in danger.  They actually need four varieties of milk weed plants for their larva to feed.  I feel it is very important that we all try to do something to help nature when there is a need.  This summer, I began to create my own butterfly garden.  I have read some helpful articles in the gardening magazines as well as the internet about butterfly weigh stations.  These are small gardens planted with specific plants, in the sun, for traveling butterflies to feed and hatch.  There is an internet website dedicated to helping the monarch and it explains how to plan your own butterfly weigh station.  I hope you will visit.  It explains the plight of these beautiful creatures:  www.monarchwatch.org

 

Our yard is planted with many butterfly friendly species scattered here and there.

Our butterfly weigh station is in its infancy.  We have a coneflower, butterfly bush, and two rows of milkweed started from seed.  I have seen mature milkweed plants for sale at our local nursery.  One plant is around $15.00, so I am going to devote more time to growing the milkweed and try to be patient.  I have noticed a few wild milkweed nearby in the pasture and I let them grow this summer.  In the spring I will add a few more items to the garden.  I am definitely inspired after today.  I don’t know what variety this pretty, yellow friend is, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch it today.  Happy fluttering.

Rustynailgarden On The Road

On The Road
August 14, 2012

For months we have been trying to get away for a day trip.  Something always comes up and prevents us from hitting the road. Sometimes they are planned things and sometimes not.  For me, if it's above eighty degrees it's too hot to go anywhere because the car might overheat, the dogs might get thirsty, the sun might melt my house..............anything can happen.  Usually it is things like birthdays, social engagements, I'm too fat, my hair looks awful, and I'm too fat........

A week ago, I took the pencil and wrote on the calendar, "Galena".  So all week we made plans and got pumped up.  We lined up a dog sitter, read the Galena, Illinois web site, checked the directions of a couple other places to travel and with that momentum building we got out of town.

Saturday had to be the most beautiful day we have had all summer.  Perfect!  Everyone else must have thought the same thing and they all met us in Galena.  It was very busy with shoppers, husbands following shoppers, and kids following husbands following shoppers.  There were a few dogs too.
Like these cuties.  The husband was off to the left side. 

Well, I do not enjoy shopping myself, but I did become very interested in the flowers along the street and in front of the shops.  Every block had displays of urns and beautiful arrangements.  Like these in front of the winery entrance.  We had to try the wine.

Some pots had beautiful trailing flowers.

          
    Some were high.

                   
                             Some were low.

Some were odd but friendly.  Doesn't this guy look happy?  He makes me smile.

Peace man.

If you can find a pen, choose a Saturday on "your" calendar, to take a nice drive along the river to Galena, Illinois.   Don't forget to take a carriage ride from our friend Chris and his black Percheron, King.  You can take an apple along for King.  Take one for Chris too :)  Giddy up!

HANGING AROUND

HANGING AROUND ON A HOT SUMMER DAY

August 8, 2012

Sometimes it is nice to do absolutely nothing.  Dennis tells me I should do more of that.
I love to sit and do nothing, and I can do it very well.  However, there is usually fence to repair, mowing and weeding, feeding, pruning, and watering to be done.  That does not leave me much time to sit and relax. So I thought I'd share some pictures of the rest of my animal family relaxing.  They do it well.   In fact they are professionals.  Don't try this at home without supervision, you might not ever get up!  Like this little guy; he rested too long and he petrified.

.

 

Jessie sprawled out on the pond deck listening to the waterfall. 

Calgon take me away.

 

Jamie, watching Jessie sprawl................

                                               Daisy Mae and Cupid napping on the bed.

                                    Jamie again.............showing off her pretty spots on her tummy.

 

Jazz loves a good snooze in the air conditioning.

Shhhhh..................see you later.

BLUE POTTERY

BLUE POTTERY

August 06, 2012

A couple of years ago, on one of our day trips to our favorite garden nursery, we noticed their finer pottery on sale.  There were pots of every color and some very unusual shapes and sizes.  We fell in love with the royal blue and decided that day to begin to incorporate a blue accent theme to our front yard.  Our first pot was purchased at their end of the season 10% off sale.  Once home, we did not get to display it that fall, because it was October and the weather could turn wintery any day.  So it had to sit, covered, until spring.  That was a long wait and  I’m not very patient.  We chose a special place the next spring, for our blue pot, beside our new front steps.  Perfect!  Our house is light blue and this looked great.  

Some weekends we drive around the new home developments in Peoria and nearby towns and see how others decorate their yards and entrances.  One evening, as we followed the curves of the road on Grand View Drive, we noticed ‘blue pots’.  Not just two or three, more like thirteen!  The homeowner had artfully placed them in unlikely places as well as flanking the garage and front entrance.  They had done this just for us, I’m sure!  It was exactly what we were trying to do with our home but we just didn’t know it yet……. the bell went off in my head.  All the way home we talked (ok, I talked) about where we could put them in our yard and what shapes and groupings would give the most impact.

I’m rather frugal when it comes to buying things and I’m always looking for a deal.  I searched the local home centers but did not find pots to compare to the ones they sell at Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, Illinois.  I have come to accept that there are times when it does not pay to be cheap.  If I have to buy one at a time for next ten years, I will.  Of course I do have a birthday every year and I might get one for a gift.  I hope!

Until this dreadful summer, I wanted the blue pots because they were pretty.  But, I learned a lesson this year, with many days near 100 degrees. I learned why clay pottery is so much better than the plastic pottery from Home stores.

The past two weeks, all the beautiful potted flowers in my small plastic pots began to dry out daily.  I would water them immediately after I got home from work, and sometimes before I left at 6:00 a.m.  The pots just could not hold the moisture and also were too small, I suppose, to keep the roots cool in this heat. My last effort to save the flowers in pots was to place them in the shade, but it did not help. There was one exception, the blue pot.  It has a 23 inch diameter and is 27 inches deep.  The petunias, and sweet potato vine are cascading to the ground, blooming like crazy, in the sun!  In my opinion, it has to be the pottery that has saved these flowers from burning up this summer.  This has convinced me there is a reason for nice pottery and it’s not simply aesthetics. 

 

This happens to be a broken pot someone gave me in pieces.  I planted the pot on its side and the petunias spill out into the garden.  Never throw away a good broken pot!

 

If you find yourself on a Sunday drive looking at beautiful lawns, I hope you come across a home or two using pottery in inventive groupings and colors.  If you come to the blue house with the royal blue pots, come on in.  I’d love to show you our latest addition.  Currently, I have my eye on a pot shaped like the foot of the jolly blue giant – size 22 double E wide, at least!  Hm, what does one plant in a foot?

OUR PICNIC GARDEN

July 29, 2012
                                                       OUR PICNIC GARDEN

I think it is fun to think up names for little nooks in our yard.  Since I moved here, this spot was referred to as "the slab" and it became a place to store rocks, wood, bricks, or whatever was needed at the time.  The cement base gave us a clean place to set things.

 As we developed our plantings I put in one section of split rail fence for our concord grape vine to grow.  There is a decaying tree stump off to the side, and it has a nice hollow trunk which I filled with dirt and planted some red flowers.  This year I put down black mulch to dress it up a little.  There are a few bird feeders hanging near-bye which add activity to our garden.  The antique red well pump is set over a pipe I pounded into the ground.  As you see, the red color scheme is developing.  I had a picnic tablecloth in the basement and we have one red chair.  All I need is a can of spray paint to finish the black chair. @??????????????////////////////    00
Sorry, our dog Jamie  just typed a little too!   She needed to express herself. 

I love to shop the local plant stores for bargains so the table flowers are an extra addition to our picnic garden.  Have we had a picnic here yet?  No.  However, I do enjoy my morning coffee here on weekends with a good book and the choir of birds singing to me.  (ps:  metal chairs are very hard to sit on so I often bring a cushion with me).
  

102 DEGREES

102 DEGREES!

July 26, 2012

The temperature in central Illinois yesterday was 102 degrees.  I have been very worried about all my plant friends in these extreme conditions.  I thought I would share some of the things I have done to give them relief from the heat, and also show you a few pictures.

         Did one of our new plants die?  Fooled you-it is a stick.....ha ha.

The goldfish in our little pond are always a concern of ours.  The pond is in the bright sun most of the day and the water does get warm.  The pond is three feet deep so that does help in keeping the water near the bottom cool.  The floating water lilies offer some shade.  The fish seem comfortable, by our observations.  They have a good appetite morning and night and dart around quickly and sometimes jump, flip and splash.  I did place some drift wood in the pond to float on the water.  It shades the fish.  Also, we water the fish every evening.  Doesn’t everyone water their fish?  The cold well water does please them.  Deuce, Sharkey, and Whitey swim up to me when I spray water into the pond.  They love the bubbles and rush of cool water.

                     I would, if could, but it is too hot to cut up this tree.  It will just have to lay in our yard until it cools off.

I did have a chat with the bunnies and tried to encourage them to take off their fur coats…..but no luck.  They insist on wearing them.  Little Buckaroo plays in his water dish.  Powder stretches out and makes herself as long as she can to cool her tummy on the ground.  We do spray the dirt pen a couple times a day to cool the earth.  The nine rabbits do not want to get wet but they enjoy the mist from the hose that drifts their way.  They stand up, sniff and wiggle their little noses at it.

                          Buckaroo wearing his fur coat.  Silly Wabbit.

Harry Walker has some leaves that are curling.  Harry is a tree, not a neighbor.  I love this little guy with all his corkscrew branches.  He reminds me of one of those artists that tie themselves in knots in Las Vegas.  Anyway, I put a veil over him this week to protect his leaves (it’s a bath towel from the rag bag.)  At dusk I “unveil” him. 

                     

All the newly planted shrubs have straw hats.  I took straw from the shed and just loosely dumped it all over them.  It helps keep the sun from burning them and keeps the moisture around their roots.  Yes, it looks like heck, but if it saves their lives it will be well worth the embarrassment.

At 2:00 a.m. this morning I heard thunder.  I thought it might be Santa Clause rumbling up there but it did actually rain two tenths of an inch.  YIPPEE 

LET'S GO BACK TO 1950

                 This is a little spot in my yard that reminds me of the old days.   

                         

Let’s Go Back To 1950

July 25, 2012 

During a “moment” at work this week, I said, “I want to go back and start over.”  My co-worker said, “I want to go back to 1950………”  Immediately a vision passed in front of my eyes.  It was a vision of my mother and me planting Sweet Peas in the wire fence line of our barnyard in Neponset, Illinois about 1959.  This sort of has something to do with gardening, so I feel it is ok to blog about it on my garden blog.  No one said blogs have to be in the present time, did they? 

What was my summer day like in 1959?  I was about 5 years old in my vision, so this is how I remember it.

Happy, I was very happy.  At age five would you be any other way?  That summer day my mother had a square packet of tiny seeds in her apron, (yes apron).  She cut a little slit in the end of the packet to get to the seeds and to prevent them from dumping out all at once, getting lost in the grass.  Sweet Peas need to climb as they grow, so I guess that is why they had to be planted by the wire fence, next to the corn field.  This was a ritual she did every year in the same spot.  Mom had a butcher knife she used to loosen the ground.  Why?  Well, people did not spend money on unnecessary tools just after the great depression so you used what was available.  We did not have a trowel.  On our knees, cutting into the dirt and making a row for the seeds, we carefully dropped one seed every few inches.  Another thing I remember is that Mom was wearing a dress.  All women wore dresses then, no matter what they were doing: cleaning, gardening, canning, grocery shopping.  Women did not wear pants.  However, I do not think she had on her high heels!  I’m sure she had on lipstick though, she always wore lipstick.  Once the seeds were planted, we had to water them.  We did not have a long garden hose.  Well, maybe we did have one, but it was probably near the barn to either wash off dirty work boots or cool off the hogs.  So we filled a bucket with water and poured it over the seeds.  Funny, I don’t remember much more.  I guess they grew and if they didn’t it did not matter to me because it had been fun to plant seeds with my mother.

I might as well go on and reminisce some more.  Across the gravel road from our farmhouse was a patch of wild blackberries or maybe they were black raspberries, I’m not sure.  I’ll have to ask my brother because he is the one who picked the berries.  He was in high school.  I think it was around July or August when berries ripened.  He would take an enamel wash pan and fill it with fresh berries.   He and I would rinse them in the kitchen sink, coat them with lots of Domino sugar and eat them right away.  Oh that was good, and fun! 

 This reminds me of something else.  The white enamel wash pan with a red rim was the same pan we used when we popped popcorn on Saturday night.  Actually, it was many nights of the week-we loved popcorn.  We had a sack in the basement of ears of popcorn and we would shell the corn by hand.  Dad would pop two poppers of corn and melt a stick of real butter until it was foamy in the pan.   Then he would pour the hot foamy butter over the popcorn and shake lots of salt over it and stir it with a wooden spoon.  The house smelled so good, the popcorn was warm…..yum.  Dad would sit in front of the TV (we had 2 channels then) and watch Gunsmoke.  I’d sit on the floor between his legs and we’d share the pan of popcorn.  Mom might fill a small bowl for herself or not.  She did not snack very often.  Dad would also have a glass bottle of Pepsi Cola and a tin glass of ice cubes by his chair.  I’d get to take a sip out of it.  The bubbles tickled my face…FUN.

You know of course that “pop” was a luxury item.  Dad would buy a wooden case of twenty four bottles and he kept it in the basement, where it was cool and dark.  I can still see the wooden box sitting down there on a ledge.  It was “fun” to run down there to get Dad his bottle of pop.

Somewhere between 1959 and 2012 the fun has drifted.  I still enjoy gardening tremendously but it is more work when you are the adult and have to gp get the tools, clean the tools, put the tools away, worry about the weather, water the plants, and sweat profusely.  Did I mention that nothing hurt in the 1950’s at age five, as it does today.  I had no aches and pains that I recall.  Now, I sit down at night in front of the TV with my Diet Caffeine Free Cola and watch re-runs of black and white television programs from the 1950’s.  It is my way of going back.