Browse Month: April 2018

Enjoying Tulip Time in Topeka

Happy Earth Day, friends!

It’s been a late spring, and I thought you deserved to see some beautiful spring flowers, so it was out of complete selflessness that I drove to Ted Ensley Gardens in Topeka, KS this week to take pictures of tulips in bloom.  It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that tulips are my favorite flower and that the 9.5 acre garden has more than 50,000 tulips on display.  Nope, my motivation was completely altruistic.  I enjoyed Tulip Time in Topeka for you.

Last year was the first fall I tried planting bulbs, and the ‘Spring Beauty’ crocus were a delightful promise of spring throughout March.  There has been a definite gap between the crocus fading and the rest of the garden awakening, though, so next year I have a plan: Continue Reading

Coffee cup and water garden in April

A year’s progress in the garden

It’s easy to look at pictures in gardening magazines, Pinterest, and Instagram and feel a bit discouraged when you compare them to your own garden.   At least I feel that way — there’s a big gap between where my garden is and where I want it to be.  I still have a lot of plants to buy, work to do, and time to wait for young plants to mature.  But it hit me yesterday that I have only been on my gardening journey for one year — and I’ve made an incredible amount of progress! Continue Reading

'Funky Pink' Begonia seedlings at 8 weeks.

Garden musings on a snowy April day

Today is second straight Sunday in April where the high is in the 30s and we have winter precipitation falling from the sky.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Mother Nature was intentionally trying to prevent me from having some beautiful spring garden pictures to share with you.   I can’t say that we haven’t had any nice weather lately — it’s just been all over the place.  I went from having to cover plants on Tuesday night (a 22° low), to a Thursday so warm Beau needed a dip in the pond, to again having to cover plants for a 20° low Friday night.  Craziness!   Continue Reading

When I Dream Daylily in bloom July

Easter (eye) candy for garden lovers

I don’t know where you are, but here in KC, Mother Nature is playing a cruel April fools’ day joke on us. It may be April,  but you wouldn’t know it from the weather outside.  As I write this, it’s 28° with sleet and snow falling from the sky.  What the heck?!? I got a glimpse of the Easter Bunny this morning and he was wearing a winter coat, hat, and gloves.  Sure hope those eggs didn’t freeze.

Luckily, the Easter Bunny brought me tulips and wine this year (my Easter Bunny is better than your Easter Bunny!) so I didn’t have to worry about frozen eggs.  What I do have to worry about is frozen plants: the low Tuesday night is supposed to hit 22°!  Remember all of those early-emerging plants I told you about last week?  I spent yesterday afternoon covering them with leaf mulch in hopes that they stay cozy until we get through this cold streak.

I think the best thing to do while we wait for this very un-springish weather to move on is distract ourselves with pictures of pretty plants and gardens, don’t you? Continue Reading