Enjoying the Garden Blooms

It’s been a whole month since my last post, but the fact is I’m quite busy. 

Summer is the busiest time for my family because of all the outdoor activities such as taking kids to the swimming pool, picnics, hiking and forest walks, going to the beach, as well as small travels to visit extended family... Oh, and I do a lot of crocheting too!

This year I’m not spending as much time gardening as I did in the previous years, but nonetheless my yard rewards me with some beautiful flowers to enjoy.

The best time to be in the garden is after the sunset as the air cools down and the life around is slowing down as well. I like just to sit on my patio for a short while and simply take pleasure in all things blooming in the yard.

My Roses are Blooming

Finally, my roses began to bloom.

The Cecile Brunner arch is the most beautiful spot in my yard at the moment. Those small but abundant blooms smell heavenly.

 

I love this red rose. It has very big and fragrant blooms. 

This rose is called Bewitched Hybrid Tea. I have it my front yard, so occasional pedestrians can enjoy it too.

This one also grows in the front yard. It's not very fragrant, but has a beautiful color.

First Spring Blooms

It’s always fun when the first blooms appear in my yard. Of course, California winters are warm, and it’s possible to have flowers year round. But then the spring time in the garden wouldn’t be so exciting!

My grape hyacinths are now blooming. This is the second year I have them in this terracotta pot. They originated from a single plant that sneaked in my yard from the neighbor’s side of the fence. They spread like crazy and don’t require any care at all. I think when they are done blooming I will thin them out a bit and perhaps plant in another pot. 

Here are my cyclamens! The pink ones are in full bloom, but the white and red ones are only appearing. Again, they take care of themselves and come out every spring.

A few Bermuda Buttercups showed up here and there. Many gardeners wouldn’t want them in their yards because they are so invasive. But I don’t mind. They don’t have much chance to spread over in my yard, and having small splashes of yellow in spring time is nice.

It's been a long time since I joined Tootsie for her Fertilizer Friday / Flaunt Your Flowers link party. I'm gladly joining her today. 

Primroses

The holidays are behind, and I’ve been feeling rather down lately. For the past two months, the members of my family have been taking turns getting sick. And being sick is not fun at all.

To cheer myself a bit, I brought home a few pots of primroses from my last trip to a local nursery. 

I’ve seen these lovely flowers around the neighborhood. They pop out in winter and seem to require very little care. Just what I need right now! 

Gladioluses

These pretty gladioluses are now blooming in my yard. I must say I am very pleased with them! They are such tolerant flowers. They are quite happy with the water they get from the sprinklers and I don’t bother to water them additionally. I need to tie up their tall spikes of large blooms, but that is not difficult and doesn’t require much time.



Right now I only have these yellow ones with red centers. I bought the first four bulbs from a dollar store last year, from which I had a few blooms. They reproduced quickly and this year I have several big plants and lots of small ones.

I found gladioluses to be the easiest flowers to grow of all I have tried. For this reason, I am going to add more gladioluses of different colors to my yard next year.



I'm linking to Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

Blackberries

About a month and a half ago I posted a picture of my blackberry bush blooming. And now all the flowers turned into berries.

There are quite many of them. Every morning my three-year-old helps me pick them. And my one-year-old occasionally helps too – he picks a berry and quickly stuffs it in his mouth!



A few days ago I made blackberry turnovers using the recipe from Martha Stewart’s website. They were so good that I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture.

Now I’m searching for more interesting blackberry recipes to try.



I'm linking to Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

P.S. My solar flutterbys giveaway will be closed in six days, so hurry up to enter if you haven’t done so.

My New Big Project

It’s summer again (at least here in CA)! And I have lots of household and garden projects to keep me busy. I mean I have a lot of them in my head, but I think I will actually implement only a few. The biggest one I want to focus on is an herb garden!

I recently bought an interesting book on the subject, and I was surprised how many herbs and medicinal plants I already have in my yard!

For instance, blackberry and raspberry! I didn’t know their leaves can be used for making herbal teas.

I also have nasturtium, which seeds by itself year after year. Fresh flowers and leaves can be added to salads.

Another self-seeding plant that I never take care of is calendula. I always had known it’s a medicinal plant, but I didn’t really know what to use it for. I now found out that dried petals can be used as saffron substitute in rice and soups. And petals from fresh flowers can be used for making teas.

Some of the other herbs and medicinal plants that grow in my yard are rosemary, lavender, mint, chives, and sage.

From my last trip to a local nursery, I brought home chamomile, tarragon, thyme, lemon balm, fennel, purple sage, and chocolate mint.



Blackberry blooming


Nasturtiums


Garden Sage. I love making butter sage sauce


Lemon Balm


Chocolate Mint. I haven’t had a chance to try it in a tea yet. But it smells like chocolate, so I hope it will taste like cocoa ;-)


Chives. They are so pretty when blooming

I dream of a beautiful and luscious herb garden. I even cut off some pictures from magazines for inspiration. But with all the summer heat here in California, it won’t be an easy task. So all the advice and gardening tips will be greatly appreciated!

I'm linking to Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

White and Red in the Garden

Tuesday Garden Link Party is back at An Oregon Cottage, and I am gladly joining it today!

These are white and red flowers that are now blooming in my yard. There are not many of them but enough to please the eye nevertheless – calla lilies, red geranium, candytuft, and cyclamens.











I took all these pictures with my new camera. I can’t say I’m too happy about it, but perhaps I need to learn more about its settings.

Grape Hyacinths

Last year, a single grape hyacinth volunteered in my yard. I think it sneaked in under the fence from the neighbors. I carefully replanted it, and this year I have a planter full of these lovely blue flowers!

It seems that this plant is very undemanding. It spread quickly and didn’t require any special care at all. Since I don’t have much time for gardening now anyway, such low-maintenance flowers are always welcome in my garden.





I´m linking to the following blog parties:
Fertilizer Friday @ Tootsie Time,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Last Rose from the Garden

Today I got to spend some time in my little garden. I did a bit of cleaning, and I also pruned my rose bushes. I picked this last rose from my Bewitched Hybrid Tea rose bush.

Usually the blooms from this rose are rich pink, but the last one is pale and fragile. Nevertheless, it’s very fragrant. The delicate aroma filled the entire room.



I checked my garden whether there was anything new blooming, but didn’t find anything other than geranium. Last year around this time, my calla lilies already had some blooms, but this year there aren’t any yet.

I really enjoy the warm and sunny days we have, but the garden really needs some rain. I hope we’ll get some soon.

I'm linking to
Fertilizer Friday @ Tootsie Time
and
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home.

California Winter

It’s supposed to be winter, but it feels like spring! The nights do get chilly, but the days are still sunny and warm. And we hardly got any rain yet!



Bermuda Buttercups in my yard are blooming already! They usually start to bloom at the end of February.



The roses are still blooming! I love to bring them in and photograph them on my doilies.





And I recently found a new little treasure in my front yard! I didn't really notice it before. It has beautiful blossoms and green with red leaves. Could anyone help me to identify this plant?



I'm linking to:
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,
Potpourri Friday @ 2805.