A little Bee love

 I don't have a summer vegetable garden this year to play around in 

mainly because I was too busy with end of the school year stuff with my kids.  

You get it, right?    

Kids = busy!

I do have a flower garden though and I love it.

It's thriving and growing wild and the bees are busy pollinating everything they can get to.  

In the Garden

My flower gardens are exploding in color. I love this time of year.

Petunia L♥ve

There is something about petunias - their presence just soothes me.  In good weather I love to sit in that there chair and read a good book or type away on my laptop.  I have a good view of the neighborhood and can watch the birdies and butterflies flying to and fro from that vantage point.

 I was curious about petunias so I looked up the reference in the Language of Flowers and low and behold this is exactly what it says -

Petunia: Your presence soothes me.

Ha!  I guessed right! 

The view from my kitchen window

The star jasmine vine growing on my side fence is getting ready to explode in little white, sweet smelling flowers.   I love this vine and have nurtured it from a wee little thing that barely reached 2 feet off of the ground. Now it's climbing all over and ready to creep further down the fence line.

I spent most of the morning untangling the vines and stretching them out so that they would grow across the fence instead of towards the ground.  It's a big job and lucky for me I enjoy doing it.  It is such a nicer view than looking at an old wooden fence and the at side of my neighbors house.

I can't wait for the flowers to bloom and smell the goodness of Spring once again :)

In Bloom

My kitchen makeover continues today.  Everything is taped up and inaccessible so I decided to venture outside and do a bit of yard work and to enjoy the beautiful weather.

The sky is such a beautiful, brilliant blue and the white popcorn flowers are popping on all of the apricot trees.   I ♥ this time of year.  I feel such renewal and hope for good things to come.

Winter Garden 2013

I've got Anaheim Chili Peppers in the garden...in JANUARY!   Among the freezing temperatures and frost, they continued to thrive.

Time to make something delicious!
 

Glorious Fall!

Busy, busy week.

I love the fall hustle and bustle and today was no exception.  Jeff and I have  accomplished so much this week in preparation for Lexi's wedding and reception on Saturday (baked wedding cakes, shopped for reception food, prepped most of the food, painted the living room, had the carpets and tiles cleaned, rearranged furniture, decluttered and thoroughly cleaned the entire house)

 Today  I took time just to enjoy the glorious fall going on all around me.  Sacramento is beautiful in the fall.

It's Fall Ya'll and the yard is still in bloom ♥

Heat Wave = Pool L♥ve

Today was the 14th consecutive day of 90+ degrees here in Sacramento. The grass in my backyard is doing great but my garden and tupelo trees are suffering.

According to the local forecast, we'll have another 7 days of the same.  Enough already.  Seriously.  What I really need is a pool. 

I like this one - it would totally work in our yard

2012 Garden woes

My garden is not doing so well this year.   The tomatoes are small and the peppers are few which is a bummer because I use both to make my homemade marinara sauce.

Is anyone else's garden a little lacking this year? 

End of summer flower garden

Today's Fresh Pick - 2012 Garden update

My garden bounty is small this year.

Perhaps it's due to a big German Shepherd that likes to snack on veggies that are still growing on the vine?

After I caught her eating my zucchini and squash plants down to the root, I banished her to another place in the yard.  She won't even look at me now.

Today's fresh pick - Apricots

Today's fresh pick comes to you from Frank, my next door neighbor. Frank and I are gardening buddies. We trade fruits and vegetables over the backyard fence.

One more reason to love my neighbors.

This week the apricots on Frank's tree are ripening. They are so sweet and delicious! I've eaten two while taking this photo.   I'm secretly coveting all of Frank's fruit trees - pomegranate, avocado, peach, plum and cherry.  I don't have any fruit trees but I hope to soon.

Dahlia l♥ve

I have a new addition to my front yard flower garden.  Dahlia's.  L♥ve them!  So gorgeous!!

I purchased a bag of 12 dahlia bulbs from Costco in February and the first has begun to bloom.  The results so far are spectacular.

Perfect for the 4th of July because the blooms  remind me of fireworks.

Skyrockets in flight...

Backyard Tupelo Tree (Sourgum)

Each week we are adding more and more foliage to our once barren backyard.

This week's addition is a 15 ft. Tupelo tree aka Sourgum.  It's leaves will turn red, orange and yellow in the fall which I think will be so beautiful  I love that it attracts many spring pollinators which will be great for the fruit trees I want to plant on the other side of my yard.

I'm glad that in about 3 years I'll have a great shade tree to sit under :)

Books and shade trees are my kind of summer.