Friday morning walkabout

Well, Friday morning dawned sunny and bright, but rather cold and windy after yesterday's rain showers that pretty much continued through the night.  Everything is soaked and everything is green.  I woke up early this morning, got showered, dressed and ready for work a little early, so I thought I'd take a walkabout the farm and see what there was to see.  

This is the flower bed along the back of our house that we built last summer.  Out of all the plants I put in last year, only one lonely carnation survived the winter.  And it's not blooming yet.  But my peony and the carnations should be blooming before long, if it warms up a bit.  These are old-fashioned stock flowers...one of my favorites, and their scent is reminiscent of carnations.  Spicy and sweet.

A close-up of the fragrant stock flowers...love them!!

Behind this pink stock is a day lily that will bloom later on this season.  A perennial favorite among gardeners who may have something other than "green thumbs".  An easy-growing flower that tolerates less than perfect soil and heat tolerant as well.  Sounds perfect for me!

The cheery little pansy.  Another one of my favorites.  My mom used to love pansies, and she often said they reminded her of little monkey faces.  Funny how I can remember so many little things that my mom always said...guess that's one way to keep her with me in my heart.  I'll always think of momma when I look upon a pretty little pansy.  For me, that makes this the perfect Memorial Day flower!

And even though this looks very much like a pansy, it's actually a Viola.  A smaller, but very similar flower related to the pansy.  They will spread like the dickens if protected from hard freezing.  They also do well for gardeners who might be a bit challenged, or who are just too darn busy to remember to water regularly.

This is a corner planter we added just this year.  It's actually just to the side of our back door, but since we never use our front (street-side) door, I consider this to be the front of the house.  Hopefully this year I'll be able to find that perfect replacement door for this side of the house.  I have the perfect door in my mind's eye, I just need to find it.  I had such a hard time deciding what to plant here.  This planter is westerly facing, and gets only mid to late afternoon sun when it's scorching hot.  Many plants couldn't tolerate that kind of extreme heat, but hopefully I've picked sun-loving flowers that will do alright providing I don't forget to water them regularly.  *fingers crossed*  Lavender, nasturtium,  petunia, dianthus (often referred to as Sweet William), and geraniums.  On warm days, the scent is just lovely when you approach the door.  Oh, see that odd looking rock in the bottom?  That's actually a piece of petrified drift wood that I found on the beach years and years ago...my sweet hubby carried that heavy thing several miles back to our car, in the sand, for me.  Bless his pea-pickin' little heart...I'll bet it weighs in at about 70 lbs or so.  He loves me.  :)

And this little beauty is one of several trees I planted a few years back.  My brother-in-law gave it to me as a tiny little seedling and it's grown into this.  See all that light green new growth?  Each year it sprouts anew and shoots up anywhere from 6-10 inches.  I'm not sure what exact type of pine tree it is; but it's a pine tree nonetheless.

See the old snowball tree in the back?  I hacked the beejeebers out of that poor thing several years in a row before realizing just what it was.  A survivor to be sure!  And this tree I decorate with hanging flower pots, hummingbird feeders and bird feeders every year.  I save the pots and refill them with new flowers each spring.  And my iris just blossomed this morning.  So pretty!! This is our main shade tree in the back, and without it, the yard would be sweltering in the summer.  We all tend to hang out here in the shade of a hot, summer afternoon.

There's so much green it's hard to distinguish the hanging pots.  More of my favorites; stock and petunias in the baskets.

This is our Bartlett pear tree with another basket of flowers.  Sheltered in the shade of the protective tree are my Hydrangea plants.  They love morning sun, but cannot tolerate the heat of the afternoon light, so this provides the perfect spot.

I love the beautiful "bearded iris", and they have such a lovely scent.  My mom used to say that they reminded her of funerals...

 
One of our raised garden beds with a stick tee-pee for the green beans to climb...if they're still alive that is. I may be replacing most of the plants here because a late frost pretty much wiped them out.  It's been another late, wet and fairly cool spring here in the northern valley.

 
I tried to get a herd shot, but Eagle was way off by himself this morning...must be feeling anti-social.  I can relate, I feel anti-social at times myself.  Last night I gave all the horses a good, thorough brushing while the rain came down in buckets.  That's one of my favorite times to be in the barn, with the rain thundering down on the metal roof...very cozy and soothing to me.  We had ourselves a nice, relaxing evening together.

This is "Mommasonn".  She's our most friendly, resident Kildeere, and has a nest nearby.  They are one of my most favorite birds.  I think they're beautiful, and their bravery astounds me.  And, it's bunches of fun to watch them lead Ruby on a merry chase back and forth across the pasture!!  Ruby comes back tuckered out and her tongue dragging when they're finished with her.  And their theatrics are unmatched!!  You can't help but admire such drama!!

The neighboring wheat field.  It's so beautiful when it's tender and green...

In a couple of months time, this wheat will be turning golden under the heat of the summer's sun.  The glorious uniqueness of each season amazes me...such beauty!

We're hoping to go on a day ride somewhere with Ladde and a borrowed friend's horse this weekend.  It will be the first trail ride for me in almost 2 years.  That's the longest span of time in my entire life of not riding a horse in the woods.  That is unacceptable and must be remedied as soon as possible!!!  I would just as soon stop living as I would stop riding horses...for me, life must be shared with horses.  I'm hoping that our weather dries out and cooperates so that we can relax and ride!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.
Blessings to you all, and may we all remember those we have loved, and miss so dearly...

Lorie @ Cingspots