Hydrangea

From my flowerbed

Day Lillies

They have finally started blooming and they are so lovely.

The Garden, plus a dog

Roses for Grandma

Roses for my Grandma

Strawberries

This is not a good sign

Deer tracks through my garden. They haven't eaten anything.....yet. Looks like it is time to get a fence up.

The Garden

It is small, but honestly it is all that I need. We have so much good produce that we can get a road side stands, farmers markets that really you don't have to have a big garden unless you really want one. While a large garden would be lovely I also realize that time is a factor for me and this is what I can take care of, so this is what I have.

Rose Hips

Wild roses grow easily in the foothills of the Cascades and the Coast range. We also have them in areas of the valley too. Luckily we have quite a few areas of them on the farm. From them we get Rose Hips. This time of year they are very lovely with flowers gone and just the red berries remaining. I always want to pick them and put them in my house during the fall and winter months, but I never do. They are usually surrounded by poison oak or blackberries, and I am not willing to suffer through poison oak and the prednisone that comes with it, or to get scratched by all the blackberries. So I enjoy them where they are and know that they will be back again next year.

Peonies

These are my favorite flower. They are just so beautiful and lovely. I have them planted in all of my flower beds. If they would bloom all summer long they would probably be the only thing I would plant.

Bad Deer

I have deer issues. This is what I found when I went outside this morning it is the result of not covering my plants last night. I have the garden covered, and she hasn't ate the Dalia's yet, so I still have today to get them covered.

I am sure these are beyond recovery, and they say that deer don't like geraniums. Well they forgot to tell my deer that.

Dalia beds

So while hubby had the tractor out and was tilling the garden I had him till a spot for a Dalia bed. I had them planted along the west and south sides of the house, but I was tired of it looking dead for 9 months out of the year. So I replaced them with Mexican Orange shrubs and planted the Dalia's in there own bed. I know this isn't the time to be transplanting, but I had to move a couple last year and they did great so I am really hoping my luck keeps going and these take off.

Now I just need to protect them from the deer and we will be set to go. Around here it doesn't seem to matter if they are deer resistant or not they still eat them.

Orchids

While we were at the Natural History Museum we were lucky enough to come across the Orchid exhibit and it was the last weekend for it. They were so beautiful. To bad I can't grow them.

Flower beds

So after 8 years and not doing to much to the yard I put in flower beds two years ago. Last year we expanded and I am still experimenting on what works for me and what I like. I would have done it years ago but we kept saying we were going to either move or build a new house. Since neither has happened, I have finally gave up and started planting. I figure the least that will happen is the yard will look nice.

Please ignore the weeds, and the cool whip container on the porch, and the screen from when I washed windows earlier and couldn't get it back in. I am still waiting for hubby to help me with that.

That is Seth the cat. He is pretty worthless. He won't hunt and sleeps all day.

Vegetable Garden

The last two years my vegetable garden has been lacking to say the least. We moved it closer to
the house thinking the deer wouldn't come that close, but it didn't work so we have went back to our original spot. This year we will be building a permanent fence hoping that it will keep out the deer. Hubby tilled it Saturday afternoon and I am hoping that we can start on the fence next week and I can start planting by memorial day. It would be great to get things into the ground earlier, but we are waiting since we could still get a frost.

What does your garden grow?