July - High Mountain Flowers

 This beautiful swallowtail and or her friends was a frequent visitor to my garden this summer.  They especially seem to love the dianthus but this one is alight my raspberry canes.  My kids are fascinated by our butterfly visitors and took this picture.

 Every July we head up north to Tendoy in Lemhi County at the base of the Continental Divide.  We spend a few days riding around the back roads and trails on 4-wheelers and motor bikes.  This year I was completely taken with all of the flowers blooming along the Lewis and Clark Adventure Byway Road up onto the Continental Divide.  I don't know all of their names but hope to someday.

 A favorite spot is the Sacajawea Memorial Trial and Park.  Here are my kids and a cousin posing at a little spring, the headwaters of the Missouri River.

 I think this is a kind of penstemon, or beard's tongue.

 This looked like a tall hardy geranium.

This one a shorter or maybe younger version of hardy or sticky geranium.

Early June: Late Spring Brings Burst of Color

I am still chasing away those winter blues by reminiscing over my gardens in the warm weather.  My little woodland garden cozied up to the front walk brings me joy every time I look out my front window.   

 The bleeding hearts are still in full bloom.  I collect an annual dianthus each year on Mother's Day from our church and add them to the garden.  Most of them have wintered over well and become perennials.  My primrose have faded but my new Bluebells of Scotland are taking off.  The hostas are unfolding and the columbine has started to bloom.  The liner on my well had a hole this year and I never did I get a new liner so I couldn't get my fountain going.  I added a container of Hens and Chicks as an homage to Handsome Hubby's many great grandmother Christiana Penn, an early settler of New England and avid gardener as her journal attests.

 Close-up on the colors of the woodland garden.  I love pink, maybe a little too much.

My Niobi Clematis and unknown Iris bloomed together this year providing such a nice complement to each other.  These iris are descendants of the ones I remember growing in the west side of my mother's house when I was a girl.  Back then we called them flags and I loved their intricate shape and colors.

 My transplanted columbine are taking off.  I just love these plants.

This is my Syringa or Mockorange, philedelphus lewisii, the state flower of Idaho.  I love the smell of the blossoms and the way the blue hardy geranium sets off the white.  I wish that it would bloom longer.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

During the warm weather I never seemed to find the time to sit down and share photos of my gardens.  Now that it is snow covered and frigid outside I find myself daydreaming of that warm weather.  Catching up on my garden blog seemed the perfect therapy for chasing away my winter blues.

This Mother's Day I said that I wanted to finally finish off my gardens in the front.  Handsome Husband laid 6 in steel strip edging along the front garden border while I picked out and laid this cute rock edge for my woodland garden.  Then we filled all of the front beds with this lovely dark bark mulch.  I love how the green of my plants brightens up against the dark wood.

 I also got to set out my cute garden ornaments that my kids bought me for Christmas.  My gnome is getting a little overshadowed by the iris, I'm pretty sure that I pulled him forward.  I also planted some Calico Jack Daylilies along that front.  They never bloomed in 2012 but I am hoping for a good showing in 2013.

 I picked up these cute butterflies at the Dollar store and attached them to little stakes.  Along with my fairy house they lend a whimsical touch to my woodland garden.  I love the contrast of the bright tulips against the white bleeding heart.

 These little primroses are pretty powerhouses.  Just as they are beginning to fade I clipped them off and added them to the Memorial Day bouquets that I make to decorate our loved ones graves.  I added 2 Bluebells of Scotland this year ( a little hat tip to my heritage), you can see one peeking behind the fairy house.  I was pleasantly surprised that they bloomed and re-bloomed nearly all season.

My lilac was an early bloomer this year.  This picture was taken May 15.  Most years I use them in the Memorial Day bouquets but they were almost all spent by then this year.

Welcome

Welcome to my garden.  I live in SE Idaho on a small city lot but my little gardens bring me both peace and a little piece of heaven.  Coming in a close second to my children and family my gardens are my favorite thing to talk about.  I love working in, admiring, and sharing my garden.  I hope this blog will detail my successes and I'm sure a few failures as well as provide ideas and inspiration for fellow gardeners. 

This winter I read a little about Fairy Gardens and decided to add one for my 3 year old daughter to my front woodland garden.  Leah loves Tinkerbell and all things fairy.  We had a lot of fun picking out and painting our fairy house together.

  

 Our fairy house has a new home at the base of our wishing well fountain.  I am looking forward to filling it in with a path, bluebells, violas and more.

Spring teased us with unseasonably warm weather last week.  The sunshine coaxed my daffodils into bloom.  This was the first and I had to snap a photo.  Following are a few other shots of my beloved plants springing to life around my yard.

These little purple aster came with the house, but were in the side yard in a little patch where we park our bicycles.  I have been transplanting them over the years to the front.   They are one of the first flowers to bloom in my yard and always give me hope that spring and warm weather are truly on their way.

Tulips rising above snow on the mountain.

When I planted this Carmine Jewel Cherry Bush 4 years ago it was barely a twig.  This is the first year it has had blossoms and I am really hoping for a few cherries this year.

The warm weather is tempting my lilac into bloom early this year.  Last year I didn't even have blooms for Memorial Day to decorate loved ones graves with and this year I fear they will be all spent by then.  You can see the size difference in my lilac and cherry.  We are ruminating about how to improve this spot especially to help my dear husband out with the mowing.

Please ignore the disarray on my deck but I wanted to capture these side plants.  My currant bush, a division of one that used to grow at my Great Grandmother Rock's house passed down to me from my Aunt Patsi Hinckley is really growing this year.  My rhubarb exploded and it looks like I need to make some Rhubarb Crunch soon.  Even my little strawberry patch that wraps around the deck has an early start and is starting to put out blooms.  I hope that you wander back soon.