More Spring, spring...Glorious Spring!

Birdbath with last year's Limelight hydrangea heads:

This piece of driftwood is right in front of the Limelight hydrangea:

 Old stump behind forget-me-nots:

Frances William hosta shoots:

Have I mentioned  how much I LOVE spring flowers?

A Few Spring Flowers

I do love spring flowers!  Here are two different areas with red  tulips & aqua birdhouses:

 


Yellow tulips and driftwood:

Grape hyacinths:

 

Grape hyacinths with Primrose & aqua milkcan:

 Who does not LOVE spring flowers?  I think they are my favorites!

I Finally Started Working on my Spring Garden

I took a vacation day today just so I  could begin my spring garden chores.  #1  on my list was to completely remove everything from the tiny garden under my living room window.  Last fall I took this pic and placed it in my "to do" file:


There is actually a lot more in this area than you see in this fall photo. It is FULL of Star of
Bethlehem, a lovely white spring flower, but VERY invasive. Years ago my neighbor gave me a sack full of bulbs.  Had I known that they were such invasive thugs, I would never have planted them!   They have taken over every area  I planted them in.  Today, with the help of my recently-retired husband,  I finally removed them from this area. 

Isn't this beautiful? :)

So clean! Underneath the new top soil I planted Tropicannas and yellow calla lilies--not exactly what I had noted on the first photo.  Unfortunately I did not have enough peach cannas to plant this space.  The yellow callas will bloom first and the Tropicannas will have gorgeous foliage with orange blooms in mid-August.   I am excited to see what this new planting will produce!

Just a few feet away from this area I have some yellow tulips in bloom:

It felt so good to be outside working -- even though it was only 60 degrees today.  For me that is the perfect temperature for hard physical outside work.  I dug up a lot of plants today.  My old muscles are complaining just a tad right now. :)

I will show you some other garden areas tomorrow.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

Beautiful Sunrise Over the Bay

DH and I celebrated his recent retirement with two days in Michigan's

 upper peninsula.  I got up at 6:15 AM--just in time to capture this beautiful sunrise over the bay from my hotel room window:

 

What a breathtaking way to start the day!

 

We have had lovely weather for the past five days.  Unfortunately I have been working, so I have not been able to get out and spend much time in the garden.  I don't see where I will have any extra time for the next couple of weeks. DH does not seem to take much interest in the gardens, so I don't know what will happen with them this  year. I expect I will have to get rid of many of them. Only time will tell.

Our First Beautiful Spring Day

and it was on a Saturday! 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this day.  I spent a few hours outside raking and cutting down a few of the perennial borders.  I don't have much in bloom other than a few daffodils.

I painted the front of this birdhouse green (it was orange).  Then I cut some daffodils to make this  bouquet in an old tea pot.

I will get more enjoyment from the daffs as an inside bouquet.

 

I am going out now to sit on the glider on the deck and enjoy the sunshine that I have not seen since last October!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Spring Wreath with Leopard Bunting

 It's been forever since I designed  a spring wreath.  Early this morning I was suddenly struck with the desire to do so. The only idea floating around my head was to make a burlap  bunting with the word "spring".

So I went in search of my burlap fabric. About a month ago I cleaned my sewing room, hauling the majority of  my fabric to the basement. Now I can't find any of the fabric I know I have.  It's so frustrating!  In this case, though, it turned out to be a positive thing. While searching I spotted some pink birdhouses with a leopard-fabric roof and decided to go with a leopard fabric bunting instead.

There's a little bird down at the bottom.

I love how the wreath turned out. I did not spend a penny to buy anything new. Gotta love that!

The Rest of My Easter Decorations for 2013

The only Easter decorating I did this year was in the dining room.  I showed you my chair backs a few posts down. Today I will show you the rest of the dining room.


Bunnies and carrots on top of this cabinet.

A white fenced real egg Easter tree on top of this curio cabinet.

The cabinet with the bunnies on top has quite a few real eggs inside it.

 Here is a cluster of three green eggs.

 Look at these spikes!

  I like the spike decorations and put them a number of eggs. Here is another one:

It almost looks like a medieval weapon!

 

This old sugar shell has a much less sinister-looking egg tucked inside:

 

 

 

 This egg reminds me of  a ballerina.

I decorated this room when I was contemplating having an Easter brunch at my home.  Then I decided that I did not feel like doing all that work.  So nobody but my blogland friends will actually see it. :)