My Tulips are not so Wonderful this Year

First off, I want to thank Daizy for her comment on my last post about using water to remove the wallpaper glue. I have to say that does seem much easier than sanding it all off. I have not tried it yet (I have to be home all day before I do a job like that -- maybe next weekend). I would have sent you an email, but your comment was anonymous, so I couldn't. Nonetheless, I appreciate the comment. It just may save me a lot of mess!

On to the tulips:

I have some blooming, but they are not making me giddy with joy as they usually do. They are on the small side this year and many did not come back from the past two years.

Last year I did a post about moving one of my favorite red/white tulips. Here they are right after I moved them:
I felt pretty smug about having them stand tall right after moving them in full bloom.

Here they are today:

The Big-Fat-Tulip-Leave syndrome. One leaf, no bloom. I am not feeling all that smug right now.

I do have one tulip area that I find acceptable. These tulips are about three years old and still giving a decent bloom, so that makes me happy.


Unlike the Rai tulips that I planted last fall. They opened further today and I am not happy with them.

The catalog shows this lovely plum purple and lime green color, not hot pink as mine seem to be!
Perhaps they will change to purple as they age a bit.

I've Been Waiting for YEARS to be Rid of This Wallpaper, Rai Tulips & Butterfly Bush, & Oriental Limelight Artemisia

Sunday morning I was reading Pea's blog and she was talking about removing wallpaper. It seems like everyone but me has removed wallpaper.

I finally decided it was about time I got rid of mine. I got right up from my computer and went to the dining room to check it out. I'm like that--totally spur-of-the-moment starting projects. I found a loose corner and began to slowly pull--an inch or two of wall was revealed. I pulled a bit more--more wall revealed and no drywall was coming off. I was so excited that I called my non-handyman husband in to help me.

He was skeptical, but I insisted that he take one side and I would take the other and together we would gently pull and see if it would come right off as it appeared that it would.

Voila! In less than one hour all the vinyl wallpaper was gone.

I kept asking why I waited so many years to attempt removal. It was simple!

Of course, now I am left with all that yellow glue still on the wall. I guess I must have to sand it down. I have a feeling that won't be so simple!

I am happy to report that the deer did not eat my tulips and the Rai tulips are about to open:

My butterfly bush must have liked this strange winter just as much as I did. It's leafing out on old wood.
It almost never does this. I was at my MIL's yesterday and she has three that are doing the same.
We've had a bit of rain this week and the garden liked that very much. The plants are beginning to spring to life. Last year I took this 'Oriental Limelight' Artemisia from it's pot and planted it here.
I don't know what possessed me to do such a crazy thing, after having had it for three years in a plastic pot. Even on the label it said only to use it in containers as it may be too aggressive to put in the ground. I need to get right on this and remove it before it spreads any further! I think I will put it in about three containers and just stick the pots in amongst taller greenery where they will be hidden. I do love the nice contrast this plant gives with its light green/cream foliage.

I hope to get this task done right after work today.

I am Pretty Sick of Digging Grass from my Creeping Phlox

I spent some time doing just that this weekend.

I have decided that I am sick of that task and I am thinking of removing a good portion of my creeping phlox so I don't have to deal with it.

So in the afternoon I took a break from digging grass and went out and bought this:

Yup, I went out and bought some grass!
I think I will leave it in it's pot and put it in one of big deck containers. I cannot imagine having to dig unwanted grass out of my pretty blue fescue. I wonder if it will be perennial in my cold climate. It says it's good for 30 below zero, so it should be.

I also bought some fuzzy wuzzy Lamb's Ear. I have never grown Lamb's ear.

Hmmmm, I did not buy them to plant together, but after looking at this pic, I like the combination of the blue fescue with the lamb's ear in front. Anybody growing that combo?

In the back you see a red peony. It has two buds, so I can't wait to see the flower. If you have been reading this blog for long, you may remember that my white peonies took 15 years before they bloomed! I have no desire to wait that long for the red ones, so I thought the $15 price tag was worth it.

I also picked up a pot of Sunny Border Blue Speedwell (Veronica Spicata). I've tried it once before, but it died out. I love the blue color, so decided to give it one more chance.

I also went looking for the new Croc's, but I did not find them. The store I thought carried them, decided not to this year. Just my luck....

I stopped a second store to see if there was anything else that appealed to me. I found these:
I love them and they were marked way down -- about 1/4 the price of the crocs. To top that off, if you bought one pair of shoes, you got a second pair 1/2 off. I was in a big hurry and just grabbed these cute flip flops. They were marked $3 - closeout from $$19.99. I got them for $1.50!!


I guess it was my lucky day after all!

Farrah Sling C*rocs & 1st Flower Bouquet

I heart these. (Forgive me, but I've been dying to say that). It seems to be the current slang version of "I want these".

Unlike my other C*rocs, I would actually wear these in public. I love my old ones, but only wear them around the house. They are just too UGLY for me to wear in public. I won't even go to W*alm*art with them on, but I sure love to wear them on the deck or walking around the garden paths.

Do any of you own a pair of these new Farrah's? Are they comfy?

After work this afternoon I went out and spent about one hour of light raking and weed removal. Then I went and cut down a few stray bloomers and made my first fresh flower bouquet of 2010.

I even used the potting bench to assemble the bouquet.

I thought the color of this tiny johnny-jump-up was cute. Mine are usually more purple, so I did a double take when my eye caught the yellow face. I picked it so I could enjoy it up close.
I also cut a small handful of tiny grape hyacinths for the same reason.

There is not much of interest happening in my garden. It's getting desperate for water. You should have seen the dust fly as I was raking. I hope it's not going to be one of those dreaded dry summers. I would much rather have a cold, rainy one like last year!

A Ray of Sunshine & Rembrandt Dahlias

That's what I dressed like today--BRIGHT sunshine!

From my shell necklace, to my golden yellow jacket (the color is actually called "Sunshine")....


to my lace-look bangle bracelet....




to my big Sunshine yellow tote....I was awash in yellow and brown today.


I've had this stuff since last year, but I've been waiting to wear it until the weather was warm enough not to need a coat. It does not make much sense to carry that tote if a coat covers all the matching attire.

It was a fun outfit and I plan to wear it again this weekend.

I got my Rembrandt dahlia order from Breck's yesterday. For $25.00 I got six clumps.

I must say that clump on the left is mighty small. Here it is close up: Hmmm....not too happy with that one. Breck's is very good about replacing inferior items. I will plant this and wait and see what happens. If I am not happy, I will write to them and they replace it. I can use this picture as proof of what they sent.

It will be a surprise to see what color these are. They put all six clumps in one package so you have no idea what you are getting. I just hope it's not all purple/white. I have enough of those from my last order!

"There is Nothing Good About Getting Old"

I kept waking up last night and noticing that my arm was really sore. I could barely pick up my pillow.

When I got up this morning, it was still sore. I was getting a little worried, wondering if I was having the first signs of some dreadful muscle deterioration disease.

While sipping my coffee, it suddenly hit me…

Baton twirling!

I only played around with the baton for a short time the night before. I was totally shocked that my muscles could be that sore.

I don’t remember that flipping a little baton through the fingers was all that strenuous!

My boss, who is twenty years my senior, has been saying, "There is nothing good about getting old." I am beginning to see where he's coming from.

The most strenuous thing I plan to do this afternoon is lift this glass of White Zin from these branches to my lips!

I got my nails done after work today. I picked a pink color and thought it looked like it was a good match to one of my pink jackets. Hmmm.......not bad....I think I will wear the jacket and carry this tote to work tomorrow.

I Love Sundays When I Get a Lot Done and Still Have Time to Play

I've done a respectable amount of cleaning this weekend and feel pretty good about that. It's been some time since I've scrubbed the floors two weekends in a row. I think they need to be done twice a week, but as long as I am working outside the home, that's not going to happen!

Right now I have a nice beef roast/potatoes/carrots in the oven and a big pot of fresh green beans steaming on the stove top.

I've done some sewing, using up old log cabin quilt blocks, and feel really good about that. If you are in to that sort of thing, you can read about it here.


DH was doing some cleaning of his own and he found this:

He brought it into the house and asked if I still wanted it.

Are you kidding?

Of course, I still want it!

I immediately took it outside to see if I c0uld still twirl it.

I asked DH to take some pics. You can't really see it twirling, but I can still make the old baton twirl. I did not try to toss it up in the air, but I bet I can still do that and catch it. I just did not want to miss and break a nail!


Since I was in my bathrobe, I had to crop out everything but the hands and the baton.

I do LOVE to spend Sundays in my bathrobe!!

I Have No Clothesline Poles

Well, I guess, I do have some, but they are buried under debris in the woods

We removed them nearly twenty years ago. It's a miracle we got them down with all that concrete in there!

I rarely miss them because I prefer to dry clothes in a dryer. The only time I wish I still had them is when I want to wash and dry or

air out my big quilts. I decided to put a sheet over the deck railing and then put the quilt over the sheet (to keep it clean). That seemed to work fairly well.

My big plans to finish up the raking have not materialized. The week is nearly over and I have not gone out once after work. It's been in the low 50's which is OK weather for that kind of work, but I have not been in the mood. I guess it will have to wait until the weekend.

From the Forest Floor

Yesterday after I finished raking, I took a little stroll through the woods next to my gardens. Right away I spotted this big branch.

It's been here for years--all the bark is gone and something has been making holes in it.

Dianne, do these holes look like the ones you posted yesterday?


This branch is quite heavy, but something about it interested me, so I pulled it out and propped it against this pole to dry out (the underside was quite wet)


I am thinking there is some artistic expression (garden art)just waiting to burst forth from this piece. At the moment I have no idea what, but I am going to keep it around awhile and see if any idea comes to me.

Does anyone know what made those holes? I am thinking woodpeckers.

I Accomplished a Lot This Weekend

After spending an hour in Joanne Fabric Store, I went into Big Lots (right next to Joanne's) and I found some gardening gloves. I bought six pairs so I should be set for the summer.
As soon as I got home I put on a pair and started raking one side of the arbor gardens. This is what the gloves looked like less than two hours later:

The garden looks pretty clean... at least on this side.
Can you believe I got three wheelbarrow loads from just the center area? It's amazing how many pine needles and pine cones fall from these trees.

I have not even started to rake the other side. There is so much work to do!

I planted the Orange Perfection in the barrels on the deck. One barrel has two plants


and one has just one in the middle back. There is some blue Russian Sage on each side of the orange.

I also planted the two Pineapple Lilies and put them in the garage because it's still a month or more before they can go outside.

I did not remember that I was getting two bulbs. I remember that the bulb was pretty expensive, so I feel better that I got two instead of one.

I decided that I had done enough for one day.

This week after work I will do a bit more each evening, if the weather is nice.

orange perfection phlox

I was pretty excited to find this little bag of 3 roots of orange perfection phlox at my local Wal*mart.

I've ordered it twice during the past twenty years, but it has never bloomed for me. I am thinking of planting these roots in the half whiskey barrels on the deck so I can make sure they get extra attention.

I understand the blooms on this are sometimes more pink than orange. I hope mine turns out to be orange. I've got enough pink phlox.

Does anybody grow this?
What color are your blooms?

Here's my latest snack craze:
Sliced bananas, honey and sunflower seeds. YUM!

Cinnamon Rolls with a Twist

This was my Easter brunch contribution:

The twist is that there is an entire cake mix in the dough.

Here is the recipe:

Mix together (I just mixed slowly with a wooden spoon):

1 white cake mix ( I used one that had pudding in it, but I don't think it matters what kind)
2.5 cups warm water
4 cups flour
2 packages of yeast (the fast rise powdered kind)

Add approximately 1.5 more cups of flour in half cup increments until a soft dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Oil a bowl (vegetable oil is fine) and place the dough inside, turning it once to get the top oiled. Cover and let rise about 45 min., or until doubled. I put the bowl in my oven and used the "Proof" feature, which just heats it to 100 degrees).

Once it's doubled, remove from oven and punch the dough down. Cut into two pieces and let rest 10 minutes.

Roll each piece out into a rectange that is approximately 10 x 14 inches.

Brush with butter - I melted about a 1/4 cup in the microwave for each section. Mix about 3/4 cup of brown sugar with 2 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over the buttered dough. I used at least this much for each section as I don't like cinnamon rolls that skimp on the sugar and butter.

Starting on the long side, roll up jelly roll style. Cut into 12 pieces. Cover and let rise until almost doubled - takes 20 min. to half an hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and remove when lightly browned. I think mine too a few minutes longer.
Make about a cup of your favorite frosting. I like a cream cheese frosting. I used 1/4 cup butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla. Then add a bit of milk and beat it until it is soft and spreadable.

Everyone really liked these and two people asked for the recipe.

1st Day of Spring Clean Up for Me

DH has been out raking the yard for the past week, but today was my first day out in the gardens.

I worked for one hour and removed 5 wheelbarrow loads. I think that's a pretty good beginning. This is one area I raked...just the front section.

You can't even tell, can you? All my work goes unnoticed!

Just to prove it, here's a wheelbarrow load ready to be dumped:

I was quite dismayed to see that this small rockwall area still has orange poppies coming up. I've been trying to kill them off for the past two years! They are persistent little devils!

I will keep trying and I will eventually be successful.

What really excited me today was this in the backyard rockwall garden:

You're not excited?

How about a close up? The ones in the front had a little rock on top of them. I removed it and they will straighten out with a few days of sunshine.

O.K. I can see where most people may not be overly excited, but I am ecstatic because these are the new tulips I planted last fall--the Rai Parrot tulips.

Remember these flamboyant beauties?

If the deer eat these tender new shoots, I swear I am going to throw myself on the ground and cry!

I gave them a good dose of deer repellent and I will continue to do so until they bloom. Deer repellent does not always work. Deer are evil, evil creatures to gardeners. They can destroy dozens of plants in just one gluttonous night.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me!