Amazing

I can't even begin to tell you the patients I've had to have. Gardening is not always easy. And does not always happen the way we plan it.

Almost 12 years ago, I bought some bulbs. In a small town. Of various irises. I already had white, purple, and yellow. But I wanted some more "exotic" colors. Immediately when I got home, I planted them. What I got was, a bunch of leaves. No flowers. Not for years.

Until a few days ago. I got my first flower from those bulbs. A beautiful pink iris. I was so excited. I'd honestly given up hope. And figured the bulbs had died. Or they were never going to flower. I hope others will bloom as well.

I've always enjoyed gardening. There is something so special about it. And unexpected. I'll never give up on my garden, yard, or flowers. But I'm realizing, patients is the #1 thing you need to have in gardening.

Where Did My Lilies Go?

Sometime in the Spring, I planted about 5 Oriental Lily bulbs. And I've watered them all season. Along with some other bulbs. And even seeds for that matter. Yes, I made sure that they were all going in the right direction.



And by now, I should have some pretty blooms like these. Or at least a green plant. Heck, I'd settle for a sprout coming out of the ground. But I got nothing. Nothing at all! My other bulbs, they've all grown. Some of them have flowered. But not the Oriental Lilies.



It makes me wonder, what happened to my lilies? If all the others came up, were these bad bulbs? Was this a tough year? Because I lots of plants and flowers that didn't make it. Just from talking to family and friends.

This was the first year that I planted Oriental Lilies. But like I said, I've planted other lilies in the past. I have an entire flower bed filled with Tiger Lilies. But these lilies, they just don't want to grow. I'm wondering if our climate is just not good. Or maybe, it was just a tough gardening year.

Money Tree

This is a Money Tree. Not one that grows money. But it's called a Money Tree. About 15 years ago, one of our employees gave it to us for the holidays. A small one. Smaller than this one. And right now, it's taking over my office.

I had to re-pot it again. And I noticed how big it has gotten. Why am I so shocked? This tree has been in my office for a long time. But when you have to pick it up and move it, you can tell how big it has gotten.

Our Money Tree is now hitting the ceiling. And I'm wondering what we're going to do with it, as it continues to grow. Because I don't know where we will put it. The funny thing is, we just let it do it's own thing. I water it, maybe once a week. And it's right by the window. Who would have thought it would be this big? Or that it would have outlasted the employee that gave it to us!

Our Garden

It's suffering something bad. My daughter brought me some seedlings that she had started. When she planted them, we immediately had some issues. The black ants started eating my plants. Then the heat was just killing everything.

But more recently, it's been the crazy rain that we've had. Yes, the kind that comes down in buckets. But I'm still trying. Trying to save some of my plants. The watermelon and tomatoes seem to be doing the best. I'm pretty sure the pumpkin and the squash are dead. But I keep watering them. You just never know...

Do you have a garden? How is it doing? I hope better than mine. We just seem to be having such a tough year. Weather wise and insect wise. I hope that we can get some vegetables. We had cherries in June. And we had to beat the birds and ants to those too. The were so sweet and delicious.

Hummingbirds

Do you see that cute hummingbird? I've got about 8 of them in my backyard! I put out a feeder sometime around the first of the month. Sadly, it broke on Mother's Day when I was filling it up. And it was an expensive glass one. I had only had it up for about a week! I really wanted to cry! My daughter was helping me hang it up, and the jar part broke off. At that point, I had 2 or 3 hummingbirds.

The next day, we went to Wal-Mart and I bought a regular plastic one. We came home and mixed up 3 cups of sugar water right away. We hung the feeder and the hummingbirds quickly started to feed. This past Sunday, I filled up the feeder. By Wednesday morning, it was completely empty. I'm pretty sure, we have 8 hummingbirds now. My husband says that there are more. Where did they all come from?

But I'm enjoying them. I like to sit on the couch and watch them through the window. There is an alpha male bird. The rest of the hummingbirds have to distract him to feed. He likes to chase them away. Like the feeder is only for him. I've noticed that the females hide in my lilac bush. Which is almost directly under the feeder. And when that male flies away, they quickly feed. I've also noticed, only 2 birds will eat at once.

Thursday I started some flowers from seeds. I've got lots of flowers in my backyard. But for Mother's Day, my daughter bought me a large package of hummingbird flower seeds. I'm hoping that will help the hummingbirds a little. My husband also bought me a hanging basket with flowers a few weeks ago. They seem to enjoy those.

Do you have hummingbirds around your house? Do you feed them? I'm starting to think that these birds are sending out the message that I'm feeding them. It makes me happy. But I'm wondering if 3 cups of water every 3-4 days is too much. But either way, it's nice to sit and watch the birds feed.