Sunday, November 28, 2010

Birds of a feather - eat together.

  


I think these are starlings in their winter coats.  It has been such a long time since I have seen one that I am not really sure that is what they are.  If anyone can correct me - please do!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Peonies

I have had these peonies for many years but they didn't really do very well in the places that I had them planted.  They grew but didn't produce a lot of flowers until I moved them into this planter a few years ago.  The soil here is very rocky and the stones in the planter were mostly dug up when I was making other flower beds or just laying on the ground.  For a first attempt at building one of these, I think it turned out just fine.   

Monday, November 15, 2010

Mom's Willow

A couple of years ago I went to a funeral that had a fantastic idea - the owners of the funeral home actually planted a tree in memory of the person who had passed.  As the city was quite large and the area quite flat, it was in need of open spaces and trees.  That gave me an idea that although I already have lots of trees I did not have many flowering shrubs or showy trees.  I tried to think of the person that I was dedicating it to and proceeded to plant shrubs and flowering trees in their memory.  My mother was a gardener and spent many hours in her flower and vegetable gardens but also liked shrubs and trees. Her favorite tree was the willow.  There is a wet sloping area at the base of a large rock in my yard that I had previously tried to grow an apple tree in but between the wet soil and the deer, it did not survive.  However this willow has flourished and grows more beautiful every day.  My mother would have loved it.