I'm One Hellava Gardener

 Well, maybe I'm not.

I don't think I did much gardening last summer and I don't know why. Covid? I don't think Covid was loitering around in my garden, so it couldn't have been that.

Anyway, this year I decided that my so-called perennial garden should actually look like one and I've been wandering around in it, trying to identify what I've planted in the past. I have lots of mystery plants.

Anyone know what this is? Anyone? I sure don't. I found lots of loose labels scattered around, but I couldn't match them to any plants, so I still have lots of puzzles to either solve or ignore.

This label (upside down, sorry, Blogger is misbehaving today) is for a rose.  Queen Elizabeth. I don't know how it got on this plant but this is definitely NOT a rose.

It's clearly a blueberry plant, although I didn't realize it until I saw these little beginnings of blueberries.  I knew that I had planted one in the past, and here it is! Surprise-I thought the deer had eaten it.

Here is an existing rose plant.  I told you I was a good gardener.

I had lots of peony plants that did nothing this year and I think it's from lack of sun so we will move them.  These poor, bedraggled peonies. (Sideways because ...Blogger, and it will only allow me to have text in the center now.)

And, bonus!  If you've ever wondered why a Tulip Poplar tree is called that, here is one of the flowers that fall in the spring.  Very much like a tulip.  

 

We went to a garden show two weekends ago for inspiration and we did see some pretty gardens, but this was my favorite find. There was no For Sale sign on it, so it can't be mine, but I love it. Beautifully restored, better restored than my garden is so far.

Lilacs!!!

I have my very own lilacs to cut!

They aren't like the gorgeous, lush lilacs that grow in the north, but they are still pretty great. 

And I have azaleas, and soon will have roses and peonies. In a month or so.

I love spring in the south.

Ah-choo!!!

Baxter's Big Adventure

I may have mentioned in the past that Baxter wants nothing more than to go outside. He will do anything to get off of the deck, which does now seem to be escape proof. (fingers crossed)

I bought him a harness and leash a few months ago and tried to take him for a walk. It seems, though, that cats, or at least some cats, don't quite get the concept of going for a walk. On a cat-related forum online I read that I should try to just put the harness and leash on him, take him outside, and let him go. So today I did:

At first he acted as if the leash weighed hundreds of pounds, hunkered down and did not move.  But then he was distracted by everything and started wandering. I did not hold the leash; the idea is that if the cat starts to go where he shouldn't, I just step on the leash and stop him. He ended up being so intent on capturing the lizard that was evading him in a small rock wall that he didn't even wander. He had a nice half hour or so of excitement and now he is showing his appreciation by falling asleep on my foot.

As for me, I was rewarded by what will be my first peony of the season!

Peonies are my favorite flowers! Except for roses! And lacecap hydrangeas!

I might have many favorites.



And now, for something completely different: last Wednesday night I had occasion to go to the top of the Queen building in Sandy Springs.

If you live in the Atlanta area, you are familiar with the King and Queen buildings; you can see them from 400 and from I 285.

But have you seen them from the top?

The very top of the Queen

The King seen from atop the Queen

It was fun to see a 360 degree view of Atlanta, but the building tops wouldn't make great tourist attractions. I noticed a sort of unpleasant, sewer-type of odor. I was correct:  all of the exhaust pipes from the entire 31 floors of offices and, ahem, rest rooms, lead to the roof.


Go and smell the roses instead.  

Knittergran Said

Let there be peonies .... pulleeze?

And there are!

First time in years!

They are my FAVORITE flowers (until the roses bloom, and then there are the hydrangeas.....).

Summit Shawl

Finished, now blocking. It is shorter than I like, but I unintentionally made it one column wider, and that is the reason. I didn't discover that I had miscounted until the shawl was well under way, and I wasn't about to rip it out. It will have to do.

It looks complicated, but it's not. It is just very time consuming because of all of the back and forth knitting and purling on small numbers of stitches. Turning and turning the work.

And now on to something completely different: One of my peonies. I LOVE peonies!

Peonies!!!

There is no better day in the garden for this amateur gardener than the one when I can go outside and cut peonies from my very own yard. And this is the first time in three years I've had any; they just didn't do much during the three-year drought.

Peonies and a rose? Perfect!!!

Peonies!

In years past, I've had armfuls of peonies, and I just love them. But the past two years, I had exactly NO peonies. The drought killed some of the plants, and the rest just didn't flower. The watering restrictions were so strict that it wasn't possible to water enough to help much. This year I've gotten a few of my favorite flowers. Peonies aren't a given this far south; the winters aren't generally cold enough long enough for some plants and flowers. Lilacs stand almost no chance, and the varieties that do grow here aren't anything like the lush lilac shrubs of the north.
But I won't complain. This year I have my favorite flowers: peonies.

(and one rose)

But wait! Did I say peonies are my favorite? I forgot the roses. Even through the drought I had roses, and I love them the most.

Especially my David Austin antique roses:

Oh, did I say roses are my favorite? I forgot my true favorite, the lacecap hydrangeas!

Well, OK. I love them ALL. I have no favorites.