Begonia

Begonia, I just love them!

Pink Saturday

The four outside corners are sedum, the top middle is a snapdragon. and the bottom middle is celosia. Today I am participating in Beverly's Pink Saturday. Please check out the others.

Day Lily

These have been some great day lilies. They keep blooming and blooming. I took these photos today, and I hope they will be blooming for another couple of weeks.

Today is Fertilizer Friday. Please check out Tootsie Time to see the others.

Apple Picking Time

Today after work, my friends and I got together to pick apples and do some baking.


There was lots of laughter and singing.

We make Apple Pie Squares and Apple Crumb Pie.

The best part was the sampling.

One piece is never enough.

Cecil's Train

Just a few shots of my friend's outdoor train set. Please check out the others Outdoor Wednesday blogs at A Southern Daydreamer.

Resurrection Lily

Resurrection Lily, also known as the Naked Lily and Surprise Lily.

In the Spring, the leaves sprout forth looking like large tulips but just wither away as though the plant gave up and died. This of course is where it gets it's common name resurrection lily.

Thick naked flower scapes rise to 2’ tall in late summer, That is why it is called naked lily.

What makes it surprising is that about this time (August) every year, they just pop out of the ground with no leaves or foliage of any sort.

Please check out the others who are participating in Mosaic Monday. Visit Little Red House by clicking here.

Annual aster

I took these photo tonight. I really love annual asters. It takes them forever to bloom, but well worth the wait.

Last photos of the fair

I know I am a fair junkie. I just love them. I really enjoy the vegetable entries. The color is amazing!

This last photo is my mom's entries at the fair. She did such a good job and I am very proud of her. The first quilt is a Christmas quilt. It has lots of embellishments on it. It received the Champion Ribbon in the holiday category. The second quilt was made by someone else and she hand quilted it. It is huge king sized quilt. She received the champion ribbon on her hand stitching. (Best part is, she made it for me.) The last photo is of her rug. She has a rug loom. My mom and her friend make a rug each year for the fair and compete against each other. They take turns winning 1st. This year it happened to be my mom's year. They really have fun competing against each other. My mom entered 3 more quilts and received 1st on them.

Sedum Winners

I just love containers with sedum. These were the winners at the Renville County Fair. Click here to to see my Sedum chair .

Today I am participating in Fertilizer Friday. Please check out Tootsie Time to see the others.

Winning arrangements

This was the grand champion arrangement for the Renville County Fair. It also won champion contemporary arrangement.

This was the champion miniature arrangement. The category for this arrangement was called "Egypt".

This was the champion arrangement winner. The category for this arrangement was called "Switzerland", a vertical arrangement.

I just love the ladies that work in the floriculture department at the Renville County Fair. Their arrangements are the best. I "try" to compete with them. I enter arrangements every year with the hopes of someday getting on the champion table. Every year I get a little better, but I have a long ways to go. This mosaic is my arrangements.

The first arrangement with red and white was for "Canada" arrangement with white and red. This one I received 1st place. I was so excited. This was my first 1st place arrangement. The one next to it was called "Africa- Sahara Desert" dried arrangement using dried MN grown materials. It also won 1st. I was surprised and even more excited.

The second row is my miniature arrangements. The first one is "Netherlands" it placed second. The second one is Iceland. The third one was "Egypt'. These 2 didn't place.

The third row first one is "Switzerland', vertical arrangement. The last one is "India", all white arrangement with candle. These didn't place.

This is alway a lot of fun, and I learn so much every year.

My favorite arrangement

This arrangement did not win best of show, but it was my favorite. It has the flower I posted yesterday.


We just got back from the Renville County Fair. I will show you more photos tomorrow. They really had some wonderful flowers there this year.

Ornithogalum Saundersiae

This is on my must have plant for 2010. It is a bulb. Commonly called Star of Bethlehem or Giant Chincherinchee. It has creamy white flowers with black or green centers (pistils) and long, leafless stems up to 3 feet and taller.

They look great in arrangements. I saw these today at the Renville County Fair grounds. They have many beautiful flower beds. I hope to take more photos tomorrow when I go back.

Today is Outdoor Wednesday. Please check out the others at Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer.

Please help me identify.

These flowers are volunteers in our flowerbed at work. Please help me identify. Please check out Little Red House for Mosaic Monday by clicking here.

Phlox "Valentina"

Phlox "Valentina" is a new phlox for me this year. It gets about 30" high. The flowers are this deep pink color and the stems are red. It has been a fun addition to my bed.

Phlox "David"

Phlox David was the first tall phlox I purchased. It is still one of my favorites. It has a wonderful fragrance, bright color, mildew resistance, and long season bloom.

The Perennial Plant Association has awarded the title of Perennial Plant of the Year 2002 to "Phlox David'.

Pink Saturday

Today is my first time particapating in Pink Saturday is an event created by
Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. Please check out the others.

Cosmos

Cosmos flowers come in magenta, pink, purple, white, yellow, gold, orange, red, scarlet, and maroon. This year I planted "Sulphureus". These are the ones in the photo. I also planted "Bipinnatus", which are magenta, pink and rose colored.

Spanish priests grew cosmos in their mission gardens in Mexico. The evenly placed petals led them to christen the flower "Cosmos'. The name cosmos is from the Greek kosmos, meaning good order or harmony. The Greeks were impressed with the flower's symmetrical petals.

Today I am participation in my first Flaunt your Flowers Fridays. Check the others.

Sedum Chair

My friend Kathy taught a class on sedums a few years ago. She was telling me about how people were making these sedum chairs. I thought it would be fun to try. This first photo was taken late April after it was planted.

This is what it looked like this morning. It was so much fun to make and I love what it added to my garden.

You can check out my friend Kathy's blog at Glacial Ridge Knits & Quilts.

Back to basics.

Some fun facts about the zinnia flower.

The zinnia was the state flower of Indiana from 1931 to 1957. The peony (Paeonia) was adopted as the state flower by the 1957 Indiana General Assembly.

When the Spanish first saw zinnia species in Mexico, they thought the flower was so unattractive they named it mal de ojos, or "sickness of the eye!"

The flower is named after a Johann Gottfried Zinn (1737-1759), a professor of Botany at Gottingen University in 18th century. His name was used because he was the first person to publish a scientific drawing of the plant in 1753.

They come in virtually every color except blue. This zinnia has a little green friend.

A little fact about me. My favorite color is orange.

Today I participated in Outdoor Wednesday, to see other entries, please visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Falling in love with something old.

I never was a big fan of marigolds. I think it was because when I was a kid, they looked like dandelions. This is one plant I have changed my mind about.

Marigolds are easy to grow, withstand heat and tolerate dry conditions. You can cut them and have them look great in a vase for over a week.

The only thing I don't like about them is they smell. When using marigolds as cut flowers, remove the lower leaves it takes away some of the pungent sent.

Butterfly Garden

These photos were taken of the "Butterfly Garden" at the Kandiyohi County Fair. They had a scarecrow contest, and the little lady on the chair was the winning scarecrow. Check out Mary's blog for more mosaics.

People's Choice Winners

This was the 1st place winner of People's Choice. The Fair visitors we able to vote for their favorite exhibit. Winners were announced last night.

This was the 2nd place winner. These photos do not do justice, because these arrangements were taken last night and they had been at the fair since Wednesday. They were amazing.

Horticulture Winners

A few more shots of the fair

Our gladiolus division was down this year.

Some of the hydrangeas entered. We added trees, vines and branches as a division this year.

Some of the arrangements.

Hostas. This class just seams to grow every year. In the large hosta category we had 16 entries.

A few of the annuals. Thanks to everyone who entered. This is a beautiful flower show.