Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers,

This is what is blooming today.  Painted daisy's in the first two photos. Columbine in the third and forth photos. Cornflower, Mountain Bluet or Perennial Bachelor Buttons in the last photo.

I just love Friday's! Today is Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers. Thanks to Tootie Time. Please check out the others here.

Bloomin Tuesday

The Iris have just started blooming.

This yellow columbine is loaded this year with blooms.

This was a new plant for me last year.  It is so tiny. I just love it.  It is called Lewisia "Little Peach".

Today is Bloomin' Tuesday! Please check out the others, thanks to Jean at MsGreen "thumb".

New mini garden

Last night I made this mini garden.  It was so much fun.  The kids in the neighborhood are having fun arranging the movable items.  It is fun to see the changes they make.  Please click on the photo to enlarge it. 

Today is Mosaic Monday.  Please check out the others here. Thanks to Mary at LittleRedHouse!

Gift from a friend

The only thing better then the advice from other gardeners, is the gift of sharing extra plants. I just love when I get gifts like this at my door. When I saw this box of cactus, I know just where I wanted to plant them.

I planted them next to my mini flower gardens. 

Prickly Pear

Opuntia

It may seem impossible, but there are actually two species of cacti native to Minnesota: the common prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza) and the brittle prickly pear (O. fragilis). Prickly pears occur on native prairies in the southwest corner of the state, and they produce bright yellow flowers that are pollen-rich and popular with many insects.

Brittle prickly pear has the greatest freezing tolerance of any known cactus. Populations in Canada and the northern United States can be found where winter temperatures drop to minus 40 F. The plant's low, sprawling growth habit and relatively thick pads may help protect it against frost injury by keeping it close to the ground, where temperature changes are less extreme. As temperatures drop in the fall, pads become less moist and build up higher concentrations of abscisic acid, which might protect against frost damage. I hope I can keep them growing!

Today is Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers.  Thanks to Tootsie Time.  I just love her blog.  Please check out the other wonderful gardens here.

Update from my greenhouse trip

The plants I purchased from my greenhouse trip went into these containers.  This bed faces North and receives a lot of shade.  The hostas are just starting to come up in this bed.  I will show it to you again in a couple of weeks. It should be filled in by then.

Today is Outdoor Wednesday.  Please check out the others here.  Thanks to Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

First trip to the greenhouse this season.

First trip to the greenhouse. My girlfriend and I went to my favorite greenhouse, Thomsens Greenhouse in St. Joseph MN.  You can check out there website here.  We had so much fun.

You can see the car was loaded!

This is a scented geranium.  We didn't purchase it, but I might have to go back and buy one.  It smelled so good and the flower is gorgeous.

There grounds were amazing.  It was a bright sunny day, and the photos are not the best.  The weather here has been amazing. Beautiful sun filled days!

Today is Blooming Tuesday.  Please check out the many wonderful blogs here.  Thanks to Jean at MsGreen thumb.

Coral Bells-Heuchera

Coral Bells
Heuchera

There are many different species of Coral Bells. I grow a variety of them, because I love the different types and colors of their foliage. This one is Heuchera sanguinea.

This variety has plain green leaves, but I really like the pink or red flowers. There airy spikes and consistently full green foliage makes this plant a great accent in many places in my garden. These can also be placed in containers. I am planning on making my containers this weekend, and adding some to them.

Heuchera goes by the common names "coral bells" and "alum root". The former name refers to the red flowers seen on the popular garden species Heuchera sanguinea. Like this one.

Alum Root refers to the fact that the tannin-rich, astringent roots can be used like alum in the pickling process. The roots are also used as medicine to shrink tissues in those with nose bleeds, sore throats, and ulcers. Heuchera is closely related to tiarella (foam flower). I also like to grow this plant. And the two genera have been crossed to create the intergeneric hybrid x heucherella, to which we give the common name "foamy bells". Coral bells and foamy bells have become very popular because they are attractive and easy to grow.

The only downside to heuchera is that they are short-lived unless they are divided every 3-4 years as the crown becomes woody. They like soil that has good drainage. Good air movement is also important, so a light open woodland or part-sun spot is perfect.

I love to add them to arrangements.

Today is one of my favorite days. Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers. Thanks to Tootie Time. Please check out the others here.

My favorite lady

I just love her. Please check out the other Outdoor Wednesday here. Thank you to Susan at a Southern Daydreamer.

Bleeding Hearts

My girlfriend sent me this story. I thought it was sweet, so I am sharing it.

Ann's Story of the Bleeding Heart

by Elma Lang

Ann thought she was the most unhappy girl in the world. Although she had gone to her new school for a whole week, she hadn't made a single friend.

Things might have been different if she hadn't been so frightened that first day. Some of the girls had spoken to her, but her throat had become so tight that she hadn't been able to answer them. Maybe after that the girls had though she was stuck up or unfriendly. At any rate, then had left it up to her to make the next move.

Ann stopped to pick a bouquet of lilies of the valley and bleeding hearts for her new teacher. Many were growing in the garden of her new home.
As soon as she was in their classroom after the morning bell rang, Ann took the flowers to her teacher.

"My what lovely bleeding hearts!" exclaimed Miss Johnson, smiling at Ann. "Isn't that a sad name for such pretty flowers? Why to you suppose it was given that name?"

"Don't you know the story?" asked Ann in surprise. "My mother told it to me when I was just a little girl."

" Perhaps you can tell the story to the class," suggested Miss Johnson.
Ann looked at the class and felt horrified. Then she thought, I know the story well, and I love it. Of course I should share it.

Both her hands and her knees were shaking as she broke off one of the flowers, but she bravely stood before the class and told her story. "Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess. Young men from far and near came to pay her court. But the princess was very vain and would have nothing to do with any of them. A young prince from the neighboring country fell deeply in love with her. She ignored him like the others, though he tried and tried to win her heart. One day the prince found a pair of pretty pink rabbits at the market. He sent them to the princess thinking 'these will surely melt her heart.'" Ann carefully broke off the two outside petals of the flower in her hand. She placed them on the teacher's desk. Sure enough they looked like a pair of pink rabbits. "But the princess went right on ignoring him," Ann continued with her story. "Then the prince sent her a pair of beautiful Oriental slippers." From the front and back of the flower, Ann took off the two long petals. One could easily imagine the dainty heels, the slender insteps, and the widened toes. The looked like a pair of real Oriental slippers.
Ann had to wait until the oh's and ah's of the class had quieted down before she could go on.
"Still the princess would have nothing to do with him. The young prince was so heart broken that he took his dagger and drove it into his heart." The remains of the flower in Ann's hand made the outline of a heart with a line down the center. Ann broke out the stamen, which had made the line. It looked like a dagger. She put it through the center of the heart. Ann held her hand so that the class could see the perfect heart pierced by the dagger.

Ann went on with the story. "As soon as the prince was dead, the princess realized that she had really loved him. 'As long as I live, my heart shall bleed for my prince,' she wept"

"That" finished Ann, "is the story of the bleeding heart.

"Show me how to do it," said Donna, who sat in the front seat.

"Me too, me too!" cried the other girls.

"Ann may show you at recess," Miss Johnson stated firmly.

My story has made everything all right, Ann thought happily as she went back to her desk. I won't have any trouble making friends now

Today is Bloomin' Tuesday! Please check out the others, thanks to Jean at MsGreen "thumb".

May Mosaic Monday

This is what my front flowerbed looks like today. It is starting to come to life. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. But don't look to close, you can spot the weeds.

It has been cold and windy here. We had a light frost on Saturday night. When I got up the ground was white.

Today is Mosaic Monday. Please check out the others here. Thanks to Mary at Little Red House.

Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers

Sorry for the whippy post today. We are getting some very needed rain and I hadn’t been able to take photos. I love mini arrangements. It just makes me feel good to have flowers from my garden in the house. This one has forget-me-nots, lily of the valley, and a bleeding heart.

Today is Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt Your Flowers. Thanks to Tootsie Time. Please check out the other here.

Prairie Smoke

Prairie Smoke
Geum triflorum

It is also known by the name old man's whiskers. It acquired its name from the seed heads that have a smoky or wispy appearance.

Flowers, in groups of 3 to 6, droopy, reddish brown, bell shaped.

Each flower has 5 pointed petal-like sepals that alternate with narrow bracts and 5 very small white-to-pinkish petals.

Height is 6” to 16”.

It is a Minnesota native prairie plant. It is a favorite for poets and photographers because of its seed heads of 2” feathery plumes which gives it a “smoky” appearance. They look like a feather duster. (I will post a photo of that when it happens.)

Today is Outdoor Wednesday. Please check out the others here. Thanks to Susan at a Southern Daydreamer.

Forget-Me-Not

Forget-Me-Not
Myosotis scorpioides

This is a fun plant that only gets 6” to 12” high. It has a fusion of 5 petals that form tiny blue flowers. Each flower is ¼” wide. Stems are curled and unfurl when the flower begins to bloom.

It is a Minnesota wildflower. You can find it in wet, shade, and along streams. It can live directly in water but is usually found in moist soil.

Another old name for this plant is “Scorpion Weed”. This refers to its coiled flower stalk, which resembles the coiled tail of a scorpion. Some suggest that the common name comes from the plant’s unpleasant taste or odor that is hard to forget. Another story is about a suitor who reached too far over a cliff to obtain the flower for his love, fell and cried out, “Forget me not!”

I love to use this in miniature arrangements with lily of the valley, and columbine.

Today is Bloomin' Tuesday! Please check out the others, thanks to Jean at MsGreen "thumb".

Pasque Flower

Pasque Flower

pulsatilla hirsutissima

This one is called Red Bells Pasque Flower.

The pasque is the state flower of South Dakota. It is also called the May Day flower. It grows wild throughout the state, and its blooming is one of the first signs of spring in South Dakota.

The early blooming time of many Pulsatilla species gave rise to the common name. Pasque refers to the Paschal, or Easter , season.

It is a member of the Ranunculaceae family, which is Latin for little frog. The name was given to the family because a group of plants in this family grow where frogs live.

The Pasque flower grows low to the ground to keep out of the cold climate. It is also covered in fine silky hairs, which help insulate it. Silky hairs cover not only the leaves but also the stems and buds of Pasque flower.

I love how it looks after the flower have gone to seed. Please click here to see last year's photo.

Today is also Mosaic Monday. Please check out the others here. Thanks to Mary at Little Red House.

The Best Rhubarb Bars

Rhubarb Bars
9 x 13 pan
350 degrees

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup Sugar
Mix and Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min.

4 beaten eggs
6 Tablespoons flour
1 ¾ Cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
5 Cups chopped rhubarb
Mix. Pour on crust. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool

8 oz cream cheese
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Cups Cool Whip
½ teaspoon vanilla Cream together and put on top

There is a group of us neighbors and friends that get together a few times a month. We make crafts, bake, go out to eat, or watch movies. Mostly we just laugh.

As a joke one of the gals got us these lovely hair nets to were.

We each had our job and our station to work in. There were 6 of us. We made 3 pans of bars and split them in half so we each had 1/2 pan to take home.

When we were finished we each got a bag of rhubard to take home. I am planning on making another pan this weekend. They are soooo good!

Today is Pink Saturday's second Birthday. Happy Birthday. Please check out the others here. Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.