Walk in my Garden Wednesday

You know, I started this blog 252 posts ago to show my artwork but when spring hits and the weather warms up, I just can't get my hands out of the dirt!
I have a springtime ritual, every morning, after my coffee, I take a stroll around the yard to see what's blooming and popping up out of the ground. We've only been here about 2 years so some things are surprises and some plants I've just added last year. Every year I plan on adding a new flower garden so eventually there will be little to mow. This year I'm working on a big perennial garden which is half way finished and I doubled the size of my small veggie garden. So here are a few pictures from around the yard as I take my morning walk...


My small veggie garden. Planted 2 tomato plants this week! The lettuce, peas, beets and onions are coming along nicely. I need a bale of straw to put down.


My first radish! Too bad I don't like them. It's cute though, isn't it? My husband will eat it. Friends think I'm weird to grow things I won't eat.


Who doesn't like lilacs? I've been anxiously awaiting the blooming of this bush!

Japanese Laurel, I didn't know it had flowers until now.


My perennial garden half way tilled and planted. Still have to link the two gardens but there were a lot of grape hyacinth planted in that grassy spot I didn't want to disrupt.


Pink Dogwood in the front yard. It looked sick last year but bloomed wonderfully this spring. What's up with that?


Our small little house has a wonderful 1/2 acre yard. One of the nicest parts are the 7 large azaleas in front.


Lightning hit one of our mature pine trees last week. Not sure what's going to happen to this poor guy.

---

Melody Lea Lamb used one of my frog photos I posted a few days ago to create this gorgeous original Frog Prince ACEO. It is so nice, I just had to share. Click HERE to purchase him (wish I had the money:) .

It's a scorcher!

Nearly 90 degrees here today, felt like 100 to me. This isn't right, it's only April!
I worked a bunch on my new perennial garden. I got half of it tilled and planted. My body is rejecting all the hard work! Too nice to stay inside and paint but too hot to do much else. We went to Lancaster Central Park again today. I wanted to cool off in the river. Lots of gorgeous violets and other woodland wildflowers.



Also saw a very thin striped snake which I've never seen before. Wish I would have gotten a photo. Did manage to snap a few pictures of a red tailed hawk taking a drink from the Conestoga River and then later up in a tree.

Haflinger, giveaway and sale!

Three things to post about today. First is my newest spring sign on Ebay, a young Haflinger in a field of wildflowers. Click HERE to check it out - 3 day auction!




Next is my Etsy Team's April giveaway. Please go to the WHOA TEAM BLOG and leave a comment there for your chance to win one of three lovely prizes!



Lastly, I'd like to clear out my Etsy store so I can add new items this spring/summer. Everything in the shop is 20% off. You must mention this blog when you click to purchase an item. Please wait for me to send you a revised invoice to reflect the sale price.

Celebrate Earth Day at Winterthur

My Mom, daughter and I went to meet my aunt yesterday where she has worked for the last 30 years, Winterthur. I haven't been there since I was a small child so I forgot how nice it is. So I thought I would share some of my photos today to celebrate Earth Day.
As their website says, Winterthur is "A wonderland for garden lovers.". Winterthur is near Wilmington, DE and was the country estate of Henry Francis du Pont. It sits on close to 1,000 acres and has 60 acres of gardens including a children's fairy tale garden called the Enchanted Woods.
I suppose many people go to Winterthur to see the collections of early American furniture, soup tureens and needlework but I was there to see the woodlands and gorgeous wildflowers (my new favorite is Virginia Bluebells).

Here are just a few of my favorite photos. Click on each photo to see a larger image.


Waterfalls and woodland ponds galore!


Pretty little stream with primrose.


Fairy house in the enchanted garden.


Friendly little snake.


Sparrow takes a bath.


I could sit here all day...


I want this tree!


Too many frogs to count. My mom pet one.


Huge koi followed us around the pond.


My new favorite flower.


Fields of daffodils planted everywhere.


Cute little chipmunk says hello!

Scenes from the Backyard

70 degrees, super sunny, sweet spring air - what more could you ask for?
Here's just a few shots from the backyard today...




Meadow Rue


Unusual small yellow tulip.


Zazu chases the hose.


Tender pea shoots.


Grape Hyacinth coming up in the yard.


Zazu and the gargoyle keeping watch.

One of my favorites, Bleeding Hearts.

Wordless Wednesday - Light & Shadow

Some photos from my files...

Rain, rain go away...

I want to make another garden today! Yeah, I know, April showers, blah, blah, blah.
I just got a tiller and I want to till! I have been wanting a rototiller since we bought our house and, well, new ones are too expensive and used ones go so quickly. Every time I would find one in the paper it would be sold by the time I called. So my dear, sweet mother has given me/loaned indefinitely her precious old John Deere. They have two large tractors to plow their monstrous garden and didn't really need it. The poor old thing had been sitting in their shed unused for years. My step father took it out for me on Easter and had it running in about 30 minutes. Nothing runs like a Deere, right?
So I managed to double the size of my veggie garden yesterday. I think I'll make a few smalled beds for cukes and pumpkins. I already have the hose out on the ground mapping my next flower bed and I have a bunch of plants lying around waiting to be planted... Scotch Broom, Lupine, Delphinium, foxglove, Siberian iris, heuchera, forsythia, blueberries, meadow rue...
Is it time to go to Longwood again? (I put a little Flickr Slideshow widget on the right hand side so you can go to Longwood too!)



I did manage to paint one sign over the weekend. A bay overo Paint horse. He's currently on Ebay this week. I started a mini donkey foal today which I hope to have up on Ebay soon too. Haven't had a chance to work on on oil yet.

Happy Easter!

"'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Good Friday

Click on each photo for a larger image.


It has indeed been a very Good Friday. I had been wanting to go to the Brandywine River Museum to catch the exhibit on Edward Gorey for a few weeks now and the weatherman was calling for rain today so I thought it would be the perfect time to go. I don't think I was allowed to take photos but there wasn't really anyone around. Here are some envelopes he drew on and sent to friends. I thought it would have been cool to have one of these.



Because I was being sneaky I didn't get many photos. I really wanted to take one of a man and a dragon exchanging gifts but there were a few people in the room. I was surprised that most of his pen and ink drawings were very small, about 5" x 7". Some really fun artwork and they had his big old beaver coat there too.



A cool NC Wyeth Painting I don't remember seeing before. It was called something like "Brigham the Famous Buffalo Hunting Horse". Don't quote me on that title, I just thought it was neat that the guy was using no tack.



And the cool bronze pig down by the Brandywine River.



So after we were done with the museum we decided to head over to Longwood Gardens since we were in the area, have a membership and it hadn't started raining (it never did rain). A few varieties of tulips were up as were some other springtime flowers. I was in love with this purple one. There were loads of pretty blues and purples! I want a wisteria bonsai and a weeping redbud!







A beautiful Canada Goose in a pond by the meadow. His mate was nesting nearby.





As if the day couldn't get any better, my neighbor down the street at Goat Flower Farm had several perrenials to share with me and a ton of new baby fainting and pygmy goats. Also saw a hawk on her fence. I think it's a Cooper's Hawk or Sharp Shinned Hawk. Here are my two favorite photos I took this evening.





Okay, now I AM really tired! Off to have that glass of wine and put up my tired dogs:) I have a ton of things to plant tomorrow (oops, I forgot to mention all the lovely flowers my mom gave me for Easter when we stopped by the shop she works at!).