Garden Paradise

Longwood Gardens is the best place to chase away the winter doldrums...

(more on my Longwood Flickr set)

Coral Pea above, a tiny flower from a carnivorous plant below.

A type of beautiful kalanchoe above, lily below. 

(I used my new  macro lens, can you tell:)

A colorful, tropical Aechmea above, several types of orchids below...

Love these pretty salmon and pink primrose below. They had them mixed with a yellow Marguerite daisy and daffodils. Spring bliss!

"I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Canada geese enjoying the sunny day on the lake. 

Owl update. Saw the pair over the weekend, they look happy and healthy.

 Even managed to get a few good photos.

Happy Spring at Winterthur!

Awake, thou wintry earth -

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!

~Thomas Blackburn 

 The March Bank at Winterthur was stunning this weekend with spring blooms of Glory-of-the-snow, Siberian squill, snowdrops and a few early daffodils.

Photos will never show hao beautiful it is in person!

I love this pink Glory-of-the-snow. You don't see many of these.

Looks like a snowdrop but this one is a Spring Snowflake.

Star Magnolias are just starting to open.



Looks like a pale pink Forsythia??

Lavendar crocus &

yellow Adonis.

Happy Spring little chipmunk!

Yes, you can come out and play:)



Blooming Wednesday

I bought this for next to nothing 2 years ago and it finally bloomed.

 I didn't know what it was until now, an aster!

Coreopsis in the rain this morning.

Another plant I bought super cheap at the end of the summer last year.

I love the intense pink color on this Marshall's Delight Bee Balm.

This delphinium is the most intense shade

 of blue in my garden and it's taller that I am!

A wild rabbit in the garden about to feast on some pansies before I showed up!

This was in the wildflower seed mix I bought.

My phlox just started to bloom.

Have to figure out what to do about powdery mildew now.

Pretty borage.

I took this photo last night. The yard just twinkles from the light of hundreds of fireflies.

I so desperately wanted to capture it with my camera. I set the shutter speed very slow and you can see the yellow streak of one by the hedgehog sculpture.

Garden Obsessed

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." -- Francis Bacon

It's been hot here. Too hot really. It's tricking me into thinking it's summer. I've been neglecting everything; cleaning, emails, painting, cooking, so I can work in the flower beds. I've mulched, mowed, pruned, weeded and even planted an apple tree (thanks mom). I did manage to paint a cat welcome sign for the PFATT Marketplace which will go up for sale tomorrow. Scroll down to see. Inspired by our kity, Pumpkin.

My two beds in the back of my house I made last year.

Pretty little weeping red bud my husband bought me for Mother's Day last year.

My daughter loves to help mulch, see her little wheel barrow?

The new bed in front of the house. I can't wait until these plants get bigger.

Zoe was picking dandelions in the neighbor's yard today. He rarely mows.

 In fact, he rarely goes outside. Weird.

Nothing quite as sweet as a big bouquet of danelions picked by a 4 year old. They're sitting on an antique child's desk I bought at an estate sale for $2 yesterday. I plant to paint it in Zoe's favorite colors.

And there's our little Pumpkin Pie!

Winterthur

Well, I took the day off from painting to go to Winterthur. Oh, who am I kidding, I haven't been painting much. Too nice outside and I love having my teacher/husband home for the summer. So much to do and see! I am working on a medieval unicorn tapestry inspired welcome sign I should have near completion tomorrow.

Okay, back to Winterthur! My Aunt has worked there for 31 years and I have just discovered this year what a great place it is. I would recommend a visit in the spring when the wildflowers or azaleas are blooming. Today was a wonderful day but very humid. My Aunt brought her daughters, my cousins, with her to work today so we had a very nice time.



I love this vista. I've probably posted a picture of this before but I would die to live right here! I want to make a painting of it someday.


Froggy went a-courtin'.


I think I met this guy on my last visit. Doesn't seem to mind a camera shoved in his face.


In the Enchanted Woods, a fairy tree!


Outside the fairy house.


Inside the main fairy house. I wish I could build this in my yard. The details are wonderful. Like the Snow White cottage. Hand carved kid size furniture with woodland creatures.



I have a photo of me on this seahorse as a child. I think he may inspire another painting!


A rock face tucked away in a secret spot in the Enchanted Woods.


A summer blooming azalea? I didn't know they exsisted. It was called a plum leaf azalea.