The garden book I found most helpful when I planted our first perennial garden recommended building around 5 main plants: peonies, daylilies, phlox, mums and I think iris. I got the book from the library - and it has been over 40 years! - so I don't remember for sure. It was either iris or … [Read more...]
One Week Later… Peonies, Sweet Williams, Salvia and More
We left camping May 31 with the peonies first burst of bloom and came home a week later to a garden in full glory. Early June is incredible with 40+ peonies all flowing with flowers. I saw this walking out the back screen porch. The deep purple on the left is salvia, beautiful surrounded … [Read more...]
What A Difference A Day Makes! Peonies Galore
Memorial Day evening (May 30, 2016) our first peonies opened. This is right after my last post about the pre-peony garden with everything holding its breath waiting for the bloom explosion. I got a few photos the next morning before we left camping. Wow! Here's a view of the left end … [Read more...]
Flowers Blooming In My Garden This Memorial Day, May 30, 2016
This year spring has come in like waves on the beach, in and out, in and out. Days in the 70-80s followed by days in the 40-50s, sun followed by rain. We always have variable spring weather, but it's not common to have 80 degree days in early May or 40 degree days in late May. My flowers have … [Read more...]
Renaissance Music from the Gilmore Keyboard Festival
This has been the month for concerts, beginning with the Kalamazoo symphony, then Classics Uncorked chamber recital, the Detroit symphony, two of the incredible Gilmore keyboard events here, and topped off with our last Detroit symphony concert Thursday, which happened to be our 43 wedding … [Read more...]
Cats Get In the Act – George Helps Me Photograph
I was photographing new products to list on Amazon this morning and George decided to get in the act. I prop my Michigan Mapleworks boards against the banister spindles where they are just the right height and have good light. George likes to peek around and help. Sometimes he's gotten his … [Read more...]
How We Saved $2000 and Kept a Grill – Refurbishing Our Gas Cooktop
We had a pleasant surprise when we moved here. Our gas cook top is a Jenn-Air with modular burners that switch out to a grill, wonderful for grilling hamburgers or steak during our cold Michigan winters. We loved the grill! We weren't too thrilled with the cooktop's regular burners. We have … [Read more...]
Tardy Hummingbirds Are Back! Orioles Came First This Year
We saw our first ruby-throated hummingbird today flitting from feeder to feeder. They are tardy! Most years they show up around my Mom's birthday, April 23. We put our feeders out on the 19th and waited. The hummingbird migration map, which you can see here, showed the early birds arriving … [Read more...]
Springtime Clean Up, Weed, Fertilize and Get Ready for Flowers!
It's spring time, busy time, garden time. I love it! I'm getting about 10 new perennials next week (read about them here) and need to make the garden ready for flower power. Main jobs: tidy up, weed, move a few plants to get color bursts and fertilize. Last fall I made a long list of all the … [Read more...]
How to Save Time and Make Good Bread
What is more delectable than homemade bread? It takes all day to make by hand, so many have switched to using a bread machine. Problem is, the machine-made bread has a different texture and doesn't taste quite as good as bread made from scratch by hand. Dave figured out a way to get … [Read more...]