It's Nearly April First!

In honor of April Fools' Day,
A poem by Eugene Field.

A Play on Words
(to be read aloud rapidly)

Assert ten Barren love day made
Dan woo'd her hart buy night tan day;
Butt wen knee begged she'd marry hymn,
The creel bell may dancer neight.

Lo atter fee tin vein he side
Ant holder office offal pane--
A lasses mown touched knot terse sole--
His grown was sever alw Lynn vane.

"Owe, beam my bride, my deer, rye prey,
And here mice size beef ore rye dye;
Oak caste mean knot tin scorn neigh way--
Yew are the apple love my nigh!"

She herd Dan new we truly spoke.
Key was of noble berth, and bread
Tool lofty mean and hie renown,
The air too grate testates, 't was head.

"Ewe would due better, sir," she bald,
"Took court sum mother girl, lie wean--
Ewer knot mice stile, lisle never share
The thrown domestic azure queen!"

" ' T is dun, no farebutt Scilly won--
Aile waiste know father size on the!"
Oft tooth the nay bring porte tea flue
And through himself into the see.

:-) Have a Great Day!
SG

Green Thumb Sunday

I'm not feeling as though my thumb is green these days... I've been so excited about the growth of my 9 large amaryllis bulbs. However, only one (1!) is going to blossom. At least for the moment.

Did I do something wrong? Should I NOT have watered the bulbs with anything besides plain water? I admit to adding fertilizer... The rest of the bulbs are growing strapping, strong, green leaves. Hmmm. Oh, well. There's always another year.

In the meantime, I Knew we were going to have a snowfall. They'd predicted over a couple days' time, last week. So on Friday, I finally didn't want to wait any longer and brought in a bunch of daffodils that were budded and nearly ready to open. This is what I found Saturday night!

At 1:45 P.M. Saturday afternoon, it began to snow.
(Can you tell I'd raked a lot last week?)
At 2:45 P.M., it looked like this.
At 4:10 P.M., it looked like this.
It stopped snowing shortly afterwards. In all, we may have received
between two and three inches of snowfall.
This morning I took this picture for your enjoyment!
Do you see all the little black specks? Click on the photo.
Those are some of my plant id markers!
(I do need to make just a few more,
for those plants that were added
last Fall.)
ha!
Here are those daffodils, as photographed this afternoon.
A bit of a close-up.
Getting personal.

Happy Green Thumb Sunday!

If you've never posted, follow the link and click on the GTS tab. It will give you some valuable instructions on joining. Then, go to the home page and leave a comment after you've posted!

Our snowfall is already beginning to melt. If that's the last of it, I'm looking for some Real Greening very shortly! :-)

Hope you enjoyed a great day!!
SG

Okay, Nan! A Word About Wildlife!

In response to Nan Ondra's Meme of Critters in the Garden at Gardening Gone Wild, I have to say that my husband and I live in a prime area for wildlife as well. We're located in a hardwood woodland area in SE Iowa. The deer run rampant and the fox below was one of my first visitors after I began blogging. This photo was taken in the roadway ditch, but he (or she) has been in my backyard and the ravine A Lot! I hear the crazy sounds early every Spring. We've also seen a litter of babies almost every year. One day last Winter, I spied her in our backyard. Her fur was the most beautiful shade of red!

I found this tiny frog in the grass

and this little one sitting on the handrail by a deck post.
I'm almost positive this toad is the one I have to carry out of the garage almost every other day during the summer!

A Monarch Caterpillar on the asclepsia Butterfly Milkweed.

A Giant Swallowtail on the nepata catmint.Anglewing, Question Mark? in the leaves.

Anglewings, (opened-wing) Comma on an Oak tree.
Alongside ladybugs and green bottle flies.

Red Admiral butterfly wants in on the action, too!

I think this is a Spicebush Swallowtail.
It's found something tasty here, even if it IS
on a disgusting looking hummingbird feeder!

Now you can see the Question Mark's identification.
Notice the silvery mark on its bottom wing. :-)
Of course, hummingbird feeders should be used for hummingbirds!
We see only the Ruby-throated variety.
I hate to make you look at a Winter photo,
but this is the best I can do for photos of birds!
(One aggressive flicker on the saucer/tray.)
How could a garden fare without spiders?
or snakes?
This is just a little guy. Compare him to the size
of my rake tines. (There's a leaf stuck to his side.)
He was small, but he was feisty.


We see many, many birds! It is so much fun.
I put out several types of food at birdfeeders.

The photo below is not mine. I took it from a site entitled owlpages.com However, if you click on the photo you will be able to hear the sounds I've been hearing these past few nights!

It's wild!
But it's also wonderful. :-)
The Barred Owl's normal query is
"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?"

Providing a home and/or food for the variety of animals in this world is as important as it is interesting. I've so enjoyed reading the posts of other gardeners that take delight in all aspects of their outdoor environment! We are truly blessed if and when we find ourselves being caretakers of even the smallest piece of this world. For it is cumulative. And it is good.

And definitely not "shady!" ;-)
SG

Someone's Taken Residence...

I've discovered evidence
that someone's taken residence
in my yard.

Ignoring them completely,
even if discretely,
will be hard.

This may be a conundrum,
surmising where they've come from
to my yard.

So if you happen to see them,
(assuming you'll not be them),
Here's my "card!"

I took the above photo from a doormat company site. Should you want to purchase it, the photo provides the link. I've never used this site. I know nothing about it. So, in other words I'm not recommending you try it... nor am I recommending you not try it.
I just didn't want to be "shady" (meaning underhanded).
SG

Wordless Wednesday...

Shhh... be vewy, vewy quiet.

(Virginia Bluebells are spreading and these are getting ready...)

Saturday March 21 Was a Glorious Day!

It was sunny. It was balmy (close to 70 degrees F, I think!). The air was still. The birds were beginning to twitter. I had a rake in my hand and a tarp on the ground. I had to take off my jacket. Life is good and God is better! :-)

Most of these photos will enlarge a bit... some more than others.

A little preview of things to come!












Two types of sedum... with bitty crocus









More of these early crocus









And look what I found in the grass while I was raking!!
These photos were taken at 9:34 A.M.









These photos were taken at 9:50 A.M.









Here are some iris reticulata, unnamed ---























except for these: Lady Sheila Ann Germaney reticulata iris
that reside around my sister Barbie's tree. :-)