Have You Met My New Friend?

Early last evening, I was walking in my backyard with a favorite neighbor/friend when we spotted an American Toad and a garter snake! We jumped and laughed. I believe the snake would have liked the toad for dinner, however I think the toad Might have been a little too large.

(I won't bet on it, but I'm hoping so.) :-)

Not more than 1/2 hour later, as I was tending to a sad looking hosta (slugs), I noticed the watchful eye of a heretofore never-before-observed visitor! I'd like to introduce him to you, but I don't know his name.

Do you??

Actually I located this site that showed a great photo of the American Toad (Bufo americanus)and compared it to a couple of other toads. Do you suppose this new visitor is a Bufo cognatus? (Great Plains Toad) Some photos of the GPT don't look like this fellow at all, but this particular one looks good, don't you think?

He's pretty cute and I'm very happy. :-)

Another Pause in the Progression of Life's Adventures...

... hopefully not Misadventures! :-)

(Mallow)

We will be traveling for a couple of days' trip to Northern Iowa.
We will visit stay with my Aunt MEA (!),
visit my parents,
our daughter, son-in-law and their family,
celebrate Grandson L's 6th birthday,
A huge family reunion,
My parents' 62nd wedding anniversary,
and my first cousin's wedding.

Is that enough??

We will also bring our newly turned 6-year-old grandson home with us for a couple of days!
Yea!
:-)

How Many Bees Do You See?

This is Stachys 'Hummelo' of the Lambs Ear family. Yes, you read me right! I couldn't believe it either, when I purchased these plants last year. However, here they are. And the bumble bees love them! They are in the raised bed gardens. This photo was taken last Sunday night during a quick tour around the yeard. We had just arrived home from visiting our Michigan family.

A setting sun and shade are not a great combination when it comes to taking photographs with my little digital camera. It means that I have to hold very, very still! lol. ;-)

'Prince of Silver' Heuchera

I'm so almost-sure-it's-right that I'm going to make a nametag!

'Prince of Silver'

Many thanks to VW Garden for posting her top photo.
I wrote a comment about its name,
and she responded by e-mail.

'Prince of Silver!'

My next step was to search online.

This is the first site I found.
(Click to see the photos and compare!)

Posted below are photos I showd recently of my heretofore unnamed Heuchera -

(God bless you! You sneezed, too??)

;-)



Yep! I'm thinking it's 'Prince of Silver.'
Are you in agreement??

Meanwhile, Mr. Shady and I are headed for Michigan to Make some Memories! :-) We're looking forward to a visit with our son, daughter-in-law and our three grandchildren!

I'll be here next week.
And there's definitely nothing "shady" about This Trip!!
:-)

Here's another place to visit. It describes 2' flower scapes.

Could these be flowers of the same type of heuchera?
This first photo is mine... and they've been blooming for awhile.

If you look at the older blossoms here, you'll see the same "greenness."

Have I convinced anyone??
;-)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

'Blue Cadet'
Ready to bloom!

Would you say this is

Teeny, tiny sedum next to

More sedum

And this Astilbe gets better every year!

Sunny Corner Bed - do you see the tiny Allium?
It's in front of the daylily that's in front of the Nepata catmint.

Join this meme - see Carol at May Dreams Garden!
This is enough for today.
Have a great June 15th!
:-)

Green Thumb Sunday

These are flowers???

Are you sure it wasn't that I caught them off guard?
Scared them?
Surprised them?
Startled them?

Or perhaps it was the camera?
Glinty lens?
Glaring light?

or is this a

Guilty look?

Drumstick Allium,
Allium sphaerocephalon,

Allium 'Hair'

These are really very small...
just a giant-sized close-up!

Not shady,
just humerous! :-)

What's blooming in your garden today?

Join Green Thumb Sunday
by visiting As the Garden Grows!

I Was Given A Couple of These Plants...

. . . but What Are They?
:-)

Aren't they beautiful?
I was informed that they tend to "wander" about, but not terribly aggressively.

If you could help me, I'd appreciate it.

I've planted them in the front bed, in front of the deck lattice.
They'll be beautiful there!
No matter what, their nickname will be
"The TinaB/Denny&MartyN flowers"
:-)

Have a great day!!

The Latest Buzz...

Just thought you needed to know!
:-)

HEUchera!

God Bless You!
(Oh. You didn't sneeze? My mistake!)
;-)

Last year, I lost (not misplaced) two heuchera.

You can see photos of them (Lime Rickey and Amber Waves) here in a post I created this past January. I'll be watching for these plants. I hope I can replace them and try again!

I may be mourning, but I'm not giving up!
:-)

This Spring I planted a few new varieties in front of the deck lattice. I will apologize right now for having all the "promotional" tags in place. I've not yet had time to create my own.

This is 'Sashay'


This is a view from above.

'Dolce Key Lime Pie'

'Tiramisu'

'Hercules'

'Purple Petticoats'

It's easy to see how it earned its name.

The next two photos show an unnamed variety.
I purchased 5 of them about 4 years ago. They were Very Unhappy with their new home.
This is the only one that survived... and it really seems to like this location.

Do you know what it is?

This is 'Ruby Bells,' too. This particular plant is in a corner of the Sunny Corner Bed in the front yard. I LOVE these bright red flowers... which is why I purchased four of them to place in the line-up you saw earlier in the second photo of this post.

There are a few other Heucheras around here, but perhaps I've shared them before? 'Palace Purple resides in several locations. Once the oak trees tain their leaves in mid-May, 'Green Spice' finds itself in one of the shadiest locations I have - and still does well. I have another 'Amber Waves' in the "South Woodland Walk."

Heuchera are hard to resist, aren't they?

Things are Getting "Lush" Out There

I took photos of the front of the house this morning. But I actually worked in the backyard(!) for awhile today. We'd received 2 1/8" of rain while I was gone and Last Night we received another 2 1/4" of rain with wind that brought down twigs, small branches and lots of leaves. I took out the little water garden and placed a pot in its place (foreground/left). This will probably change again next year, but I just wanted to try something different.

The pot has 'Tropical Rose' Canna. If you want to know how to care for this plant (and propagate it!), Click Here for great information.



t
I will soon post close-ups of several Heuchera varieties I've planted in front of the lattice this year. In the past, I've planted annual flowering vinca and impatiens which filled in beautifully. But there's always the option of change. :-)

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me...

They say it's your birthday. Happy Birthday to You-oo. . .
(the Beatles)

Tuesday afternoon several friends converged upon me in my living room for a cup of tea and some good visiting (and cards and gifts!) That was a nice surprise. :-)

Yesterday after getting off work, my husband absconded with me to Iowa City where he purchased a pair of padded bike shorts as my birthday gift. (I need protective padding for bike riding a very long distance... although I might not have believed it until I tried it several times! ha!)

I've received some special cards via "snail mail" and a couple of wonderful e-mails and e-cards already this morning!!

However, in real life, this morning (this official day) my friend next door, whose garden you just recently visited, presented me with a most wonderful gift!

Can you tell what she's carrying???

The gift is now residing in my dining room.
I hope she likes it here!

It's so beautiful!

I had to try this photograph so you could see the detail.
I don't know what type of orchid she is...
do you??

Now, another gift that I've just planted in the front yard where the trees used to be until last August... Tennessee Cone Flower seedlings that I started in a milk jug outdoors in January. It worked! I hope they do well here. I am going to be out of town for the next 4 days... I may recruit help in making sure they're watered!

What do you think, Gail?
:-)

Nothing "shady" here today!

Wordless Wednesday... Would You Like to Visit a Neighbor??

Wordless Wednesday
(Well, you might find a couple of words!)

Our next door neighbors and I share the shade of some of the same trees! :-)
What are your favorites?

Yes,
SG's up to her antics again.
Their grandsons have been visiting.
:-)

Mom's tree... the same variety as my Sister's tree.

It was a delightfully drizzly day!