It would be nice if that title, "Morning Rush," referred to the rush of excitement one feels at the beginning of a day. But no. I'm referring to the fact that we need to rush off to the grocery store this morning. I foolishly scheduled my first pedicure in a full year for noon today. It's the second time in a week I've scheduled something at noon. Note to self: Stop doing that this instant! It wrecks the whole day. There's not enough time left in the afternoon to accomplish much, nor is there time to accomplish much in the morning. On a happy note, I'll be glad for the pedicure after doing my grocery shopping during my slow-stitching time.
So let's turn to something less ugly, shall we? How about these peonies. They are so, so close to opening. Here's how they looked in the morning. This is the peony known as "Joker."
There are two of these.
Checking on them intermittently through the day, I took a series of photos. This is how they looked at lunch time.
I sat and watched a bumblebee try to force his way into one of them. It seems the bees are at least as impatient as I am.
By dinner time, they looked like this:
The heartbreaker peony is doing what it did last year. It appears to be going to seed without blooming again. Even its name is heartbreaking: "Rosy Prospects." Yeah. Right.
My friend Marei and I communicated about this peony yesterday morning. She suggested digging it up in the fall and replanting it. It might be planted too shallow...or too deep...but my money is on too shallow. The bulbs are very large...maybe the size of a softball. And I'm a lazy digger, so I dug a hole I thought was deep enough, and then mounded more dirt over the top for insurance. And so too shallow would be my guess. There's still another bud on this plant. Possibly it will come through with a flower, but I'm not betting money on it.
I was out pulling weeds, which was the most optimistic part of yesterday's gardening adventure. I went around the whole house pulling weeds as I went and I could only accumulate half a bucket. That's a big improvement from the beginning of the season when I could sit in one spot and fill my bucket. While I was out, I took some macro shots of some of the other blooming things. Here's another shot of the "Rouge Cardinal" clematis.
Snapdragons. Aren't these pretty?
A rebloom on the Gerbera daisies. I've had much better luck with these planted in full sun.
Here's another poppy bud. Furry little things.
Some more blooming poppies. These are the eyepoppers in the garden right now.
Last, but not least, the Edda clematis. This is the newcomer to the garden, planted just a few months ago.
Back inside, it was time to quilt my challenge piece for the "Opposites Attract" prompt. My quilting consisted of stitching along both sides of the black fabric.
Smitty was my helper cat for this. I had to crop out his beautiful tail because he was standing on the quilt, and it showed in the picture.
When the quilting was finished, it looked like this from the back.
I was only hoping to finish the quilting and to choose a fabric for the binding. Then I found enough of this scrap binding to finish off my project, and so I sewed it on.
Now it's ready for hand-stitching. If I don't use up the whole day on groceries and a pedicure, I'm hoping to get this finished today. The quilt is 18 x 20 inches, so it'll be a short trip around.
My other garden woes concern the vegetable garden, which has done precisely nothing since we planted it. This happened once before when we planted a garden and then got days of nonstop rain and very little sunshine. I'm hoping we won't have a repeat of a completely failed garden effort. Even the starts I planted...even the zucchini...has died from lack of warmth and sunshine. I've pre-sprouted and replanted the seeds for the zucchini, cucumbers, and melons. There was some sunshine yesterday, but it's raining again today. It's still early, and so I'm clinging to a thin thread of hope. The weather is supposed to warm and get downright hot next week. Let's hope the garden rallies and we can grow some vegetables this season. Timing is difficult in this part of the world. It's hard to know what kind of weather May will bring. While many of you are praying for rain, I'm rooting for the sunshine. Come on sun. We need you here.
Yesterday's slow-stitching finished off the section I was working on. I love the leaves in this piece.
Now I've moved my hoop to the bottom of this side, and I'll continue on from there. The sunflowers will be stitched in yellow.
If I'm to have any time for slow-stitching this morning...which I need desperately, then I'd better get going.
12 comments:
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. ~ Luther Burbank
A real pedicure? Lucky you. I guess it is a sign that I need to schedule one too, as well as a real hair cut. Your flowers are amazing. Great photos and lighting too!
Our garden is looking great because when we got the freak warm weather at the end of April and early May my husband rushed out and planted. So much earlier than ever before. We are sort of enjoying the rain now as he then had to water every day. This is a really nice break. He again planted corn so we are hoping that the squirrels leave it alone. Last time we planted corn it was close to our fence they would jump onto the stock and pick the corn run back up the fence and sit there and shuck it. As I of course shook my fist at them and yelled profanity at the little rats with fluffy tails.
The weather Gods are playing with us, too. We need the rain even if you don't. It was near 90 on Tuesday, extremely windy yesterday and in the 50's today. Tomorrow is 97% chance of rain, but we won't break 50. Gah! So I'm going out to plant some lavender and a few pots of flowers. Sewing will have to wait for the big chill.
PS: I'd be tempted to think the heartbreaker peony has a virus, in which case the only solution is to dig it up and dispose of it (not in the compost).
Pat
Such pretty flowery colors!! I love that Snapdragon--
Sorry about your veggies--here it's so bone dry--maybe we could switch? If only, right?
I need to trace out an embroidery--so that I can work on it during Red Sox games...my hand quilting--white thread on mostly white background--is too hard to see at night...
Hugs, Julierose
When we had our vegee garden, we had 3 yrs of no rain so left the well for us. Gardens of course died. After 3 yrs we gave up and bot from local markets. Was disappointing but at least didn't have to have the well fractured. Seems like always plenty or famine.
Snapdragons always remind me of my mom. She planted them in all colors, and when they bloomed, we would lean down close to them. She would pinch the sides together and make them "talk." As a young child, I thought they could actually speak.
I haven't had a pedi in forever, so that sounds like a pleasant thing to do. All those beautiful flowers! I'm so sorry about the rain, no sun and your garden. It is cold and rainy here but supposed to warm up later today.
Love the flowers; sorry about the veggies!
Thank you for your sweet blog. I always look forward to your quote in the comments. Also, I have cousins that grew up in Vista and were military kids back in the day, too. Saying hi from a warmer climate in Tucson, AZ!!
Just heard Monty Don talk about flowers not doing well of even dropping off before opening because of the dry conditions it had when the buds were forming in autumn. So perhaps that’s what’s going on with your peony?
Frost - and snow - here over the past couple of days. Not much snow, but more than enough, that's for sure. Resident Chef hauled all our planters inside and they're taking up floor space in the living room for at least another night. Smitty is a good guardian of the secret project!
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