Happy Birthday, Nikki

The little garden princess turns 35 today and apparently she was born with a green thumb because everything she puts in the ground grows. She has a story about each and every one of her perennials which makes for an interesting walk around her yard.

Nikki, may you continue to blossom like all your flowers and remember your word...PATIENCE...it seems to be serving you well in 2009.

You are loved.

Chocolate Bowls

After reading the recipe for Chocolate Bowls, I'm quite sure I won't be making them but aren't they cool looking? Last weekend I baked a pan of layered brownies for some friends that were joining us for dinner. The recipe promised that everyone who tried them would worship me. The recipe lied.

I didn't make the big lollipop in the picture below. All I had to do was take him in the candy store and let him pick out his own Valentine. One could say that he worshipped me for the rest of the day.

Spring, Where Are You?

The only sign of spring approaching my neighborhood is the few minutes of extra daylight added to each day. Other than that, P3 is still having to play with his Bionicle in the snow and bring icicles in the house to melt in the kitchen sink.

"Eat a live frog in the morning and nothing worse can happen to you all day." Signs of Spring by Laurel Lee. Look carefully and you'll see three tiny frogs in the photo below. I was babysitting these frogs for P3 a couple summers ago. The container was sitting outside and a bird swooped down and ate them. I had a lot of explaining to do.

This and That

Nothing about my garden to report, but yesterday I did sit with my mother and page through the Jung Seed catalog with her. She pointed out some annuals that she'd like for me to plant in pots for her in the spring. My 85 year-old dad has been saying all winter that he's done with planting tomatoes, but now he's talking about having at least one plant. Here he is with his tomatoes and cucumbers in 2007.




The next time you're in San Diego and feel like you need a "break", you might want to head here.

This time-waster was mentioned in Redbook and since I'm a fan of wasting time, I decided to take a look. It was strangely relaxing. When you get to the website, click on Enter JacksonPollock.org and then follow these TIPS from Redbook: Drag the mouse around to create. Linger longer for bigger splotches of paint. Click to change colors. Press the space bar to clear the canvas.

Here's a sunset photo taken Christmas Eve at P & N's house. It's every bit as pretty as a sunset at the beach, so says the gal with her roots firmly planted in the north.

Pumpkin Planning

I've been trying to think of a gardening project to do with Phillip. Have decided we'll grow a couple of pumpkin plants in a container. The plants will be started inside and then transplanted to the container when they have three to four leaves. The container will be very large and filled with a good loose potting soil. The vines can travel as far as 30 feet. Pumpkins need lots of sunshine, nutrients and water. Then there are issues like pollination, diseases and bugs. Our goal will be to harvest at least one pumpkin, not a field full like in this photo taken last fall at the Pumpkin Patch. If anyone has grown a pumpkin plant in a container, please tell me about it.




The two photos below were taken this morning. So now you now why I can only plan and dream about gardening.

Einstein Project

Last Saturday I took my six-year old grandson to visit the Einstein Science Expo, where there were 88 science booths to visit. Many of the booths included hands-on activities for children of all ages and Phillip was most interested in the one called Extracting DNA Glop from Wheat Germ. It was all the test tubes and the word glop that got his attention. His one burning science question to me was, "Was Albert Einstein related to Frankenstein?"

http://www.einsteinproject.org/

To keep the gardening theme going here, take a look at all my pots waiting for some spring love. It's shameful how they're banished to the back of the house from November through April.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

This is my first time participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. February may not be the best month for a Wisconsin gardener to join in as there's not a bloom to be found in my yard or inside my house, but then I guess it depends on your definition of the word bloom. I took a walk in the snow and found this ornamental grass waving me over to take her picture. I believe she's named Miscanthus Sinensis/Morning Light. Beautiful silvery blooms in the summer and rich gold-colored foliage in the fall.

Thank you to Carol at http://maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/ for making GBBD possible. I've been checking in every month for quite some time now and enjoy it very much.

Hearts To You