 |
| Roses without Raindrops! |
Thursday has been another day without rain. In the early afternoon, I took a walk around the garden to see what was there to see. The red rose didn't have any raindrops on it:
 |
| I might have found my "something red" for the WPSH! |
Lady Ella had commented on my previous post that she was impressed by the appearance of the bare earth of what used to be the front lawn, without any weeds springing up after the rain; the ground is covered with all the eucalyptus flower ends that have fallen, but, if you look closely, there are some seedlings coming up:
 |
| Green Seedlings |
Are they weeds, sprouting up after the rain?
 |
| A Closer Look |
They are very tiny and some are just starting to push up their first leaves:
 |
| Just Starting to Sprout |
Even so, I recognize these seedlings and they are not weeds!
 |
| Osteospermum Seedlings! |
They are self-sown osteospermum seedlings! They were just hiding under the ground, waiting for a good shower of rain! I can barely walk on the ground without stepping on them! If even half of them grow (and there's plenty of water), I'll have a "lawn" of osteospermum! I rather like the thought of that! Not sure what M might have to say! Most of his other clients like well manicured gardens!
Later, I went to the back garden to pick oranges - this year, my orange tree didn't produce many fruit, but, I picked the few that were there and shared them with my daughter:
 |
| Oranges on the Tree |
Last year, the calamondin tree barely had any fruit, but, this year, there are lots of buds:
 |
| Calamondin Buds |
I'm hopeful that there will be lots of fruit to pick and make calamondin marmalade!
While I was out in the back garden, I noticed something by the back wall:
 |
| Is It a Leaf? |
At first, I thought it was a dried up leaf, but, there aren't any trees nearby with such large leaves.
 |
| A Closer Look |
Of course it wasn't a leaf! It was a mushroom! A bigger mushroom than any I had seen in the garden, so far! There was even some water and dead leaves collected in it!
 |
| Big Brown Mushroom |
I'm not good at identifying mushrooms and have no idea what kind of mushroom it is. I don't see many mushrooms in the garden, so was interested to find this one growing!
I started tidying the family room, today. I took a bag of shredded paper to spread on one of the flower beds in the back garden and accidentally broke off a couple of stems of the geranium plant. Which led to digging a hole by the peach tree to stick the stems in, with the hope that they might grow. Just digging that one hole yielded a grub which needed to be dealt with, and there was some grass that needed to be pulled out.
The peach tree seems to think it is spring (sorry, the photos are out of focus):
 |
| Peach Tree |
 |
| Peach Flower and Buds |
Next I flattened several cardboard boxes and took them to the recycling bin. I gave Mama Cat a new box and removed the other one that had got wet for the rain.
Brunch was scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. For dinner, I made over some pot roasted pork that I had in the freezer, turning it into a curry and cooked a fresh pot of rice. We had it with leftover curried green beans, spicy sauteed potatoes, and peach chutney. I guess I went off the meal plan, just a little bit, but, that's OK. There are leftovers for tomorrow night's dinner.
Today, I am grateful for:
- All the changes the rain has brought to the garden
- Fresh oranges from the garden, even if the harvest was small
- Daughter being home to enjoy the oranges from the tree
- Phone chats and emails from friends
- Working appliances
Today's joyful activity was spending a little time in the garden.
Plans for tomorrow include continuing to tidy the family room and gardening with M in the evening.
How was your Thursday? What are your plans for Friday?
Your red rose is beautiful with or without raindrops. It's nice to see those seedlings spring into life and will be lovely to see your front garden full of osteospermums. I'm not so enamoured with manicured lawns they are too much like hard work. I'm not surprised our plants don't know what season it is as the weather is so changeable, it must be the same for wildlife too. Very windy here and so much rain, we have flood warnings in place along the north Wales coast.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; it is currently the only rose in bloom, so it is getting a lot of attention! All the other rose bushes have been pruned! I wouldn't mind a front garden full of flowers! It's the watering that becomes a problem, but, the osteospermum tend to die back when it gets too hot and dry.
DeleteI hope you don't have any flooding in your area, Eileen. Stay safe!
It must be like a treasure hunt finding all of the changes in your garden with the rain. I didn't know what calamondins were, so I had to look them up. Are they sweet?
ReplyDeleteIt feels like I can find something new every day! We are expecting more rain tomorrow through Monday, so there will be more to discover, next week!
DeleteCalamondins tend to be rather tart. At least, the ones on my tree are. But, they make a good marmalade!
The red rose is a good choice for the WPSH. Can you count the osteospermum seedlings as 'no 16. signs of spring'? I think your garden will look amazing when they all grow.
ReplyDeleteAs usual I am envious that you can pick oranges from your own tree, and it's lovely that your daughter is home to share them with you.
We're experiencing almost constant heavy rain and the other end of the village is flooded. This happens every year and the police closed one road last week and the causeway closed last night. Thankfully I like in the much higher part of the village where there is no risk of flooding, unless something goes wrong with the water management of the canal but fortunately that's unlikely to ever happen. xx
Thank you, Eileen; yes, I have already taken some photos of the osteospermum seedlings for 'signs of spring'! :)
DeleteThe orange crop this year was very sad; only a few fruit. But, still, something is better than nothing and I am able to share them with my daughter. She says the homegrown oranges have spoilt her and she no longer likes the store bought ones!
I'm sure you are getting tired of all that rain! I won't ask you to send me some because we are supposed to get more rain over the weekend through Monday! I do hope the canal water management continues to work smoothly! You wouldn't want to see any of those house boats come floating down your road! Stay safe and dry!
Your garden is looking very nice! The miracle of rain! Beautiful rose. Nice to see your buds coming in! andrea
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea. The rain is wonderful, except it has done so much damage to other parts of the state! It's either drought or floods!
DeleteYour mushroom sneaked in when you weren't looking. I guess it, too, had been waiting for some rain. It reminds me of the big ones we get in the fall that push up wads of wet leaves on top of them.
ReplyDeleteWe had no snow today and our plow guy came bright and early and had almost finished the driveway when my cleaner arrived, and she had room to park. This afternoon I fetched more groceries to feed the family this weekend. It wasn't particularly cold by the thermometer but there was a nasty wind. I was able to donate some books to a free book shelf in the lobby of a local store, having asked permission the other day. Let the decluttering begin!
That mushroom did sneak up on me! I showed it to M today and he said he's seen many mushrooms popping up this year!
DeleteI'm glad the plow guy cleared your drive way and your cleaner had room to park. Glad you were able to get your groceries, too, and that was very kind of you to donate the books. I wish I had a place to donate some books, but, the library had a sign that they were not accepting any books at this time.
I hope you have a lovely time, this weekend, visiting with the family. :)
Your roses are so pretty. That's exciting about the seedlings. I only had one orange on my tree this year. I think it was stressed by the drought. Hope those peach buds don't freeze.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stephenie. I'm always happy to see new seedlings coming up, but, they will have to manage with very little water once the rains stop! I had about half a dozen oranges, this year. Yes, I think the drought stressed it. I have a feeling that the poor peach tree is going to have all the flowers washed off for the rain! It might not be another good year for peaches!
DeleteGosh those rose petals look like velvet.
ReplyDeleteI think your front garden will look glorious if all of those little osteospermum bloom.
Were your oranges nice and sweet? I bought a bag of navel oranges this week and they were pretty good. ($4.49 for a 4lb bag)
The rose petals do have a velvety look to them, don't they?
DeleteI'm hoping the osteospermum will grow and cover the whole front! Or, at least, the bare patches.
The oranges were very sweet! We shared the last one, yesterday. That's a good price for the navel oranges; a 4lb. bag is $4.99 at the Kroger store, here.