Sunday, March 26, 2023

Sunny Days and More Garden Photos

Hellebore Flowers

We are having a few sunny days before the next storm arrives on Tuesday!  I thought I'll take a few more photos of the back yard to share!  The hellebore plants is flowering, although there are fewer flowers than it had last year.

Last year, in May 2022, neighbor S gave me two loquat seedlings her aunt had given her.

Loquat Seedlings in May, 2022

Last week, M planted them in the ground for me.  We planted one on Wednesday:

Loquat Seedling - March 2023

The second one was planted on Friday:

Snowball Memorial Loquat - Planted March 2023

I'm calling it the Snowball Memorial Loquat because we planted it where we found Snowball's body.  She would appreciate it, I think, because she loved to climb trees.


Painted Lady Butterfly on Osteospermum Flower

The garden flowers are attracting butterflies; this Painted Lady obliged me by staying on the flower long enough for me to take a photo!

While I was out in the garden, I took a photo of the area behind the garage and the shed:

Looking Towards the Corner Where the Side Wall and Back Wall Meet

Looking Towards the Back Wall
(Shed is on the left)

And this is the view of the garden, looking straight ahead from the front of the shed:


Another Look At the Garden

I wanted to give an idea of what you are seeing:

The Different Trees
1 Curry Leaf Tree
2 Peach Tree
3 Orange Tree
4 Plum Tree
5 Avocado Tree
6 Nectarine Tree
7 Calamondin Tree
8 Feijoa/Pineapple Guava Tree (behind the orange tree)

You can't see the other curry leaf tree, the Asian pear tree, the Fuyu persimmon tree, the newly planted loquat seedlings, the three lemon trees, the passionfruit vine, or the blueberry bushes from this angle.  And, of course, the pomegranate tree and the second feijoa/pineapple guava tree are in the front and side.  

After touring the garden, I picked another bunch of lettuce for my brunch:

Garden Lettuce

Friday, I had salad for brunch (garden lettuce, grapes, the last of the cucumber, bottled dressing) and fried rice (leftover rice, the last of the Spam, snow pea pods, cashews) for dinner.  I picked more snow peas, too, and shared them with M.

Saturday, I had salad for brunch (garden lettuce and canned chick peas/garbanzo beans, bottled dressing) and a cheeseburger for dinner (hamburger patty from the freezer, bread ends for the bun, slice of cheese, ketchup, and more of the lettuce from the garden).

I am grateful for:
- Sunny days with slightly warmer temperatures
- Garden flowers
- M tending to the garden for me
- Garden produce
- Working appliances

Joyful activities have included enjoying the sunshine and being in the garden.

How is your weekend coming along?  Hope you are all enjoying some sunny days.

22 comments:

  1. Your garden is looking good. It obviously loves all the rain you are getting. I remember you planting some of the fruit trees but did you plant all the others? How lovely to have your own orchard!

    Unfortunately we have rain with more due for the next eight days at least. It's typical weather for this time of year, so heavy showers rather than a constant downpour. My garden is looking very soggy! I'm staying at home today (Sunday) and will continue with batch cooking this morning and crochet and piano this afternoon. xx

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. The calamondin tree, the feijoa(pineapple guava) trees, and two of the lemon trees were already here, when I bought the house. There were two additional guava trees in the side yard, which died and two lemon trees and an orange tree which I cut down when building the family room addition. All the others are what I planted. I now have a 3rd lemon tree which is a sucker plant from one of the lemon trees that were here (it produces fruit that are a little different than the Meyer lemons, but, I don't mind that). There is actually a 4th little lemon plant which is also a sucker that I'm allowing to grow, but, that's only about a foot high. Then, there's Lois Lane Mango, of course, which is still in the broken planter...we might repot her in a bigger pot, this spring. I don't think she's ready to go in the ground, yet. :)

      Oh, my! You are having quite a bit of rainy weather in your forecast. Well, it's sunny and windy, today, and there's one more day of sunshine in the forecast before the next rain storm! After that, however, there's very little rain in the forecast.

      I hope you've had a lovely day, Eileen. I'd be interested to know what you batch cooked as I am looking for meal plan inspirations!

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    2. I made your chicken curry, bolognese sauce, pork loin chops with mushroom sauce, chicken and veg soup, and also cooked some chicken drumsticks and thighs to have ready for salads or sandwiches. Everything has been portioned out and is in the freezer.

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    3. Thank you, Eileen. :) I have chicken curry and the cooked/sauteed chicken in the freezer and there is the last package of ground meat with vegetables, too, which can be turned into a bolognese sauce. I think some soup might be good to have on hand for the rainy days and that with the stir fry I still haven't made will do. :)

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  2. Your garden is looking wonderful. I do like that you planted your loquat seedling in memory os Snowball. So lovely to see butterflies and well done on photographing one on your osteospermum flowers.

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. Snowball was special and needed to have something planted in her memory. :) I was very pleased that I could take a photo of the butterfly. My cell phone is not one of the better ones, but, it was free, and while sufficient for my use, the camera function leaves much to be desired.

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  3. Your garden is larger than I'd realized. You have a lot of fruit trees! Lovely! It looks like a landscaped arboretum. M certainly is a skilled gardener, and I'm sure you also have a gift for garden design.

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    1. Oh, Celie, you are so very kind to say the garden looked like a landscaped arboretum! I am trying to grow as many fruit trees as I can, but, the only conscious garden design is "plant where there is space"! We try to plant so that there's at least 6 feet space between the trees in all directions, taking into account the sprinkler lines, overhead wires, and making sure the trees receive enough sun. The back yard gets the morning sun and early afternoon sun. By late afternoon/early evening, the house and garage (and existing taller trees) start casting shadows. All the trees will require judicial pruning once they grow, to keep them all under control!

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  4. Your garden is just delightful, especially in the sunshine. I hope you have a productive growing season. Xx

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    1. Thank you, Jules. :) So far, I'm harvesting lettuce and snow peas! And lemons! How are your lemon plants doing? Are they growing well?

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  5. That's quite an oasis that you've created in your gardens. I liked the labeled picture that put everything in context. When all of those trees get big, you will have a forest.

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    1. Thank you, June. Maybe, in 10 years time, if I am still around, I'll be complaining that I have too much shade in the garden! LOL. Actually, we will have to keep the trees pruned to make sure that they get enough sun and air circulating around them. But, it would be lovely to have all those trees growing and bearing fruit, wouldn't it? A mini orchard!

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  6. Seeing your lovely hellebores inspired me to go outside immediately and clean up mine. They get really messy over winter in my area and last year's foliage needs to be removed. Mine are all neatened up now and the new flowers (dark Burgundy, light pink and one that's almost white) are looking fresh and standing up tall. I do really love your greenish color.
    How nice that you took the time to number things for us, your curious readers :)
    I did not know what a loquat tree was so I looked it up. I think Snowball would've loved those trees so a befitting honor for sure :)

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    1. You have many different colors of hellebores! Well done, cleaning up the plants, although, the old leaves probably provided protection for the plants over the winter.

      Ha, ha, I thought people would like to know what they are looking at!
      I had a clump of three loquat trees growing together and they produced enough fruit to make a batch of jam, one year (in 2014, before I started the blog), but, they died a few years, later. They take a few years to grow before they produce fruit and can grow to be huge trees if allowed to do so. I plan to keep them pruned! I think Snowball would have loved climbing the new trees. :)

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  7. I'm pleased to see a single view with lots of things marked out. You have a veritable orchard! And it looks vibrant and verdant, smiling in the sun. Are those forget-me-nots under the orange tree?
    On the subject of persimmon trees, I checked my local one yesterday and it is not yet showing any signs of life. I'll keep watching!
    Ella

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the photo of the plants marked out. An orchard is just what I am hoping to have! The flowers under the orange tree are osteospermum. They've colonized that area and there's plenty of evidence that they've started colonizing a nearby planting circle which still has a few rose bushes growing in it. I don't mind.
      I've a few leaves starting to show in my persimmon tree. Hope the one in your neighborhood will soon start coming out of dormancy. :)

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  8. Your garden is just so beautiful and I love the way you labelled the trees for us. Now you have two new trees coming along, as well as the others that didn't get photographed. What a great variety!
    Yesterday we didn't have the worst of the forecast but we did get a fair amount of snow, not enough to justify the plow coming, just enough to mess up the driveway. It wasn't enough for the town to clear the road, either, so between road and driveway, I don't think I've ever seen such a mess. However it isn't frozen as well, thank goodness. The main highway was completely dry when I went out this morning, so that was good. The sun has almost come out this afternoon!

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. I'm glad you liked the labelling on the photo. :) I'll take another one of the trees I didn't photograph this time and post that on another day. Hopefully, all these trees will grow well and start producing plenty of fruit, eventually. A productive garden is what I am hoping for, although that takes quite a bit of water!

      Sorry to hear about all the snow and the mess it made with the driveway and the unplowed road! Hopefully, the sun will melt some of that snow! We are having a sunny day, but, it is a bit on the cooler side. I'm not complaining, though! Rain is in the forecast for next week! It might be our last storm of the season, though, so, I'll try to capture all the rain I can in my buckets. :)

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  9. It's all looking so lovely. Amazing when I look outside daughter's window and see the snow here still so thick on the ground that it seems as though it will be another month before anything is growing at all!

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. Yes, I remember well the days when I would be up in Wisconsin where there was still snow on the ground and my mother would tell me that the flowers she planted in pots at the apartment were starting to bloom! :)

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  10. Wow, I didn't realize you have such a large garden, and it is springing to life nicely. Since I am 3 weeks behind on blog reading, I bet it is even more lively now. Lucky you!

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    1. The garden is coming along nicely, Susanne. We had a lot of rain this winter and that helped!

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