Pink flowers...

A couple of days ago, as I was walking on the path along the stone wall, I noticed that all the flowers that had reseeded themselves in the cracks at the bottom of the wall were pale pink.



There are several different shades of pink and lavender Cleomes that are growing in this area of the garden, but the 3 or 4 in the path are all the same color of pale pink.



Salvia coccinea has reseeded itself various places in my garden. I have lots of red ones, but also pink ones and white ones and some that aren't quite red, but also aren't quite pink. But the ones on the path by the stone wall are pink.



Maybe these pink flowers realize how good they look with the grey of the stones. I guess they are trying to ensure their survival by looking especially pretty in their new location. They planned it pretty well.


Have a beautiful day!

Stones...

It began as a quick, innocent trip into the store for a simple air filter and then back out again to go home. But as I was headed out the door and back to the van, I was stopped in my tracks by what I saw.




It couldn’t be so. Normally, a single stone sells for around $2.00 and here were 5 pallets of stones on clearance, each pallet priced at either $10 or $15. And each pallet held probably around 80 to 100 stones. You can imagine my excitement as I began to comprehend my find.




As much as I have wanted to build a stone wall to be able to form a terrace to create a home for my seating area under the oak tree, which you may have heard me mention in previous posts, I honestly had no idea how I was going to make that dream become reality at any time in the near future.



Well, here was my answer and I am so thrilled! After a couple of trips to bring them home and several hours of labor to unload them, I now have stacks and stacks of stones in my front yard and I can hardly wait for the snow to melt so I can start building my next stone wall.

(Doo, the neighbor's sweet dog, came over to help us unload stones.)

Have a beautiful day!

Cold plants...

The fields and flowers have frost on them this morning. I think the frost makes things look amazing - the way it edges and highlights the leaves, the designs it makes in water, how it changes the colors of the greens.

My Purple Rain pansies are a little different this morning.



Frosted weeds. (You have no weeds in your garden, right?)


Icy clump of bluegrass.


Chilly Nemesia on the wall.


Dianthus with fall leaves. So cool! (Pardon the pun.)


Have a beautiful day!

Purple rain...

For the fall, winter, and spring, I planted this urn with Purple Rain pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) that I purchased from my favorite local nursery, New Garden Nursery. They are supposed to grow so that they will cascade over the edges of the pot, which I think will be quite charming. I have planted grape hyacinth (Muscari, probably armeniacum) with them because I like the contrast of its leaves. And then, of course, in the spring, there will be the beautiful, fragrant blue flowers to enjoy with the purple and yellow pansies.





I bought the urn at a big box store a couple of years ago. It is made of that strange, sorta foamy stuff and was scraped and scratched in places. So, I mixed some paint to be close to the color of the pot and painted the areas that were wearing out and then coated that with polyurethane once the paint had dried.




It all looks so beautiful on top of my "stone" wall, next to the house. It makes part of an ending point for the intersection of the path and the steps that come from the deck and back door.



Have a beautiful day!

A little confused...

This charming little periwinkle vine, flowing over the "stone" wall I put together, is blooming! I double-checked "The Southern Living Garden Book" and was informed that it flowers in early spring. A little confused? I think so. However, Dave's Garden lists Vinca minor 'Illumination' bloom time anywhere from early spring to fall, so maybe my little plant knows what it is doing and I am the one that is confused.



It is a little confused in another way, too, although that is actually my fault. When I bought the vine, it was variegated. There still are a few runners that are variegated, but mostly it has reverted to the solid green. What I should have done, and hopefully still will, is to cut off the new runners that are green to save the variegation.




Have a beautiful day!