Thursday, May 15, 2014

My Wild Farm Garden

Hello dear readers and friends, it's warm here now, would you like to walk around my wild and untamed farm garden with me?  Ok.. let's stroll.  I have 3 varieties of Clematis, a white one and 2 purple ones.  This two toned one blows me away.  Love the colors!


Here is our farm hare.. I wonder if it's the same one as on Easter?  I really never knew how interesting the fur is on a wild rabbit.


The extremely tall magenta Rhododendron is in full bloom and even starting to fade as we've had a run of hot sunny days.  I had Caleb stand in front of it so you could see how tall it is.  Almost 30 feet!



It kind of amazes me how all the bushes kind of take turns coming into their glory.. kind of nice to lengthen the bloom "show".  The pink rosebud azalea is almost at peak.  The bay window on the left is behind our easy chairs in the family room... the one on the right is in our little galley kitchen.  I chose the color of the house to look like tropical waters and also the color of old bronze fittings on a ship as they oxidize.  


These don't have a scent, but are awfully pretty.


I've been so busy that I missed picking a bouquet of the Lily-of-the-Valleys.. they are at their end now.  


This Rhodie is opening now.. it's white with with a yellow throat.


The 2nd purple Clematis.. it's big and frilly.  Don't mind my wrinkly old hand.. sheesh.  :-)  To the right of this is my Mock Orange shrub.. it's covered with buds.. can't wait to have the blooms open!


I have a little bunch of Coral Bells in a galvanized tub.  They are so bright and pretty.


I am so happy.  This is my "Beauty Bush" and it's aptly named.  Last year a huge branch fell on it and broke it and knocked it over and I thought I'd lost it.  But I was so thrilled to see that nature prevailed and my bush is alive and blooming.  It has a lovely aroma.


Aren't these pretty?  Pink, white, and yellow gold markings in the throat.



Don't they have the delicate beauty of an orchid? 



The Beauty Bush is to the left of the red maple near the top of the creek, there are 3 waterfalls on the way to the pond.  


Outside my craft studio windows is a big arching bamboo that has invaded a big pink Rhodie - but I kind of like seeing pink flowers in the bamboo.  :-)


Looking up under the low canopy of my red maple.  I'll never forget that I got this for a pot on my deck of my houseboat.. and I brought it back with me to the farm and planted it here after we put in the water garden.  It's getting big!



I do believe that this is the earliest that my 4th of July rose has bloomed!  I looks like fireworks, doesn't it?


Each bloom is totally different - I adore this rose.


I've been planting flowers in my pots -- this one below I'm quite excited about.  It's called a "Cockscomb" and my first memory of this flower is when my sister and I were visiting our aunts, uncles cousins and grandparents one whole summer in Oklahoma -- and when we were at my Grandmother Woldridge's house (she lived in a old brick bank building) and she had a row of these amazing flowers all along the sunny side (back) of her house.  I thought they were the coolest things ever!  I hope mine get as big as Grandma's.



I also planted 3 varieties of Lantana in a pot surrounded with moss roses.  I did that last year and was charmed and pleased with how they worked together.  I got a pastel Lantana, a red one and the pinkie yellow one.



I got mixed color moss roses and this bloom made me happy as it's variegated and I *LOVE* anything variegated.


I also planted this fun two-tone yellow and white "Million Bells" petunia - I'd never seen one and I think it's going to be a super cool basket.


Cute, huh?


I'm going to plant this one in another basket.. and I have a fun idea of how I'm going to use my fairy gazebo.. more on that later.. see the little green beaded chandelier in the center?


And my 2nd piece of Westward Ho glass arrived, the one on the left is a butter or cheese dish.  It's like a small cake plate.  Both were very reasonably priced on Etsy.  I am not going to go nuts with these glass pieces, these are the only two I'm getting.  :-)  Really!


Kristi found this little bird's egg in the entry area of my French doors into my craft studio - I think it's a house wren as that's what I think is nesting up in the eaves.  Do you recognize the bird that laid this by looking at the egg?


I see that a lot of bloggers are getting nice fancy cameras - and I actually got one but didn't have much luck with it, it confused the daylights out of me.  But I'm inspired to get it out of hiding and try again.  But meanwhile I'm very VERY pleased with the images I get with my Panasonic DMC-ZS19 LUMIX with Leica lens and a 20x FullHD PowerO.I.S./24mm WIDE angle lens.  (This is for Dorothy in Oz who's asked me which camera I use.)  Have a SUPER FUN WEEKEND!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

21 comments:

  1. My Rosebud Azalea in Canbyland is at it's prime too. I love that you post flower pics too!
    I did mine this morning.
    I'm really liking your two-tone million bells.

    http://runningwithrocket.blogspot.com/2014/05/glorious-spring.html

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  2. Oh - and I just use my Nikon Coolpix digital or my smarty pants phone camera. Usually the flowers are taken with the smart phone camera with a macro setting.

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  3. SO happy to see you were able to buy your beloved cockscomb plants this year. Enjoy:):)
    Blessings,
    Aimee

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  4. This post was such a treat for me.
    I just loved all the blooms and bushes and, well everything!
    I had to show my husband the gigantic bush . It was amazing
    Thank you for sharing.

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  5. B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l pictures Teresa. I'd say your camera works just fine. As you know, most of mine are taken with my iPhone.
    Yours is the only blog I've read today and I'm off to bed now so I guess I'll need to play catch up sometime. Karen is doing very well and has "graduated" to the Cardiac Critical Care Unit. Yeah! Thanks for the prayers for her.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  6. Teresa, your photos are always so gorgeous! If I were in the market for a camera today, I think I would get one like yours. Although, I do love my Nikon SLR, I am much more a point and shoot kind of gal, than one to really use all of the features that my camera has! Your home, and gardens are so beautiful. It is still a dream of mine, to one day, see it in person. As well, of course, as meet you, my dear friend!
    xo Kris

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  7. Such gorgeous pictures from your farm garden.......lots of bright and colourful flowers to enjoy! Loved seeing the hare too, and the speckled egg (don't know what kind of bird it is from though, sorry!) I love the colour of your house!
    Wishing you a happy weekend, Teresa!
    Helen xox

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  8. Wow, it's looking beautiful in your garden. That rhodedendron is stunning, it's huge! And the 4th of July rose is perfection. I don't know what the egg is, but the markings are lovely. Hope you have a really good weekend. CJ xx

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  9. Oh Wow Teresa - another lovely lot of gorgeous photos. Your garden is certainly a picture !!!! You can hardly see Caleb near that huge bush - what an amazing show of colour. Thanks for the camera info - I'm going to have to dig my Panasonic out and see if its anything like yours. Most of my pics are taken with my iPhone 5S and I'm reasonably happy with them. I did get an Olympus SZ16 but its a hassle getting the photos on to my computer. Well, not really but its so much easier taking pics on the iPhone and with iCloud enabled, they automatically appear on all my devices - pc, iPads and iPhone. Easy peasy which I like. You have a great weekend too. xox

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  10. Gorgeous photos Teresa, you don't need to use a fancy camera, you are doing perfectly with the one you have. Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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  11. Your garden is stunning, Teresa. That huge rhododendron is amazing. A neighbor of ours here in northern Illinois recently bought a second home in Oregon. She says everything just grows beautifully there. It's made her lose some of her love for her Illinois garden!

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  12. Such lovely, lovely photos of all your beautiful flowers and bushes. Gosh, your place is so awesome. You truly do have a little slice of Heaven on Earth at your beautiful place.

    ((hugs)) to you sweet friend.

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  13. Your garden is looking lovely, Teresa! You are well ahead of us out here on the East Coast. My clematis has taken off like wildfire, but no blooms yet.

    xo
    Claudia

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  14. Where to begin? I think I'll just say WOW to start off with! I always enjoy seeing your yard and all the neat plants and flowers you have. There are so many and such a variety! Amazing. I hope when we get there, I'm able to grow more things with the weather being so different there. I do try here though! There's just not many things that can take this heat and dry-dry-dryness. We are under Stage 3 watering restrictions (and have been for the last 2-3 years) and are only allowed to water twice a week. If you are caught, the fines are really high. They are serious about it because our lakes are so low with the drought we've had for several years in a row now.

    I love that huge Rhododendron! Your azaleas are really gorgeous too. Just wish they'd bloom more often, don't you? Everything is just so pretty. Thanks for sharing photos.

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  15. Beautiful,beautiful, beautiful! We may get there yet. But we had frost warnings last night. None. Yeah! Winter just doesn't seem to want to leave this year. I love looking at your flowers and farm, so pretty.

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  16. Love seeing all the blooms. I can almost hear the water in the little fountain/brook.
    The Westward Ho collection is so neat. I just love it. Id never heard of it before.
    Happy Weekend to you

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  17. WOW!!! Stunning photos with delightful narrative, Teresa. Thanks so much for posting. xx

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  18. Everything is looking so beautiful there. I think the Japanese garden area is my favorite. I love that you can see this from your studio. I love the color of your house and I appreciate knowing your reasons for choosing it. I hope you have a great weekend. :)

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  19. Hello Teresa, you have made my day with these gorgeous photos!!!

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  20. Holy Cow! That Rhododendron is huge! Your flowers are all so gorgeous!

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  21. You have a magnificent garden and always love your pictures. Cute Hare ☺
    I love my canon power shot easy to use and great zoom but must say your lumix is fantastic
    at what it does. Gave up on my bigger camera, nice to have one you can pop in your bag ☺

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