Farm in Spring

Hello my friends, thanks for stopping in for a visit.  When we pulled in the driveway from our beach trip, I was so pleased to see how colorful the grounds looked.  The Pin Oak tree is leafing out, the Rosebud Azalea is in full bloom.  Irises are flowering.  Lovely!

We hung up my new banner and I just love it.

I grabbed my camera and did a walkabout to record the flowers.  This is my orange Honeysuckle.

I'm happy to see the pink azalea looks good despite the threat of the lace beetles.

These have been a favorite flower of mine since we moved into this 100 year old house 30 years ago.  I believe that we are the longest residents of this house in it's history.

We got this odd colored iris in a "mixed bag" of bulbs.  

While we were gone Kristi and Travis did a bit of plant shopping and got this lovely orange azalea.. I've always wanted one.  K planted it to the left of our deck, I hope it likes it there.

I planted two shades of purple Clematis on the right side of our shed.  Love these platter sized blooms.

The other purple.

I'm happy to see my "Beauty Bush" alive and well after it had been crushed and broken over by a fallen branch.  Isn't it pretty?

Each flower is like a tiny orchid.

Yesterday we went to my older son Shawn's house in Washington to help celebrate their son Michael's 15th birthday.  He's holding one of their German Shepherds, this one is named Meeka, isn't she pretty?  She's only around a year old.

Last night Kristi stepped out to get some fresh air and came back and told me the moon was full, so I grabbed my camera and headed out to capture this image.  I've been asked what kind of camera I use and so here it is:  Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 with a Leica lens.  It's small enough to carry in my purse and I'm super pleased with the zoom and the quality of it's photos.  They are just a bit over $400 on Amazon.  

Kristi put a new tablecloth on the table and picked a pretty mixed bouquet of yard flowers.  Isn't this pretty?

The kids bought this pretty Fuchsia, this color is a favorite of mine.

This is the sweet little dwarf lilac that the kids got for me for my birthday.

They also got this gorgeous purple Calla Lily.

Our Iris garden... I'm thinking of pulling out the beige ones and replacing them with something with more color.  What do you think?

A look at the farmhouse, deck, garden shed and our wild garden.

I wanted to show you the HUGE dark pink Rhododendron - it's about 25 feet tall!

The white Rhodie with dark purple throat.  

Do you have a Rhodie like this?

Looking back at the old house.. it's been added on to over the years.  The original house is in the center, the addition closest to you is our family room, then the main house where the living room and dining room are, there are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and the last addition is our master bedroom and en suite and an office at the farther end.  

Our garden shed.  I know I've said it in the past, but my desire is still to empty it of storage items, fix it back up and use it as a pretty garden shed.  It currently has "mini blinds" which I do not like in the windows.  I used to have some unbleached muslin curtains with ruffled edges in those windows.  When I work on this I want to add lace curtains and wicker furniture.  At least this is MY vision of the future of the shed.

The prettier bearded Iris.

These are the Siberian Iris.  There used to be a patch of them up by the apple tree.  I dug some up and put them in a pot on my houseboat years ago.  I brought them back to the farm and planted them at the top of the "creek" but they did not like it up there, too shady, and never bloomed.  Last year Dayle dug them up at my request and relocated them to our Iris garden by our back walk.  This year they bloomed prolifically!  Hurray for the longevity of iris bulbs!

I hope you've enjoyed my garden safari.  Time to cook some lunch for my husband and I.  I hope you're having a flower-ific Springtime!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)