Wildflower Wednesday - Golden Alexander

Today I wanted to show you one of my favorite wildflowers. Anethum graveolens - Apiaceae, or most commonly known as Golden Alexander.  It is in the carrot family. It has lanceolate, finely and sharply tooted leaves. Something like hellebore leaves. Sometimes they are even evergreen here in my Zone 6 garden.  They have these golden yellow compound umbel flowers. 

It isn't invasive but if you don't deadhead the flowers before they go to seed you will have them scattered everywhere through the flower bed you chose to place them in. 

Here you  can see where this one is snuggling up to the varigated Weigelia bush.  They complement the pastels in your garden. Or they can take a stand with the darkest brightest colors you place them with.

They will grow in full sun or deep shade.  They aren't a bit picky about placement. A real bonus too is that they do well in a cut flower arrangement. I can't say enough good about these beauties. They are a real workhorse in my spring/early summer garden. The blooms last a long time.

Wildflower Wednesday is brought to you by Gail at Clay and Limestone through Greenbow and several other blogs. To find a wildflower for your garden go to Gail's to see everyone that is posting about Wildflowers.

Foliage and Follies

This time of year I am so busy in the garden. It seems like this year I have been particularly engrossed in the garden.  This obsession will wane when the weather heats up.  I am enjoying every minute out there while it is cool and comfy.

One of my projects was to make a trellis for some of the Sweet Peas I have started. This is the trellis I put up for the Norili Sweet Peas.  I am so happy these peas got started and they seem to like where they are planted becasue they are growing.

Another trellis I made was a little more elaborate. It also has Sweet Peas to grow up it. As you can see it is  near the Casa (screen house) so hopefully we will be able to see and smell these.

My design for this one was inspired by Robyn Gordon, at Art Propelled, who is an artist that carves totems. Her work is absolutely marvelous to me. She uses found objects in her work. So you can see that I have used some RR spikes for the top of the trellis. When this is no longer needed as a trellis I am going to make this a wall where I can place found objects like in this picture I tore out of a magazine 2 years ago. I hope to have a wall of 'stuff' at some point.

Another project I have done was lining part of the path that goes to a side gate with concrete that my DB busted out of the patio area.

I like that we didn't have to take it to the dump and it serves a needed purpose here by keeping the pea gravel in the pathway. When the flowers all fill out you won't see much of it either.

It seems that eveyone is talking about the explosion of blooms

and then of course the foliage that then will take center stage.

Even Lincoln seems a bit surprised at the way the ivy seems to want to overtake him. I will evenually have to get out there and rescue him.

Do you have any frivolous foliage or any garden projects keeping you in the garden longer than usual?

Wildflower Wednesday

While out on our morning walk we detoured through the woods rather than on the road at the park. I am so glad we did. The Wildflowers are blooming like crazy.  Finding this hillside full of Larkspur was to me like seeing those pictures the Austin gardeners are showing of their Texas bluebonnets.

In another area there was phlox blooming with just a few larkspur thrown in.

Even in this sea of May Apples there were a few larkspur peeking out.

It seemed that everywhere I looked the larkspur was trying to steal the show. Obviously it has been a good year for larkspur.

At home the wild ginger is blooming their funny little bloom.

                                         My one little clump of Virginia Bluebells are ringing.

The violets are rampant this year. 

The trillium is blooming too. Are there any wildflowers in your garden blooming? I bet that you have at least one of these yellow beauties.

I know that Gail at Clay and Limestone would like to see what is wild and blooming in your garden too.

Happy Easter

I hope that the Easter Bunny brings you lots of chocolate for your basket,

Lots of  Flowers for your garden

And much Peace for your heart.

Garden Blogger's Muse Day - April 2010

My garden is my muse this month. It has been unseasonably warm here so I have nearly buried myself in mulch this spring so far.   The forsythia has never looked prettier as most everything else, but on this day it is the forsythia that caught my eye in the blazing sun.

                                                                          Forsythia rays
                                                         competes with Spring's sunshine
                                                                         even in a vase
For more Garden musing go to Carolyn Gail's blog Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Sloppy Sunday

After such a busy couple of weeks I must say I was delighted by having another day of rain. It has rained most of the day today.  I had to stay inside except for walking Luna of course.  I had time to think about all the work we have done these first spring days.  As you enter our garden from the back I put an arbor with a gate on it to welcome the neighbors and anyone else that enters.  At some time in the future there will be a sitting area right inside here.  It is just to the left of the Casa. 

When you look out from the sitting area you will see lots of things growing and blooming here. I will show it again when things are filled in more.

The bushes on either side of it were taken from the Holly bed.  This will give the holly and all the flowers around it more room to spread. 

As you can see most places have their blanket of mulch.  The mulching is almost finished. It feels so good to be this far along already. According to my garden journal we are ahead of schedule. Yay... Considering that we didn't mulch last year this feels like quite an accomplishment.

I am still waiting for the  Saucer Magnolia to pop. I can't wait to see it. We are to have beautiful weather the rest  of the week. It should be a good show. All of this rain has played havoc with the daffodils. I had to cut a bouquet of them to bring in because the poor dears were lying face down in the mud.  I had forgotten how fragrant they are.

I have some seeds I will have to get into the ground this week.  These are the seeds that Cyndy at Riverrim shared with me. They are a purple-flowering Dutch pea called "Norli". I can't wait to see them bloom.  Look Cyndy they are going to grow for me. I have never started seeds in paper towels this way. It is very easy I must say. Thank you so much for the opportunity Cyndy.

Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings was asking what everyone was doing for Easter.  Well, here we will have a big eat-a-thon. I am busy preparing for the hungry hordes.  Actually we don't have that many coming but it will be fun. I hope you all have a great week leading up to and including Easter. I am curious too. What are you doing for Easter?

Wonderful Wednesday

You probably think that I have fallen off the planet.  No, the opposite is true. I have been out in the garden working like a Trojan.  My Dearly Beloved has been driven by this warmer than usual March weather and we have been doing our weeding/mulching. Yes, 6 truck loads of mulch have been applied so far. That means that all beds that have been mulched have also been weeded.  Bushes moved and trimmed.  Even Luna thinks there has been just too much outside activity. It is difficult to keep up.

I am so pleased with everything so far.  I mean how can you even be angry with the henbit and dandelions that are popping up everywhere when you know that it means warm weather is on its way.
The later hellebores are now blooming. Red Lady is blooming for the first time.  I think she is going to be great in a few years when she fills out more.

The freckled helleores are one of my favorites though.

Another favorite of spring is the wild flower Spring Beauty. Of course it lives up to its name especially when they are well established in a lawn or flower bed and they look like a pink carpet. Gail wrote a beautiful post about these Spring Beauties as her Wildflower Wednesday post. I think you would enjoy reading it if you pop over here.

It is just marvelous to have so many colors in the garden now.

The daffodils cover most hues of yellow.

Then of course the crocus want to get into the act.

And what would spring be without a few tulips.  We are talking few here too. I must put them on my list for next fall. These little beauties used to be about a foot tall.  Now they barely peek over the grass.

I hope you all have been able to be out in the garden some this spring. I can say it is a delightful antedote to a long hard winter. I hope there are lots of promise in your garden now that spring has arrived.

What is showing promise in your garden now?