The Boston Marathon...

Yet another day of overwhelming sadness.

Why? And for what?

A garden is a labor of love...

Greetings from The Perch! I hope that you had a great weekend. As promised, here are some photos of what I did on Saturday after we got home from the garden center.

In a much earlier post, I mentioned that last summer I hybridized a bunch of daylilies in the hopes of getting some new color combinations, not to mention "free" plants. Well, in the fall I planted their seeds indoors in small pots, and looked after them all winter. They now have pretty good root systems and have sent up new crowns, so yesterday I started transplanting them into larger pots, and will let them spend some time on the front porch. They are still pretty tiny, so I will not plant them in the gardens as they will be swallowed up by the soil, not to mention moles and voles.

Getting ready....

My babies...

My spreadsheets showing which ones I

cross-polinated with what...

My biggest problem will be finding a spot to plant them all in when they are ready for the garden!

Wishing you a great day!



My kind of shopping...

Happy Sunday and welcome to my gardening weekend! The weather has been perfect, though the air is loaded with pine pollen. Keep the allergy pills coming!

Some women love pretty shoes, and others crave stocking their closets with designer purses. Many love fine clothes, fancy fingernails, and beautifully styled hair. Maybe that was me when I was part of my other life in the corporate world. No more. Instead, give me a comfortable pair of tennis shoes, one practical purse that is big enough to house my camera or iPad and doesn't need to be "changed out" every day, tee shirts and jeans, garden dirt under my fingernails, and hair tied back under a baseball cap. Which is not to say that I don't "clean up" pretty well when I need to. But there is nothing like dressing the part for communing with nature out in the garden, hearing the birds sing, and watching the butterflies landing on the purple verbena as I plant them.

You can have the department stores if that is your thing. What makes my heart sing at this time of the year is browsing around in a beautiful garden center, and we did just that yesterday. Below are some pictures of the place that we go to, sometimes more than once a week. It is the kind of place where everyone knows you, the employees are very knowledgeable, and you get mostly local stuff that is sure to grow. I think that just about everything is started from seedlings right there. You should see it during the Christmas season when they have rows and rows of Poinsettias in all different colors!

The owner, Chris, and his staff are fine landscapers, and have done much of the work at our house, including putting in the beautiful fescue lawn. Chris started this business with one little used greenhouse when he was a kid, and built it up to what it is today. (Note: Because we live within a small farming community, we try to support the small local businesses whenever possible.)

Come take a tour with me (unless you prefer to go to Macy's!).

Come on in...

Beautiful fountains and birdbaths...

The shade-lovers' area...

Beautiful statuary and pots tucked in everywhere...

Gorgeous hanging pots...

Beautiful geraniums, from light pink...

...to deep pink...

...and red.

Beautiful blooming flowers everywhere...

And while I took the photos,

Mr. Perch was patiently waiting outside...

Oops, let's not forget what we really went there for...

...ten more bales of pine straw.

The fifty bales we already put down in the beds

were not enough!

By the way, the "welcome" basket shown in the first picture of this post was made by John, one of Chris' staff. Wow! Thanks John. 

On my next post I'll share some photos of what I did when we got home yesterday. Thanks for stopping by!

100th post giveaway...winner announced!

The winner is ME! Just joking of course, but I really did come out the winner. I say this because some wonderful new friends introduced themselves to me. Friends that I would not have met if it were not for the giveaway. Of course, some dear "old" friends were also interested in the giveaway, so that made me very happy as well. And though I didn't see hundreds of comments on that post like you see on some other giveaways, I think that a few great friends count for more than hundreds of people that visit just that once and go on their merry way until the next giveaway. So, here is a quote for you:

"And we find at the end of a perfect day

the soul of a friend we've made."

                                                                                                       -CARRIE JACOBS BOND

To get to the real point at hand, the winner is PAT C! Pat, email me with your address and I will send the collage out to you. I hope that you enjoy it!

Pat was chosen by a random number generator.

I had received some comments and emails on the photo that I used, so here it is for you to use in your art. Click to enlarge, save, and print.

Well, it's raining today so a good reason to back off on the yard work and do some more artwork, but the truth is that I am so behind in laundry, grocery shopping, etc., that I guess the fun stuff will have to wait.

Please stop by again, and have a great weekend!

At day's end...

Happy Tuesday morning! Yesterday was a day of rest from the garden, though we did go to Lowe's to pick up some Black Cow and cypress mulch (we have some very nasty soil in these parts, and nothing can be planted without amending it).

Here are some photos taken Sunday while working around the yard. I can't believe that spring seems to be finally on its way, and the gardens seem to change a little bit each day. Yesterday it reached about 75.

Hubby's job was widening the beds

behind the screened porch, since the

hydrangeas on the left were getting too big and

 hitting him in the face every time he mowed.

Mulching to follow...



My job was completing the laying of

the pine straw along the path going

down to the gazebo...

Of course, I couldn't resist taking a few close-ups

of the daffodils planted last fall.

This one is a Repleat Daffodil...

...this is a Tahiti...

...and this an Ice King...

Here are some blossoms from the cherry tree...

...along with those on the crab apple tree.

A sweet little vintage garden statue, finally

beginning to accumulate some moss. Hooray...

And at day's end, some time to relax...

Make sure you take some time to relax yourselves! Seize the day...