Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

Isn't this the most delightful spot for a picnic?

Down in the Salt Lake City valley, 3 thousand feet lower in elevation ~ and a full month ahead of the chilly scene in my own mountain garden ~ is a beautiful spot called Thanksgiving Point.

Filled with acres and acres of happy spring tulips.

Warm sunlight tap dances across their pretty petals. Snapping this grumpy gardener out of the deep, blue funk that always accompanies an icy cold spring.

The valley (as we call Salt Lake City) is a blessing in springtime. When absolutely nothing is happening in my own garden, a quick trip to the lower elevations provides sweet inspiration.

Oh, I know what you're thinking... you feel sorry for me for living way up there in that snowdrift, don't you?

It's not so bad. Spring arrives a bit later. And, yes, that's maddening for a gardener. But, in another month, those proverbial tables will turn. My smug valley girl friends will be roasting in 100-degree heat and they'll be visiting me for a much-needed break.

* Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival: If you're heading to the festival, giddyup. We stubbornly waited for the first picture-perfect spring day but we were surprised to see that many of the tulips were already past their prime...

Hot Tip for Locals:
Tulip bulbs are perennials but they don't care. Thanksgiving Point digs up approximately 250,000 Tulip bulbs, every year, and sells the bulbs to flower lovers like you and me for a dollar a dozen. 

Oh, you did NOT seriously think I was going to tell you when they go on sale, did you? No, no... smaller crowds = more for me!

The Merry Month...

Desperate times call for desperate measures! 

Nabbed these Sun Stars at the local supermarket.

When the sun popped out, I was giddy as a schoolgirl.

If we can believe the local weather guy, it has rained ~ or snowed! ~ 20 out of the last 28 days. So, it took a moment to jar my memory. To soak in the warmth of that absentee sun and remember what it’s like to be living in a high plains desert.

Then the storm clouds rolled in. Again. 

Don't get too excited. 

These Tulips and Hyacinths are flowering indoors.

Of course, no one should be allowed to complain about the weather. Unless, you’re from Alabama. Good Lord… all those tornadoes clustered together… it looked like a scene from that movie, The Day After Tomorrow.

Christmas Cactus - still blooming!

Did you know that you can take Red Cross Disaster Response certification courses online? I would very much like to do that.

Far too frequently, I see situations where people need help, and I think… well, I’ve got frequent flyer miles. I did the Habitat for Humanity thing, after Katrina, but I possess no real skills to help people in such dire need.

And, while I don't know half of what they're going through, I know a little bit about what they experienced for a few terrifying seconds. I survived a tornado. In my Ford Explorer, which was pretty much destroyed. To this day, high winds make me a little loopy.

Who knew? Clematis seedlings flower this early?

*****

On a significantly brighter note... did you just go ga-ga over Kate Middleton’s wedding bouquet??

Hyacinth, Sweet William, Lily of the Valley… 3 that I nurture in my own gardens, made it into that historic bouquet.

Thanks to Tivo, I knocked that 8-hour royal wedding down to 35 minutes. (Long live the fast forward button.) I thought her flowers were as stunning as the dress.

Plus, this sentimental Mom shed a couple tears when Will and Harry stepped out of the limo.

Diana seems to be very influential with women in my age group. (Or, well, maybe just me and Bev...) But, I think she'd have been proud to see how her darling little boys turned into such impressive, young men.

* I missed yesterday's Mish Mash Monday (Garden Faerie’s clever invention) so perhaps we could dub this Trivial Tuesday?

Here's hoping for bright sunshine, wherever you are.

5th Blogoversary!

My how time flies when you're having fun.

May 1st is my 5th Blogoversary

5 years.

700 posts.

Countless new blogging friends. 

Thousands of impulse plant purchases.

And, the odd realization that I've been blogging since before blogging was cool.

T-Shirt Give Away. Just leave a comment.

I began this humble effort back in the Dark Ages.

There was no Twitter. No Facebook. (Restricted to college kids at the time.) No Blotanical. No r.e.s.p.e.c.t.  People who knew what blogs were thought I was silly for having one. People who'd never heard of blogs looked at me funny when I tried to explain what they were.

It's loads more fun nowadays. Don't ya just love how big your world becomes when you start blogging? All the kindred spirits you meet? It's like a whole new virtual family. And, you'd never know they existed were it not for their blogs... 

5 years. Wow. Who would have thought I could drone on about flowers for 5 long years? 

This calls for a celebration. 

So, I'm giving away my all-time favorite t-shirt. 

Now don't worry. I'm not sending you mine. You're getting a new one. A clean one! But, you'll get to look just like me. Which is a super scary thought...

To enter the drawing for this cute as a button t-shirt, simply leave a comment and tell me what you love most about blogging.

And, to those of you who have visited here before... thanks for being out there. I feel fortunate to have met you.

* My darling daughter will randomly select a winner, from the commenters, next Friday.

Depressed Daffodils and Sad, Little Tulips

Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~ Terri Guillemets

This little gardener is in desperate need of some sunshine.

I get so cranky with the false starts and stops of gardening in springtime. Wasn't it just last week that I was happily slathering on sunscreen and madly cleaning up the garden beds?

And, just that quick winter made a comeback.

Each morning, I peer hopefully out the window only to be greeted by heavy dark rain clouds obscuring the mountains. Mother Nature having a giggle at our expense.

Sweet spring bulbs try their level best to add cheer to these gloomy surroundings and I guess that's why we plant them. No matter the weather, they insist on doing a colorful job. But, just look at this gal...

Have you ever seen such a depressed Daffodil?

Flower. Power!

Three cheers for the well-established garden.

Not well-planned, mind you.

Just, sort of, well-established.

I was thinking about that as I slaved away, prepping the garden beds for a brand new season. Man! I'm outta shape. Muscles squawking mightily this morning. I'd intended to clean up one, maybe two, areas but I got in a groove and just kept on going.

Plus, I wanted to stay ahead of the weather. Spring doesn't really happen in the mountains. We vacillate between summer and winter, and back again, quite often in the same, darn day.

I lack that gene, commonly known as self-control, so my yard is home to 11 different flower patches, the first of which was planted in the summer of 2003. (AKA, the 'well-established' one.)

At some point, this crazy mess might merge into one gigantic garden. Like you see in those jungle movies. Where The Rock, or Schwarzenegger leads the way, wielding a machete  ~ should you have the hutzpah to go for a stroll.

But, right now, they're just separate, sunny flower beds. (Mild-mannered enough that you don't need a macho guide.)

The oldest garden is the last place I visit and the longest place I linger. Not so much to admire. Mostly to catch my breath.

In spring, I'm so exhausted by the time I reach that flower patch, it's nice to just plop down and inspect the perennials peaking out of the muddy soil.

These perennials are so big and bossy, that after 7 summers, they are super self-sufficient. Making life easy as pie for lazy little me.

Heck, they even weed themselves.

Mostly because they're packed in like sardines.

I know... I know... I should thin them out a bit. But, I highly doubt that's gonna happen. I'm likin' this dense pack. It's so crowded in there, most weeds don't stand a chance.

* My dense pack flowers are just tiny green shoots this early in the season. Bulbs are squeezed into what little soil is left in these over-crowded gardens. They keep things colorful while the long-blooming perennials wake up and start growing.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ~ April, 2011

Things are just getting started at my place. With the weather finally cooperating, I donned those much missed and very tattered garden gloves to clean up the first of the beds. 1 down, 11 to go. The bulbs are beating me to it, this year. Blooming without the usual TLC from me.

Grecian Windflower (the whities are heirlooms)

Peeking out from beneath the debris were these fancy little Windflowers.

Peter Pan Heirloom Crocus

Pretty white Crocus trying hard to steal the show but ~ up until yesterday ~ she was flowering in the snow. I didn't even see her until the last of it melted.

Rip Van Winkle Heirloom Daffodil

This is my "I Wish I Had More Money Garden," hence the reason it's so sparse. :) I'm madly in love with Old House Bulbs ~ their stuff is a little spendy but well worth the expense ~ seeing as how all of these bulbs will multiply over time.

Primrose

I was up early, traipsing around with the camera, shivering on a 30 degree morning, feeling extra proud of this band of bright bloomers.

We've had an unusually cold winter.

An unseasonably cold spring.

Though that seems to bother me a whole lot more than it bothers the flowers!

It's as if they have little wrist watches attached to their roots. No matter the weather, they're always happy to put on a pretty show.

Pay a visit to Carol @ May Dreams Gardens to meet more flower lovers participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

And, I'll leave with a mystery bloomer. A mystery to me, that is. I can't remember her name. Perhaps you know?

The Diana Garden

Flowering Sweet Peas will decorate the fence behind the new Diana Garden.

Do you name your gardens? I do that out of love ~ and also by necessity. I don't have an automatic sprinkler system (which is unusual in the Desert Southwest.) Naming my flower patches helps me remember where I watered last and who's in need of a drink.

Plus, it gives them lots more personality. Everyone who visits loves the Impulse Garden best of all. It's a chaotic, colorful mess of all the flowering perennials I simply had to have! Whether I needed them or not. All squished into an ever expanding sunny spot.

Holy Frijoles! Sadie's Horse Beans (left) & Pinto beans (right)

This week, I've been starting the Diana Garden ~ thus named because it's a collection of heirloom veggie seeds from my blogging friend, Di. I skulk around her blog quite often because she includes recipes for the harvest.

Di gifted me with all kinds of great stuff. These pretty Horse Beans... black tomatoes... Hungarian peppers... and some sweet and sassy Watermelons.

I'm coming off a bad luck year for growing veggies of any kind so this inspired me to design a new raised bed for all of Di's goodies. One that's more protected from the elements.

I'm dolling up the ends of the raised bed with climbing sweet peas and Hyacinth vines. All of which I'm starting by seed.

That's one of my favorite, Zen-y things to do.  Sitting Indian-style on the floor, planting teeny, tiny seeds with an eye brow tweezers.

Been doing that every evening this week. Will probably be doing that every evening next week, too. I went way overboard on seeds this year.

And, just in case you're wondering where your seeds are... Not to worry! I should have those in the mail to you real soon. :)

Cherokee Heirloom Tomatoes

Seed Planting Tip: The fabric mesh wrapper on those ever popular Jiffy seed pods do not decompose in the soil. Remove the mesh before planting in the garden to avoid sad root-bound little flowers.

Thanks, Di!