Tag Archives: flowers

The bee balm are blooming!

I love these flowers! They usually bloom at the end of June and into the beginning of July. I used to have just red and light purple ones and a few years ago a friend gave me a little clump of the magenta bee balm and that little clump has done so well. You’ll see how big that clump has gotten in the gallery below as well as the cover photo.

I do love perennials but most of them only last a couple of weeks and so it is with bee balm. I noticed as I was choosing the photos for this post that I didn’t take many photos of the red ones. They, along with many other plants this year, are not as nice as in years past. We’ve been in drought this summer and that has affected plant growth, or lack thereof. So, I think I will start with the one red bee balm photo that I liked and let it stand out from the pack of magenta bee balm photos.

There are also a light purple type of bee balm that used to be in my garden, alas, I guess they’ve moved on. They are blooming in the park and Willow Pond. Love this color too!

And just for fun, I’ll close with this photo of wild raspberries that are ripe right now. Or are they blackberries? On my walk at Willow Pond yesterday most of these berries were black and I’m including another, updated photo from yesterday. I think I have had this query in the past so I googled and what did I find? They are actually wild black raspberries! Okay, let’s see if I remember that next year. I didn’t know there was such a thing but I love the color.

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Early spring blooms, pandemic version

I know, the pandemic has nothing to do with spring blooms but I felt that since this is the year of the pandemic, I could designate this year’s posts to it? Instead of the boring year like I do most of the time. Must think of more creative titles….

But back to the point of my post. The pandemic news is just awful so I’m taking you away from it if momentarily to share what’s been growing and blooming here in the frozen tundra in the past month or so. I managed to capture my rhubarb plant just as it started poking through the ground. That plant is so hardy, comes back every year. And we’ve already had our first rhubarb crisp. I have another recipe for pork tenderloin with a rhubarb chutney that we just made for the first time this season and it is yummy.  I always have more rhubarb than I need and in years past I would bring a lot of it to work for people to use. I guess I can’t do that this year huh? The awful pandemic :(

The bleeding hearts just started to get going last week. They are so lovely and unique. And they grow likes weeds in my yard, no joke!! They are also very hardy and every year it seems I have a few more plants than I had the year before. The next gallery contains bleeding hearts and others flowers in my garden.

We’re planning to have a vegetable garden this year. Hubby got most of the firewood that was stacked over the winter in the vegetable garden space stacked in the garage. There was a small pile left so we had our (hopefully) last fire of the season last weekend to use that up. Yes, it’s still been a little chilly around here of late so the fire was really nice. But back to the garden.  We always have tomatoes, so probably a cherry and a regular sized tomato. Perhaps cucumbers. I would like fresh basil and we have room for one more veggie. What will it be?

I also wanted to share a few photos of snow on Easter because these are the only photos I have of the “purplies”. That’s what we call these early blooming delicate little bells. Their real name is scillia and they are so lovely and such a delight every spring. It turns out that the only photos I have of them was the day it snowed. Please enjoy ducks ducking for food with one duck’s butt in the air :) Obviously the ducks have nothing to do with plants and flowers. We just found them amusing so I thought I would share.

The final photo is a close-up of buds of a crab apple tree in the park down the street. We walk and bike there frequently and this was on a walk last weekend. Stay safe out there and enjoy your spring.

 

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University of Minnesota Trial Garden 2017

My next posts are going to be mainly photos.  I’ve been taking many so far this summer.  Many are from my walks either about campus or in my neighborhood.

This post contains photos of the trial garden at the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus.  It’s a perfect place to take a break at work and I walk there periodically throughout spring, summer and fall.  Have a look-see of some early summer blooms and plants, even a bunch of grapes. I didn’t know the vine that grows there is a grape vine. I wonder how those grapes taste.

I hope you’ll come back next week to see more summer blooms.  Enjoy!!

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Summer blooms in Minnesota

I have neglected my poor little blog :(  Summer is just too busy for me.  But I decided to put together a quick post of some of my favorite summer bloom photos.  I’ll be back soon with at least one more post from my trip to Spain this past March.  Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy these photos! First some from my walks around campus last month:

A handful from my garden:

One last gallery of photos I took yesterday at the Trial Garden on campus.  There is more to learn about this garden for sure.  But check out these beautiful things blooming now on campus:

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Spring flowers and plants

We interrupt our regular Spain trip post this week to bring you some photos of spring this year. I’ll be back next week with more Spain photos and tales.

First, some flowers:

Next, some trees and plants:

And I’ll leave you with another spring scene. This one’s of Miss M on a recent walk on a path near our house. Happy weekend everyone!

near Willow Pond

near Willow Pond

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Summer gardening in photos

It’s time once again for a summer blooms post. These are some of my favorite photos from the summer. I hope  you enjoy!!

Click on any photo to see the gallery.  Up first are the blooms

The veggie/fruit garden:

Nothing whatsoever to do with gardening but I like this photo I took of last night’s sunset at the lake:

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Water lilies at Como Park, St. Paul

I love these flowers!!  And I missed seeing them the last several years.  Well, tonight was the night!  I decided to take the short drive to Como Park AFTER the zoo and conservatory closed so as to miss the hoards of people that undoubtedly were visiting this fine park.  I found a parking spot easily and headed to the outside of the conservatory where these gorgeous flowers are blooming.  They are Victoria water lilies and commonly called Blooming Victorias. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Click on any image to view the gallery.

I saved this one for the end.  I wasn’t sure if this would look so good since it’s in the bright sun. But I really love the way it came out.

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