Flowers in the Winter

I've started to write this post in July 2021. It's a lovely bright sunny day. The grass is green and flowers are blooming. Even though the forecast for the next 10 days is hot with humidity, I'm a happy person. I love summer!

I don't like winter very well, I especially hate ice! This post will be published in the winter sometime, probably in February when there have been too many dreary gray days.

I've taken pictures of flowers to remind me and you that summer will be coming, the sun will shine again and the flowers will be blooming.

Enjoy the show!

It's August now and the flowers are still blooming. The phlox smells wonderful!

These are my favorite day lilies, love these colors!

I hope you've enjoyed the flowers! I'm still working on  blocks for Double Delight.

The flowers make me smile. This is what we're dealing with after the 12" of snow we received last week.

This is a picture of the sledding hill.

The grandsons just leave the sledding equipment under the tree. Grandpa often has to stop and store them more safely so they don't get driven on.

As soon as it stops snowing, the rabbits are out running around again.

While it is snowing, the rabbits seek shelter under the bushes in my flower beds. They also fertilize my bushes!

Looking west across the fields, snow as far as you can see! Spring is on the way though, I just registered for the April Jane Stickle retreat!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, Stitch Sew & Show,  Needle & Thread Thursday 

This N That on Tuesday

I took more pictures of flowers, not much sewing happening here this week.

I was in Wakarusa last Wednesday so I took a couple pictures of the quilt garden.

Here is a close up, the colors are so vibrant! The begonias I plant in a flowerbed never look this good!

I don't know if the flowers look much different from the July pictures but they certainly have changed since June!

The phlox are blooming well these hot humid summer days.

The blackberries are finally ripening! I pick them in flat pans then place them on a tray in the freezer. After they're frozen, they're bagged in gallon freezer bags for winter.

Blackberries are not the same as black raspberries, they're much bigger. I have the seedless variety. Here is a berry with my thimble for comparison, the thimble is 1" tall.

I always think this bench at the quilt garden looks so inviting. There are about 10 large flowers pots around the outside of the garden.

Our neighbors to the east have a greenhouse/vegetable stand. I asked what they would recommend for the east side of the house.  I wanted a hanging basket that could handle direct early morning sun but is in the shade once the sun is higher in the sky. They recommended this begonia. They're a beautiful orangey/red color. Just brilliant.

A close up of the flowers. I think they very pretty!

Surprisingly the Japanese beetles are leaving my roses alone! They're never this nice in August.

The purple coneflowers have faded but the black eyed Susans are still going strong!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Stitch Sew & Show,  Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

More Flowers

For the end of July/first of August, the star of the flowerbeds is overwhelmingly the purple cone flowers.  These are all descendants of two plants I bought years ago. No one ever told me how incredibly invasive they are!

These black eye Susans have been in the flowerbed even longer than the cone flowers but they haven't spread. They do look pretty with the cone flowers.

Invasive or not, they attract insects. There were bumblebees and honeybees all over these flowers.

And then there was this beauty. There was a monarch butterfly flitting around too but didn't stay long enough to get a picture. I don't have any milkweed growing in the flowerbed.

What about these pretties?

The oriental lilies are flowering now. They are so elegant and dignified. I don't know what the names of them are. I bought a box of oriental lilies several years ago Lowe's, brought them home and planted them.

The day lilies are blooming now. I did read on someone else's blog somewhere that supposedly day lilies are invasive, not here. I've had day lilies growing here and there for more than 40 years and they've stayed completely under control.

After the cone flowers and black eyed Susans are finished blooming, I'll cut off the seed heads and taking a walk along the edge of the hayfield that a butts the road and toss them in the grass. 

Maybe next year there will be flowers blooming from when I did this a year ago. Wouldn't that be lovely, a half mile of purple cone flowers blooming. I don't mind if they spread along the road, I just don't like them taking over the flowerbeds.

Another wonderful thing about this time of year is local corn on the cob!

I am getting some time to sew but not lots. I'm enjoying summer and there is plenty of time for sewing during the winter.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Stitch Sew & Show,  Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

Busy July

Most of the photos in today's post are from the first of July but I'm getting around to sharing them now.

The lilies are the shining star of the early July flowerbeds. They're so pretty! 

The purple cone flowers were just starting to bloom the first of July. They are very invasive and threaten to take over my flowerbeds.

I clip off the seed heads every year. Last summer I took the seeds and walked along the south edge of a hay field that is located along the road. I threw a handful of seeds in the road frontage all the way west to the line fence with our neighbors.

Purple cone flowers don't bloom the first year they're planted from seed, they just grow. I'll find out in 2022 if my experiment was successful.

Little wireman is almost overgrown with this ground cover. I'll make sure he doesn't get completely buried. He's been decorating my flowerbed since 1999! He was made in art class by a son, I put him in the flowerbed for his high school graduation open house back in '99. He never made it back into the house.

I haven't had my own garden for several years. Our local son has a garden and I've been helping with his this year. I ran out of green beans last winter so I've planted plenty. They had tiny flowers the first of July, we're getting plenty to eat and put in the freezer. Yes, I freeze my green beans, I hate the canned ones.

The grass needs mowing and the garden needs to be weeded but we had too much rain the end of June. I feel guilty for saying that when the western US states need rain so badly. I just couldn't get yard mowed with it raining every day and I don't like to mud around in the garden.

Twenty plus years ago I planted two different varieties of blackberry bushes in a corner where the west barn intersects with the west shed. I made sure I planted thornless plants. They're loaded with immature berries, I should have plenty for the freezer.

Of course I had to use up last years frozen berries so I baked a blackberry cobbler, it was delicious!

I love summer, so many beautiful flowers and the bounty of all the fresh vegetables and fruits, it's wonderful!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch, Sew & Show, , Needle & Thread Thursday

Trimming Blue Stars

The next step in finishing blue stars was to trim the quilt edge.

With my large ruler, I measured 4" from the inside edge of the blue border then cut along the outside edge of the narrow yellow border.

I also took the time to remove the stitching from the center of the corner flowers. I did take a picture of the flower with the stitching but Blogger is playing tricks and sent that photo to the wherever world. 

I think it just looks nicer without the stitching. I had added batting to the centers of all the flowers. It was hard to quilt through the batting and my stitches weren't very nice. It was easy to remove the stitching so you know the stitches were too long.

Here is a link to the Stars Around the Garden pattern.

I have two roses bushes in my flowerbed. They're rather sad plants and don't grow very large. It get too cold where they're located so I have to cut the stems down every spring.

This year they do seem more robust and they're blooming very nicely, at least until the Japanese beetles show up.

This is a Peace rose, the color turns more pinkish as the days go by.

This is a hybrid of some kind. It's a pretty yellow and red. The stems are terribly thorny though. 

When I cut off the stems, I stick them down groundhog holes to try to deter them from digging holes around my house!

I've had these roses for years and they keep blooming every year.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch, Sew & Show, Put Your Foot Down