Petunias and Irises

My front garden is making neighbors stop and look.  Every morning, before dawn, I sit on the front porch and just stare, wondering what has budded up and will bloom when the sun rises.  

What makes us happier than flowers in the garden?

We plant petunias in the fall down here in New Orleans.  I usually put them in in November when the temps are beginning to cool a bit.  The petunias grow strong roots during the winter and spring into bloom in the spring.  Like now.  When they are at their spring best, the irises join them.

My pond book was published in February 2012 and remains on Amazon's best seller list - landscape.  In it, I not only show how to build ponds and waterfalls, but answer questions I have gotten over the years.  For a few days, you can get it for $.99, then the price is going to increase. You can get it here

Look for this as the cover:

And since you are starting spring prep for your pond, join us at Pondlady.com where we solve pond problems and see others' designs.

A Mixed Bag

I made polenta this morning. In the oven. That way it doesn't bubble and splatter like Mount St Helens all over the stove while you are furiously stirring it.  I wonder what marketer came up with calling corn meal mush polenta.  Same thing.  My parents ate corn meal mush, boiled, fried and any other way my grandmothers could figure out how to cook it.  Now we eat polenta. Nice name. I guess corn meal mush was not elegant enough for today's 'ladies who lunch'. I use slices of it for mini pizza crusts topped with tomatoes, mushrooms and whatever else I have in the house that I might like.

I am a vegan. I know, a dirty word for most of you, but I have been vegan since 1976 and don't see myself eating dead flesh or dairy anytime soon. So vegan I am and vegan I shall remain.  It sure is cheaper at the grocery store and my garden feeds me most of the year.

Speaking of gardens, and we were, weren't we?  The flower garden yielded pleasure this morning.
The walking iris is Marching toward Praetoria (Look it up.)

It should be totally open by tomorrow.

Don't ever discount the common flowers. These are petunias Use lots of them for great splashes of color.

And with dew falling off the calla lily, who could resist taking a picture of it.

If you are looking for pond information, see my website at http://www.pondlady.com

And don't forget to buy my book. Click on the box at the top right of this page.

Thanks for your visit today.

Spring means excitement in the garden

As an amateur photographer and a gardener, I love the spring when new flowers arrive daily. Here in zone 9b, spring comes early most years and even earlier this year.  The first Louisiana Iris bloomed yesterday. Of course, I was out there getting a shot of it.

We have more yellow plants than any other color and before lots of new hybrids, yellow and purple were the two LA iris colors. And this one shows up first this year.

The bees were already in the bottlebrush tree.

More petunias are showing up every day. These were planted last fall.

And a tiny gray tree frog visited in the Asian lilies.

It's foggy this morning, but as it burns off, I wonder what other wonders await in my front flower garden.

Don't forget, visit my website at pondlady.com

to meet pondkeepers from all over the world.

Oh, and my pond how-to book is for sale. 

Click the link at the top right corner of this page.

My March Garden

My garden is busting out all over and it isn't even June.  That reference may be lost on anyone younger than 70, but I remember it well.  It's a song. Look it up.

The petunias I put in the ground are spreading all over and are just delightful.  Everyone who sees them smiles.

The bignonia vine, an old fashioned New Orleans favorite is covering the fence. Butterflies are already checking it out for breakfast.  

The bottlebrush tree is blooming early this year.  It will soon be totally covered in red flowers that look exactly like the brushes that are used to clean bottles.

Hey folks, we are going to be lucky to read a guest blogger later this week. Susan Taylor Brown is well known in Southern California and has agreed to grace our pages here.

And don't forget. My book is for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and most anyplace else you buy ebooks.  If you buy it, I will smile.

A Practical Guide to Building and Caring for your Pond

Thank you for visiting this morning.