IN Carmel

                                               An evening picture with lighting coming from the west. This morning was the morning to plant zinnias, STATE FAIR Zinnias.  They are tall and beautiful but there is a moment when I'm sad to treat them harshly only to make them become wonderful.  After they adjust to planting and they start to grow, it's time to snip their tops off.  My goodness.  It hurts me as much as it hurts them.  But the good thing is that snip encourages them to branch out to support more flowers.  The wait for flowers is a little longer but in the long run, it's a good thing.                                    Surviving the first day in the ground.  More days to grow are on the way. Now t...

                                               The perfect Mother's Day card for a gardener.  What a hoot. And it was a wonderful Mother's Day perhaps not as one would think was the usual celebration.  The one Doug and I experience is always what happens at church.  It's a great celebration day with our church choir children and their mothers.   So here is the deal for 2026.  It was a very special more than usual celebration.  Denise C. and her husband have shared their musical talents with our church children through the years.  Every year Denise has written a 30 minute musical on many subjects that North aspires to.  Today the musical stressed acceptance and kindness using many songs along with dialogue.  It's a big event meaning that Sunday School for the day stops and we all meet in fellowship ha...

The morning brought magic.  It was beautiful beyond words to walk the gardens with a touch of mist arising from the night of rain.  Once again my mother, gone for over 50 years, sang to me a favorite morning song from our yellow kitchen bathed in the eastern sun,  I owe the Lord a morning song of gratitude and praise.  For the kind mercy he has shown in lengthening out my days. Today was another meal preparation morning at church.  It's been a while but it was our Saturday crew time.  I left home at 8 and returning at 1. We were pretty busy the whole morning long, always sure to be happy when on the way home taking a tired body with me.   This peony was a gift to us from a long ago church buddy Mr. Monday more than 50 years ago.                                                       ...

 Another fast week flew by.  It happens way to often.  I just get on the train and go with the flow.  Today was a good day.  I've had another one.  I am grateful.  After all the morning stuff, I was out and about thinking.  A few days ago I wanted to keep adding to what ever was present in the garden.  So today was adding day.  I added more good ground cover around the stepping stones including some hens and chicks just to make it look a little more interesting.  Well, maybe.  I planted some seeds.  The jonquils keep on being green.  I'm ready for them to move to dormancy.  It doesn't seem to be what they are thinking about.  Could it be the cool spring? There was a lot of walking moving g cover from the front of the house to the back of the house.  I added more Becky Daisy's and some tall curry.  There is more to do.  Then I did a little work on another bed doing some totally different things...

 I woke up this morning with Dahlias on my mind.  So after all the things that begin the day, I opened all my books and read again what needs to happen with preparation.  Not much, seems pretty easy but there are a few things that would make them happy.  They should be staked.  I have stakes but also would like some of the bigger ones to have "tomato'" cages.  They are ugly but a little paint would make them nicer.  If they were green the cages might disappear sort of with all the green that Dahlias bring.  Dahlias need to be tied  to the stakes.  Now my solution was to go to Goodwill and buy a green T shirt a dark shade, tear it in strips and after doing that I have plenty of ties.  Along with the green paint, I got a yellow spray can hoping to change the orange chair in the garden to yellow.  Every garden needs a chair.  Here is the results.  Orange is a hard color to cover up with yellow.       ...

  Thyme, winter savory, sage, tarragon and a whole lot more emerging.  I'll add standing water today. ] The week is speeding along.  The speed seems to be faster these days for what ever reason.  Go figure. Today was another dank day but rain is over for now.  There was another round during the early morning that really soaked everything to the tenth degree or more.  Water standing is not a good thing usually.  I walked the walk and quickly ended up with wet feet.  So I stopped that until I found weeds. There were some pictures taken with the early morning sun that is just beautiful when rain drops are still around.                                                                    Early hours are such good gift givers.   I did a lot of...