All Things Green Idaho

Here chicky, chicky, chicky

2010-03-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I have had the time to add a post or visit other blogs! With the onslant of spring my business booms and time just seems to fly. Speaking of fly, Tuesday, I picked up the latest addition to my menagerie of creatures - 3 baby chicks! The pic below is from today of Daffodil - the Buff Orpington, Black Belle - the Barred Rock, and Petunia - the Golden Sex Link. They were born last Monday. Belle became 'Black Belle' after finding out she rules the roost with an iron beak. Just like my children, I wish they could stay this tiny and cute forever.

Now that I have a couple of free hours I am going to visit everyone's blogs and catch-up! HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

Frogger is alive and well!

2010-02-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

The pond is usually frozen well into March but has all ready been thawed for a couple of weeks. Today while I was outside I noticed bubbles rising from the water near the waterfall. We were blessed with baby koi and goldfish and thought maybe it was them but upon closer observation it was one of our frogs. He was trying to hide in some rocks. I don't know why he was making bubbles and I probably don't want to know but it was exciting to see him back again. I can't wait to see if he starts croaking tonight!

This isn't a very good picture but here he is.

From the first season we had water in our pond it became home to a frog, and then 2, and then ..... He would announce the arrival of spring by croaking his little heart out every evening starting at 9:00 until 10:00 - just like clock-work. After a few weeks another frog joined him in the pond and the chorus continued in harmony. Well, a little croaking goes a long way, especially when you are trying to go to sleep. Our neighbor would yell out his back window telling us to 'shut that ******* frog up'! He was really a very nice man but the croaking just drove him crazy. Fortunately, the croaking only lasts about 4 weeks but has occured every year for the last five years.

Last year was the first time we noticed baby frogs when they started sunning themselves on the lily pads.

The weather is suppose to be close to record highs through next week so I will keep an eye out for his companion's return.

It's a wrap!

2010-02-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

I just can't believe January has come and gone already. We started January with snow and ended it the same way, but today the sun came out and melted most of it off. I stole a peek at my winter-sown containers today even though I really didn't expect to see anything and I didn't. I have delphiniums I will be winter-sowing tomorrow. Last week, on Tuesday, I started mesclun in a recycled salad container and Thursday I had sprouts already. The sprouts are about an inch tall already. I can't wait for fresh, homegrown salad greens. I also cut some red twig dogwood cuttings a couple of weeks ago and stuck them in a jar of water in my kitchen. They have little tiny roots!

My hubby has the basic structure of our chicken coop started. I am having fun trying to decide how I want to 'decorate' the chickens' new home. When I ask him about color schemes and the endless possibilities for decorating it he just rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and walks away. How rude!

Here is the coop:

I am hoping to have fresh greens in a couple more weeks:

The weather cooperated last week and allowed me finally clean-up my irises. How embarassing the mess was! You can see a little bit of green poking through.

Much better now!

I better go now, my husband is slamming cupboard doors in the kitchen, his way of reminding me it is dinnertime. Let the countdown to spring begin!

Sunrise, Sunset

2010-01-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

This week has been one of those weeks which makes me appreciate what Mother Nature gives to us, even if it is in little spurts here and there. Our weather has been rather dismal, overcast, windy, and just plain yucky. To top it off I have been huddled inside my office, starting at 4:30 am each day, gathering everything together for my CPA for tax season.

I have a great view from my office window of the sunrise and Monday I received a treat. Unfortunately, the beautiful sunrise was the last time I saw any type of blue sky until Wednesday at sunset when we were graced with a gorgeous display again. Today has been beautiful blue skies and sunshine. One of those days you are happy to be alive.

Sunrise on Monday.

Sunset on Wednesday

Why I am here

2010-01-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

When I joined the blogosphere last year I spent alot of time perusing some the most wonderful garden blogs, admiring the dedication in recording through the written word and camera lens the journey known as gardening and life. It took me several months to decide to create a blog, worried my pathetic attempt to share my journey would seem like a travesty compared to others, but I forged ahead anyway. At first it was a way of letting my family in Ohio see how my garden had grown through the years I have lived in Idaho. Apparently, they weren't too impressed because none of them are followers! Maybe I was wasting my time but then one day I received a comment from Laura @GardenInDesert and she became my first follower. Over the months I have come to realize that the things I enjoy most about blogging is not what I share but it is about what you have shared with me. I look forward to the New Year sharing with old friends and making new friends.

Over the past few weeks the snow has come and gone and come and gone again. I have not been idle though. I have my order ready for baby chicks, which should arrive in March, and have been nagging the dear hubby to make a chicken coop. I decided to try my hand at winter sowing this year. During winter soltice I planted 5 milk cartons with rudbeckia, penstemons, poppies, gallardia, and datura. Yesterday, I planted 3 more cartons with clematis, agastache, and lilies. I have several more containers to plant as the winter progresses. I can't wait to see what happens in the spring! Also, I finally have a plan for the little planting area by my dining room. I wanted to install a pond but there is a cherry tree close by and I didn't want to have the job of skimming cherries out of the pond. Instead I found a copper water feature that will hang on the wall in a magazine. The cost to buy it is prohibitive but I am going to make one instead, again with the DH help. I have also decided to take a photography class. Maybe I will be the next Ansel Adams! And last but not least I have made my list of plants and seeds to order for the garden this year.

These are the five containers I planted on winter soltice - December 21. I quickly found out the best containers for winter sowing are NOT milk cartons. 2-liter bottles and plastic juice cartons work much better.

The next morning we had several inches of snow blanketing the ground.

Witchy-poo was happy to have her spot back after I was done with the winter sowing. She keeps me company while I am working in my office. That might have something to do with the fact it is a toasty 75 degrees in here...

Here is Yang the other half of Ying and Yang. Since the waterfall was turned off for the winter both Ying and Yang will climb on top of it and peer over the front. I'm sure they are wondering what happened to those big koi that were swimming in the pond this summer.

First major snowfall of 2009/2010

2009-12-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

We just turned off the waterfall a couple of days ago. It is so odd to go to my office and not hear the sound of the water. It is eerily quiet in my backyard now.

I'm not sure if I like the kaleidoscope of colors in the summer or the more monochromatic colors of the snow in the winter in my little corner? Both are beautiful.

View through my office window.

2009-12-07T08:17:00.001-08:00

Viburnum Berries.

I love this photo! Hebe has a hat and stole to keep her warm!

God's little creatures leaving the paw prints on the pond.

Bush Clover - Lespedeza thunbergii

2009-10-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Connie, the beautiful purple weeping plant is a bush clover or lespedeza thunbergii. It starts blooming in late July or early August and will bloom until a hard frost. I really wasn't impressed when I bought the plant because it looked like skinny twigs but it took off over the summer and grew into this wonderful bush that weeps into our pond. Each spring I prune it back to about 4 inches and by late summer it looks like this!

2009-09-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Finally able to snap a few photos of a couple of my furry friends who love all the 'hiding' places in the garden. Witchy-poo, who I have enjoyed for 12 years, is the black cat and the siamese kitten is Ying. My other cat, named 'Grey One', is just too bashful to have her picture taken.

Where have the hummingbirds gone?

2009-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

You can certainly tell that fall has arrived in my garden, even if the temperatures are still in the 80s and 90s. I like to enjoy my morning coffee at 5:00 am and watch the hummingbirds dive-bomb each other and me as the morning sun peaks over the foothills. But this week the hummingbirds are all gone. And each morning I am greeted by the most beautiful clear night sky! My first thoughts are of Van Gogh's Starry Nights and then Don McClean's tune Starry Starry Night begins playing in my head. Not a bad way to start your day!

I have started looking at my garden with an eye towards all the wonderful projects I can plan over the winter for next year - new raised vegetable garden, a greenhouse, a new water feature, an arbor, etc. I think I will wait awhile before I share any of my ideas with my husband though. He might not like the idea of a greenhouse in place of his outdoor kitchen/BBQ he was planning.

I would like to enlist the help of my blogger friends in identifying the bird in the picture. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to identifying our feathered friends but this fellow is just too beautiful not to know what he is.

Thanks Kim and Victoria, our wonderful next door neighbors, for identifying this fellow as a Western Tanager!

Purple Cherokee Tomato

2009-09-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

This is my first year to grow Purple Cherokee tomatoes. Most heirlooms I have tried in the past take so long to ripen I end up with fried green tomatoes instead of ripe tomatoes, but not so with these. They started ripening around the first of August and are still prolific. They are so sweet for a tomato. I made a sweet and sour tomato and onion salad that my family goobled-up in one meal. Definitely will plant a few next year.

A follower on Garden Stew suggested I try Giant Belgium tomatoes next year as well. I'm not familar with them but they are on my list for spring. If you have any information on them please let me know.

I planted a Pineapple heirloom tomato this year but I am disappointed. The plant had alot of blooms but only one tomato, which is still very green and hard. We still hopefully have another 4 or 5 weeks of decent weather so maybe it will ripen.

Mirablis jalapa - Ohhh what a wonderful fragance

2009-09-09T10:49:00.001-07:00

Four o'clocks are one of my favorite late summer bloomers. I like the fact that late in the afternoon when my other flowers are looking tired they are beginning to open for the evening.

Next Project day 2

2009-08-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Finished pulling the rest of the vinca out of the flowerbed. Hopefully tomorrow I will get the opportunity to till this area.

Bless my husband

2009-08-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

We have had Hebe, waterbearer to the Gods, for six years. We just hadn't taken the time to buy a pump and make her work but Pat dug the hole and connected her yesterday. What a nice sound she makes with water running from her pitcher. Now I have the fun job of deciding which plants I want to use around her.

Finally Hebe has running water

2009-08-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Next Project?

2009-08-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

It rained for 2 1/2 days last week, the first time it has rained since June, and we had record low temps. Today we are back to normal but it is still rather humid for Idaho. With all the rain I thought it would be a great time to pull up weeds and vinca in a bed that I am going to replace. Still not sure though exactly what I want to do in this area. Water feature, a little patio, another flowerbed?

Sunday Morning Respite

2009-08-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy week for me and I am looking forward to some down-time today. I was up at the crack of dawn, poured my morning coffee, then headed to my backyard. The first thing to assail my senses was the sweet smell of my honeysuckle bush climbing up the trellis by my patio, followed by the perfume of my datura. As daylight arrived the two hummingbirds dive-bombed their way to my raspberry delight salvia and goldfinches attacked the feeder hanging in my neighbors yard. A squirrel ran across the top of my fence and leaped in the aspen tree. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe I live in the middle of a huge subdivision when I am surrounded by so much nature.

Post-Pond Tour Blues

2009-07-26T15:03:00.001-07:00

Went to a free pond tour this weekend of ponds previously on display. All ponds were very nice but I am pond-toured out this year. Still have one more in a couple of weeks which we show our pond again but the hot, dry summer has taken its toll on my gallardia and other flowers. My husband and I will have our statue of Hebe ready for this tour though. Yeah!

Pond Tour

2009-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were part of the Idaho Water Garden and Koi Society Pond Tour. Turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year so far - over 100 degrees both days but over 100 souls braved the heat to view the 9 ponds on the tour. It was alot of fun but I was glad when it was over.

Share your thoughts and suggestions for fellow gardeners

2009-06-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

I am creating this blog as a way to share thoughts or suggestions about gardening, especially for those of us in the intermountain west.