Lady Hawthorn In Her White Dress

So the Hawthorn is blooming.  I love that tree year round, but when she blooms, that's her special time to shine.

In this photo you can also see our abundant ferns in the corner, and half of our poppies. 

 Just look at her showing off!

Last night I brought a selection of poppies and ferns into the house to enjoy.

They were lovely and wonderful.  Sadly today I discovered they make very short lived and messy cut flowers.

The flower beds have never been this full or happy.  Yay!!!

The moss roses are starting to bloom.  I do love that flower.

Poppy Day!

I woke up this morning and blearily looked out the window, curious what the insanely vibrant object was against my garage siding.

Well, once I realized what it was, my expression was like a kid on Christmas morning.

Our first Poppy!

Part of what I find so beautiful about Poppies are their vibrant color against their dark centers.  But I also love how very like crepe paper their petals are.  Oh I'm so in love with how this bloom looks against the white of the garage!!

The Merry Start of May

It was a great and productive weekend!  Mom and I started it out yesterday with a trip to the Great Granville Garage Sales.  We always enjoy it, and we end up finding some of the deals of the year.  Mine this year...was this gorgeous table for $15!! 

The sellers said it came from an old church, and looking at the design of the base, you can definitely see the Gothic influence.

In the front, we got a couple of hanging basket planters, and hung them with Lobelia.  The plants are starting to come in more and more!

We also re-mulched the flower beds, and added Petunias and Marigolds to the window boxes.  

A closer view of the front porch and a window box.

It's hard to tell relative size in this picture, but oh my goodness are the Hollyhocks ever coming in thick and lush!  We are right on target for them to bloom with tall stalks this year, and I can't wait to see that.

 The Hawthorn leaves have emerged, and the Phlox and Poppies are abundant beside the garage.

The Ferns are starting to unfurl in the corner of the back yard.

 And the Poppy buds are starting to shoot up from the foliage.

The Lilac grows taller every year, and has started its bloom.  

We finished our deck project today, and it was great to check another thing off the to-do list.  We are *thrilled* with how the deck boards turned out.  A before shot of the old worn dull grey boards is here.  

More Spring Springing

Just a few more fun yard pictures as spring continues to creep in. 

 The thornless raspberry is taking off quite nicely.

 Picked up a neat black gothic trellis today for the center of the garage wall.

And the Hawthorn has started to bud!  I can't wait for its yearly musky white blossom!

First Spring Flowers

 Chimera is back in the back yard, watching over our newly budding lilac. 

 

 The fancy ruffled daffodils given to me by a friend and planted last fall have begun to bloom. 

These tiny wild...what are they, Hyacinth?...are blooming in among the poppies.  I hope I get some profuse poppy blooms this year.  The plants were given to me by a neighbor last year, and should bloom a lovely orange.

 The lilac is starting to bud too.

 After reading up on Hellebore spring care online, I decided to cut back all of the old non-budding growth on the plant.  It was tough to do, because it made it so much smaller, but wow...it really really loves it.  New shoots are popping out of the ground every day now.  This is the prettiest my Hellebore has ever been.

 We also got our back deck repaired/partially replaced.  The wood top is all new, and the existing rails were all taken down, sturdied up, and put back on stronger.  We still have touch-up work to do to the white, and we still have to stain and seal the wood.  Weather hasn't been cooperating with our plans so far.

A good sign for my Hollyhocks this year.  I'll have to thin them out soon, as I learned the hard way  last year when I got Hollyhock rust on them from refusing to thin them out.  I'll do so soon, but for  now it just makes me happy to see them coming up!

Come on, Spring!!!

A Spring Green Living Room

Spring is starting to emerge here in Central Ohio, and I thought it was a good time to spruce up our mantle decor with a bit of color. 

The little tealight cups are from Finder's Keepers, and they glow beautifully when lit!

The moss ribbon I mentioned in a previous post worked out great on the mantel.  This is one of four ribbons I bought.

Our living room is quickly becoming greener and greener.  Thank goodness Tom is so patient with my plantaholic ways.  One of the newest addition is this palm tree in the corner.  Eventually I'd like to get an olive tree for this corner, but until then this tree was a great buy and adds a touch of cheer to a blank space.

See all the green?

Grandma bought me a pansy basket for Easter.  It looks lovely on the table.

Early Spring Productivity

Tom and I took today off work to be at home while we were getting our house professionally power washed.  You might remember the major road construction we had all late summer and fall last year...it left our house dusty and filthy, and we have been eager for spring, and our booked date with the local pressure washing company, to arrive. 

Not only did the siding on the house turn out squeaky clean, but the guys also pressure washed our front stoop and sidewalk, and its never looked better.  That part almost excited me more than the clean siding!

This is a decent shot to show how dirty the siding was before.  Sure, our house is white, but it doesn't look so white against the snow...

And here's a good "before" shot of the sidewalk and front stoop.

Now look at it!

Ahhh, the house breathes a nice clean sigh of relief.

Also unless you're a huge fan of "spot the differences" pictures, you might not have noticed, but we finally got our missing chimney cap replaced.  I hadn't even noticed it was missing, to be honest with you, until a neighbor pointed it out to us last year. 

Finally while we were stuck inside today waiting for the house washing to be done, I got a little project finished that has been on my list.  You remember my front entry design around the archway:

I doodled up an idea in Paintshop that would connect the three designs together into one large one.  It was a simple addition, but I think it finishes off the entire thing.

Tomorrow Chimera (the gargoyle above) is going back outside for the garden's year.  We brought him inside during the harsh winter weather.  I'm not sure if Corvin will miss him or be relieved.