After The Rain

Around the yard, after a rain storm.

This little guy is looking for a bite to eat!

I hope you enjoyed the beauty of nature here.

Stay safe! Things are in phase 1 of opening up around here but we are in no rush to go places with lots of people.

Thank you for stopping by!  ~Val

Yard Update

We have seen some beautiful blooms since my last yard post.

The dahlias were stunning.

Jim did an amazing job choosing the varieties.

Our crepe myrtle is blooming.

One of our baby canna lilies has shown its blooms.

We have been enjoying our tomatoes.

The sedum is starting to bloom. The bees and butterflies are already enjoying them!

All the rose of sharon have shown flowers.

These are the buds of the flower above. They are just as gorgeous as the bloom itself.

How lovely is the petal layout on this one below?

Here is a sugar tip which I love for its soft color variegated leaves.

This darling blueish bloom is on the tiniest of plants. Since she flowered, it looks like she is happy and here to stay for next year.

The kaleidoscope has been flowering. This magnificent evergreen shrub is always changing throughout the seasons making it a favorite of mine.

We have darling lantana too.

The milkweed's itty bitty flowers are brightening up the yard too.

Our chrysanthemums are still going! Now with the cooler months coming, they are sure to keep blooming. This one was a small cutting but by this time next year will likely be huge.

I hope you enjoyed our flowers.


Thank you for stopping by! ~Val

After the Rain

I have always had a fondness for raindrops on plants and flowers. These are sunny morning photos, around the yard, after the rain.

Banana Leaves

Ti Plant

Japanese Maple

Rose of Sharon

Pittosporum

Tomatoes

Gardenia

Holly

Coral Bells

Bonfire Ornamental Peach

Chrysanthemum 

Variegated Canna

I hope you enjoyed these raindrops nourishing our plants.

Thank you for stopping by! ~Val

Around The Yard

It is time I start documenting our yard since it was a blank slate when we moved in last summer. The overall picture is still sparse.

The Asiatic lilies have been basking in the sunshine.

This little guy visited the other day.

Our Japanese maple was already here but planted too close to the house. Jim did his research and took a chance at moving it back in the fall. It is super happy in its new spot. It had tiny, tiny red flowers when it first leafed out back in March.

We have darling English daisies.

Below is a gorgeous ornamental peach tree that we scored for next to nothing when it was dormant in the fall. Off to the right you will with another frequent visitor who loves jumping from leaf to leaf on this tree!

This is the Carolina anole. These lizards transition from bright green to brown when they want to change outfits.

Are the peaches edible? Not quite, however I have read online that some people cook with them.

We are most excited about some of our canna lilies. This one in particular with its amazing variegated leaves.

This one has awesome leaves too.

We have knockout roses (another score in the late fall for $5 each). We still had a couple of flowers on these in January! They are now back and full of blooms.

This is an accidental plant below. Back in the fall, when it came time to get rid of our decorative pumpkin that was on our front steps, Jim smashed the pumpkin by the composting bin to dispose of it. 

Now pumpkins are growing and this is their flower! It looks like we won't have to buy them this coming fall.

Also bought temporarily for the fall were chrysanthemums. Well they never died back so we planted them in the ground. Now they are starting to flower!

Our banana plants are getting large. They started in our dining room over the winter and we may plant them in the ground. With proper winter care, they will come back the following year. They have an amazing lush, tropical vibe.

Our deck railing is a bench for doves. These birds are so good at relaxing.

We are trying to grow strawberries.

It looks like we will have a serious pepper harvest since we planted tons of the seeds from peppers we ate. Apparently these are just too easy to grow!

We got a bunch of these ice plants for $1 in the fall and they are stunners in window boxes!

There is so much more that has been planted so it will be exciting to see it all flourish (hopefully).

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our yard.

Thank you for stopping by! ~Val