Choice Morsels

I know it's actually Thursday, but we were out of town and I'm a little off schedule, so I'm posting garden pictures, which are easy. I worked outside this morning on my front bed out by the mailbox---the white clover around the edges was getting out of hand. It was gray and misting rain while I worked. I decided to remove the clover edging the bed next to the driveway, sodding the clumps of it into barren sandy soil near the trash can where nothing grows. I think the clover will and I can mow it. Then in the bed, on the front and other side edges, I edged the clover with some landscape cloth pushed into the ground a couple inches to create a barrier between it and the rest. Over that and the rest of the bed I lay down some newspaper and topped it with wood mulch. Along the bed edge next to the driveway, I replaced the clover with some Creeping Jenny volunteers and some Shamrocks. I also ordered some flower seeds today:  Pink Hibiscus and Gaillardia (blanket ...

The tree-cutters came this week and took down the cedar tree in the front yard. I was able to save a inch thick disc of trunk I thought I'd dry and do something with. It's about 6 inches in diameter. Just waiting for the stump-grinder yet to polish off what's left, then we'll be able to plant the Holly tree . I've got Cubed Steak cooking in the Slow Cooker right now that is smelling delicous!  It was a Pinterest recipe I featured in Good Eating. (The links will take you to previous blog posts featuring the Holly & the Slow Cooker Cube Steak recipe!) Today's Garden Pics are signs of Spring here in northern Florida:  Summer Snowflakes are the cutest things! They're a relative of Snow Drops and both are members of the Amaryllis family. This patch of Daffodils in my front bed faithfully blooms first and earliest of all my yellow Daffodils! What a patch of Easter Lilies looks like before it blooms. Classed as a "natura...

I have things in my garden I don't know the names of, but I like to. So, I spent this morning searching the web, trying to figure out what these flowers I have are: Let me introduce you to Summer Snowflakes! These are a member of the Snow Drop family of early spring bloomers. There is also a "Spring Snowflake" that performs better further north, according to what I read, but the "Summer Snowflake" is best for the deep south. It looks something like a giant Lilly of the Valley, with a row of 3 to 5 white bells with the little green  markings.  It's sort of an old fashioned heirloom flower obtained by passing from gardener to gardener. I've never seen it in garden catalogs. It's a bulb which I got from extensive, but abandoned garden, that was behind the flower shop where I used to work. (The lady who used to own the flower shop lived in an apartment behind the business portion and cared for the garden until she died.) She liked sharing...