Tag: garden

Posted in Musings

Monday Moments – Musings – May 6, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

The Garden

So much on my mind today that I would have to write a book to share it. Instead, I’m going to share a piece of it and that is my flower garden. Things are blooming and are beautiful! Not everything yet. Some perennials bloom later than others.

From left, top to bottom: Clematis, iris, peonies, rhododendron bush, iris

From left: Japanese painted fern, (not sure of variety of fern), hostas

More will bloom as May goes on!

The rhododendron is native to the area in which I live – the Daniel Boone National Forest in the U.S. The rest are perennials that I have added to my garden. The flower garden has a problem right now. It needs to be heavily fertilized with an organic fertilizer. It is raining so much here, almost daily, that I can’t use my fertilizer right now.

Later today, I am driving to an excellent vegetable market to pick up produce. I try to eat as healthy and natural as I can. That’s tough here in the winter, but spring has come and the vegetables are flooding into the local vegetable markets. Unfortunately, the closest market (25 miles) has not received their order yet. The next closest market is 50 miles away and we are making a trip there today. I try to buy fresh produce at least once a week. It’s a considerable drive regardless of what I’m shopping for.

If we make it to a local market today, I will take pictures of their wonderful offerings to share with all of you.

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare – April 13, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning and come on in! Join me for #weekendcoffeeshare #160! I”m so glad to be blogging again. I really enjoy the writing, but I also enjoy my interactions with all of you. Grab a cup of coffee and please join me for a catch-up.

Wild weather in my part of the world again this week. Terrible thunderstorms and wind. It’s spring here and the weather is always unsettled, but never quite as unsettled as it is this year.

The week started with the solar eclipse! We did not get totality here. We got about 96%. It was quite cloudy that day, but most of us still got a pretty good glimpse at the eclipse. I was surprised because it did not turn as dark as we expected. Quite an event! The University here has a space science division and very nice facilities including a large telescope. They invited the public to come take a glimpse and that was fascinating!

I’ve done a lot of work this week. A lot of writing. What is your current WP? I’m looking at ideas for two books. I don’t know, for sure, if I will pursue these ideas or not, but I like them both. It’s not about me, however, it is about the potential audience for my work. I have to undertake some market research to find out if there is a potential audience. I feel like I’m out of touch with what the public is reading for pleasure since, until recently, I was writing on contract in my field.

What do you feel the public likes now? I’d love your opinions!

I have some pics of my garden although Mother Nature seems determined to make this gardening year difficult. Our last frost date isn’t until May 15, so there is plenty of time left for her to kill it! I used to grow vegetables, but not now. Living in the forest does not let you have access to enough sunlight. There is also a tree here, the black oak, that drips sap that is poisonous to veggies. So, now it’s flowers for me!

Speaking of flowers, allow me to show you the progress of some of my favs in my flower garden! Here are the perennials just starting in my shade garden.

Siberian Bugloss (top) and fern (bottom)

Ajuga – a great shade groundcover

Coral Bells

Here are a few of my plants in another flower bed that get partial sun/partial shade.

From the front:

Hosta. Left of the hosta is a clematis. Immediately behind the hosta is two peonies. Behind the peonies and to the right, climbing, is another variety of clematis. Behind the peonies/clematis is an iris bed. The irises are slowly coming up. I have both Siberian Iris and Louisiana Iris.

Other flowering plants are in this bed that have not come up yet. It’s early spring here in the Kentucky mountains.

Thanks for having coffee with me and have a wonderful week!

Many thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare #159 – April 6, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Good morning and welcome to my April 6, 2024 #weekendcoffeeshare 159! Please come in a have a seat. I was hoping it would be warm this morning, but it isn’t, so we will be here in my kitchen.

If I were having coffee with you this morning, I would tell you that this has been one of those weeks. By the end of it, I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or if I wanted to climb back in bed and pull the covers up over my head!

The week started, last Sunday, with three and one-half or four full on bad weather

days. Here in the East Central U.S., we had flood warnings, tornado watches and warnings, severe thunderstorm watches and warnings,, and warnings about hail. In addition, we had warnings from the National Weather Service about high winds, perhaps hurricane force.

Where I live, we got all the weather, but we were spared any real damage. There was one evening where we had 70 mile per hour winds and a terrible thunderstorm, but they weren’t tornadic. The road flooded at the base of the mountain where I live and no one could get in or out.

After the stormy weather, it turns cold here. Really cold for April where I live in the US. I have two perennial gardens and all the plants had to be covered up – for four nights in a row. I think, today, the weather is finally back to something approaching normal and we can take the covers off.

Even in the cold, the perennial gardens are just starting to thrive.

The end of the week held an event I went to. One of my best friends lost her husband a month ago. She had a Celebration of Life for him instead of the traditional visitation and funeral. It was at a local bar where he worked off and on. Although we all paid our respects, it was really just a big party in celebration of Jeff’s life. It was nice to be able to see a lot of friends all at once. I was able to see some of my high school classmates which I always enjoy.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing for this blog. I’m gradually getting comfortable with it again and may start back to work on my book. I had been sort of blocked for a while, but seeing friends and writing with friends here has helped. Thanks to all of you!

I’m currently reading the book, “Commonwealth,” by Ann Patchett. I like her books sometimes, but not always. I’ve only just started this book and the jury is still out. Has anyone else read it?

Thank you for stopping by my #weekendcoffeeshare today! I’m off to read some of your’s. Will you watch the solar eclipse this week?

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!