Tag: Peonies

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 9/17/2016

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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If we were having coffee this morning; actually, I would be having Hot Cinnamon Spice tea and serving you coffee, I am hoping you won’t mind if I whine a little about what a tough week I’ve had. Since you are my friends, and we share our weekly experiences together, I’m sure you will understand. It’s actually been both a good and a tough week.

Fall is coming to my part of the world. The leaves aren’t really getting color yet, but it is very dry here as it often is in September. The leaves are turning brown on a lot of the hardwood trees, like the oaks, and they are falling to the ground. I’m worried about some of my perennials. The leaves on my beautiful peonies are browning. I am watering them and I surely hope it isn’t too late to save them. I will be anxiously awaiting their arrival come spring, if I am still living here in the spring.

I planted a new little white birch tree this past spring and it has had its share of trouble. The wind has broken off parts of it twice. It is valiantly trying to survive. I know it can survive the winter as white birches survive the bitter cold in the north. I’m worried about it surviving the remaining heat and humidity, along with the dry weather here, before winter arrives. Like with the peonies, it is getting daily watering. I always like to have a white birch tree in my yard, though they are hard to grow here. It reminds me of my roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where they are so plentiful and beautiful.

I mentioned that I might not be living here when spring comes. Perhaps unfortunately, we all go through life changes and I may be about to go through a big one. It’s not the time for details yet but it could involve moving from my home. I will talk more about that to you when i know more. I do hope that I can stay here where I’ve been for 18 years. But, if I have learned one thing over the course of my life, it is that the only thing that is certain is change.

The change I may be facing is not one that I’ve wanted to happen but it may be necessary. I’ve been very sad about this change over the last few days. Enough said about that for now.

I am contemplating a new job in business consulting along with my writing career. I have been attending some meetings with regard to this job and it is fascinating. The changes in my life will have some impact on how involved I get in the consulting practice in the short run. I will keep writing as it is a catharsis for me. I have all kinds of new ideas for fiction and a plethora of ideas for non-fiction pieces. I’m excited to get started on these ideas. I don’t quite know what to write first!

I don’t know what this coming week holds for me, but I do know that I will be writing here on my blog. I hope all of you enjoy your coffee this morning. Thanks for letting me talk with you. Have a wonderful week! #weekendcoffeeshare #writing #amwriting #amblogging #dailyprompt

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