Screened Porch Love

Hi and welcome to my porch. It was nice and warm this morning so I decided to have my coffee out here (while checking mail, blogs etc.) I live in a little country cottage and the porch is a very relaxing place to be. Since my wren family left the porch last week, I've been wanting to get out here and enjoy. You can read about my wrens here and here. (I'm so proud of those babies.)

Homie loves sitting out here.

Its a great spot to eat too.

Yes...its a big bowl of cereal with strawberries. And I ate it all!

This little screened porch is in the trees. It feels so nice when a breeze is blowing. I tried to keep accessories and furniture to a minimum because the porch is not too big and I like the focus to be on the natural beauty.

See what I mean about the trees?

The house is on a big hill. The banks are steep and covered with ivy.

This hardy hibiscus is coming along great.

The nandina is really nice on the side of the porch and the hostas always put on a big show with large leaves and flowers.

Look at the nandina flowers. It's an evergreen and produces clusters of bright red berries in fall and winter. Some call it invasive but mine is well behaved and I call it beautiful!

Oh look...a Gerbera daisy is coming back. Last year I planted three around the lamp post as annuals. I was jumping up and down when I saw it this spring. I didn't expect it to be a perennial in zone 7B.

This is a perennial bed to the left of the porch. It was grass but not any more.

A reflection of the porch and gravel path.

Stella de oro daylilies waking up.

Lookie here...a columbine volunteer.

This is another shot of the perennial bed. Not much blooming yet. Wait till next month though! There's knock-out roses, garden phlox, blanket flowers, yarrow, russian sage and coral bells. I like it much better than grass/weeds.

We can go back in this really old porch door.  I think it is sweet.

The mondo fern is trying to fill out. I said trying...

Looking out to my white bank garden. There's a white rose bush, white gaura, white shasta daisies, white mums, white salvia, lily of the valley and hostas in this area. It will explode in a few weeks with all white blooms.

Thank you so much for visiting my porch. I thank God for blessing me with all of this beauty that I enjoy every day.

Lets go to Kate, the Centsational Girl's Outdoor Party and to Tootsie's for Fertilizer Friday.

A Rose for You

An Iceberg Floribunda rose from my white garden for all my new bloggy friends. Thank you for the warm friendly welcome.

Sincerely,

KK

You Can Find Me in the Garden

I enjoyed my coffee on the porch this morning. I couldn't help but admire the blue hydrangea and the delicate new guinea impatiens.

My mondo fern is starting to get comfortable and spread out. 

My daughter gave me the hydrangea for Easter and my son gave me the impatiens for Mother's Day. I love my gift-giving kids and my gifts that keep on giving. 

I think I will keep this baby protected on the porch.

I'm lovin this blue!

I had to go on out and look a little closer. I see my little yard bed trying to show off! It's like the plants are trying their best to out-do each other and bloom first. There is lilac garden phlox, russian sage, coral bells and monstrous yarrow. They will all bloom in a few weeks.

 I love the plum coral bells.

I did not expect the yarrow to get this big so fast. I planted them last summer.

 The coral bells look so pretty with raindrops on the leaves.

The star jasmine my daughter gave me last year for my birthday is waking up. She has a few pretty white blooms and the light green leaves are fresh and healthy.

This is my first ever volunteer. I found this columbine last summer in the gravel path. it has bloomed continuously this Spring.

I think the white whirling butterfly gauras are trying to get taller than me. They started blooming this week.

These gauras were planted last summer. They bloomed all the way through fall. I am very impressed with these babies!

My youngest daughter gave me this iceberg rose last year for Mother's Day. It is looking so pretty this year. Yes, I have trained my kids well.

 This hosta is spreading out! I love the white and green.

I forgot the name of this pretty red and yellow daisy-like flower. It is starting to open some spectacular blooms.

Another pic of this beauty.

This is a garden newbie. My son gave me this dark pink gaura for Mother's Day last week. It has started bloomimg.

 Thought I'd sit down with the beauties. Can't wait till the russian sage joins in the bloomin fun.

Well that's all for today. Stay tuned there's way more garden blooms coming soon! I'm sharing my garden goodness over at Tootsies for Fertilizer Friday and over at the beautiful Fishtail Cottage for Flora Thursday. Go take a look. You won't be sorry.

KK

May Garden

This is my first post on my new blog :-). I am linking up today with the famous Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday and the fabulous Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday. My gardens are looking pretty good this year. It has been cold and rainy. Not many days of warm sunshine yet. Most of the flowers were planted last year.

I'm loving this sweet lily of the valley.

The columbines are lookin good. I hope to get a few more volunteers this year.

This is white sensation salvia. I planted 6 this year.

I treasure my heirloom purple iris. I named her Sweet Ella. I was fortunate to get a nice piece from Sweet Ella's yard after she passed away a few years ago. This is a very reliable, healthy plant. I will probably need to divide it this fall.

I added 2 peony plants this spring. The fabulous blooms are gone now but the foliage is very pretty.

My sweet daughter had this beautiful dark pink azalea delivered to me for Easter. I am one lucky mom. She knows exactly what to send me.

As if the Azalea wasn't enough, she also had this blue hydrangea sent to me. yippie yippie! I am drying a few of the blossoms now. I am blessed.

Things are really getting green around here. I think the gardens are going to burst with color in a few weeks. In the areas above, we will see russian sage, lavender garden phlox, red & yellow yarrow, white guara, bloomimg coral bells and of course more roses (dark pink and white)! There are empty spaces that I want to fill in with a bird bath and feeders, more perennials and a few annuals. Thank you for stopping by. Now go on over to Tootsies and Cindy's to see more inspiring posts.

Update: Being a new blogger ;-) and fooling around with settings, i wanted to change the url. so i did. only problem i joined 2 linky parties. now i am re-linking. oops.