Stroll Through the Mountain Garden

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 After all the rain, the sun came out. She is not playing hide and seek today. I thought I would share with you some of the flowers blooming and growing around the gardens. This lovely day lily came from the Southwest Virginia Museum's annual plant sale last year. There are two of these red double lilies in this garden and two mystery lilies which have not bloomed. I call them mystery because when you purchase the lilies you do not know what color they are.

 The echinchea is especially pink this year in the herb garden in front of the green house. I took out all the St. John's Wort early in the spring to transplant it near a butterfly bush and so many herbs flourished this year.

Black eyed susans are all over the yard. They are especially abundant next to the mailbox. After the blossoms fade, I will broadcast the seeds throughout the yard. The early fuzzy leaves help to identify the plant and keep the lawnmower at bay. These are growing amid Japanese anemone.

 Isn't this pretty? My sister calls it grandfather's beard. Do you know another name for it? I planted several of these and two are blooming. Maybe next year, there will be several more.

If you look closely, you can see a flying critter. I am not sure of the name of this, but is flies as fast as a hummingbird. Three of them were enjoying the nectar of the butterfly bush.

 These lilies were also from the Museum sale. They are a darker red orange than the road lily. It is called the road lily because it blooms all along the sides of the road. This garden bed has several different varieties of lilies as well as several mole holes. When next spring comes, I suspect the bulb population will be a lot less in this garden bed.

 Jasmine blooming next to a sculpture of a little girl. The jasmine is now three years old. I keep it inside where it actually blooms in the winter.

I found the bottle tree at Gardener's Supply. The butterfly sculpture moves just a bit. There are lilies just about ready to bloom in between the butterflies. I hope you enjoyed this stroll through my gardens on this sunny morning in July.

August in the Mountains

 Early morning photograph of the mountains from the upper deck. If you peep ever so carefully in the middle of the photo, you can see the mountains as lush and green as the trees.

 After finishing some photo pages for Ray, I took the camera outside to walk around the yard. Amazingly, this is a jasmine blooming. I found it on clearance last year. It wintered over in the house, where it bloomed off and on during the winter. Now it is blooming every day and the scent is heavenly.

 I took several packets of sunflowers into the yard awhile ago. This is the lone sunflower that is reaching up to the sun. The chipmunks while eating sunflowers left several behind. They were about the size of a chipmunk and have already bloomed. The leaves of this flower are simply large hearts unfolding.

 A sculpture in the woods on the side yard was a incredible find at the Farmer's Market in Asheville last August. If you were to hit the bottom middle of the sculpture, it would sound like a gong.

 At the base of the steps is the foundation for the greenhouse, which is completely hidden by flowers and herbs. The sun coming though the butterfly bush reminded me of lace. The angel trumpet vine is tightly closed this morning. Tomorrow, she will have many lovely white blossoms.

 The first signs of the changing of the leaves is always a reminder that fall is coming in all her glory.

Wondering what kind of butterfly is resting on the butterfly bush...This is a volunteer butterfly bush. We  have  a few of these popping up in the yard. While the butterfly rests, I went into the studio to make washi tape for a swap going on at 14 Secrets a Yahoo art group. Inspiration found me. Washi tape is created and resting in a stamped envelope to take to the post office. When I send art mail, I tend to mark art mail fragile as I often include a little treat for the hostess of the art swap.

Unexpected Surprises

 I had just come up the steps from walking around the garden after  deadheading the day lilies. If they are not taken off the plant, the Japanese Beetles are a bit too fond of them. I looked down and saw a turtle. Off I went to get the camera. Here it is under the steps leading up to the upper deck of the house. The turtle wandered off into the yard right after the picture was taken. Probably in the woods this morning.

 A few of the day lilies at the corner of the house in different stages of opening. These came from the Southwest Virginia Museum.

 The hydrangeas are really full of blue flowers this year.

The butterfly bushes are beginning to bloom. This is one of several along the front wall.

Mountain Morning

 It is the kind of morning that it looks like rain maybe coming. Then the sun burns away the cloud covers. A great day to spend some time in the studio, but the garden seems to sing a song calling me outside. Much like the poem, I meant to do my work today but all the world was calling me...

 The geranium and baby's breath looks out over the mountains.

 This garden lies right below the upper deck. The butterfly sculpture is surrounded by daisies and an abundance of other flowers.

The door to the art house has been painted a bright green. The hydrangea are a great color blue this year. The one next to the art house was a baby that had grown in the yard of my in-laws three years ago. We brought it home, planted it. Seems to enjoy the mountain weather.

Wild Roses and Blackberry Blossoms

The smell of the wild roses catches on the wind all around the yard. On the edges of the property in the woods the roses are rambling. And, if they aren't rambling around, the blackberries seem to be stretching out.
While planting ferns last week, I got into some poison ivy. It's not hard in this yard.  It was right below the wrists of my gardening gloves.
Early this morning, I was drinking some herbal tea when I saw a chipping sparrow right outside the window. He was singing so sweetly, I just watched him. His throat would go up and down and his little body seemed to move as he sang. A few inches away a blue jay watched the sparrow. Too close for the sparrow who flew away followed quickly by the blue jay flying off the deck.
I went to watch the birds on the feeder only to find a squirrel hanging upside down eating suet. Tapping on the window, the squirrel ran off the deck. Almost flying the two levels to make it to the ground.

Creating Time with Marney K. Maridakis

Marney K. Maridakis is an amazing creative woman. Ten years ago,she created ArtellaLand.com..It is fun to spend time in Artella land. Several years ago, I found my way to Artella and began participating in Artist Trading Card swaps. Maybe seven or eight years ago... Marney hosted a retreat in Connecticut with SARK and Jill Badonsky.  I have since wondered if you were to just do a follow up of all of us who were there, what happened creatively with us?
In December, Marney created a new group: Mapping and Mentoring. I thought a great deal about this as I have been very fascinated with her work as a creative businesswoman who believes in self discovery through art.. I couldn't think of a better mentor than Marney to help me with my business. I filled out the application, had an interview, and became one of the first 18 people to be in MAPP.  Since January, I have rethought or reconfigured my perceptions about Time with the leadership of Marney.
On April 17, Marney's new book became number one on the Amazon best selling book list. It is not often in our time, that a book written with sensitivity, awareness, lots of art, and interesting information will actually create a shift in how you perceive time.
When I thought about sharing this with you, I thought about how to pose the book. Among geraniums, baby's breath, green growth, and the mountains seemed like a nice way to begin the morning.
And the female hummingbird was sitting on the rebar wire holding the finch feeders. One side was the hummingbird and the other side sat a male brilliant goldfinch, each one content.

Mountain Moments

March 22
Looking out
studio windows
silver blue grey white sky
overhang
ridge of mountains
dominating the valley
stillness before the storm
understanding
sometimes not accepting
contradictory emotions
fear merging to strength
honoring each
peace and anxiety
being the first being the last
colors of the day
becoming life