To say I have been busy is an understatement. Since my greenhouse arrived I have been planting and replanting flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers and a few pots of green beans. I am having so much fun.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row.

Not sure I know what those things are Mary planted, but I know what I have planted and flowers are coming up everywhere. I asked David to take my camera and go around our property and take closeup pictures of our flowers and he did.

Didn’t plant these. Sunflowers came up in our meadow we are trying to grow.

We have these old fashion day liles all over our yard. We try to get rid of them and they just keep coming up. My mother loved these and I think I got my first start of them from her. Didn’t know they were invasive. They will be around for a long time. You see them growing wild by the side of the road here in Indiana.

We went on the Country Neighbors tour where several women and a couple of men have things for sell in their shops on their property. This particular lady had some really pretty flowers in cute containers and, of course, I could not resist. She also makes the nicest birdhouses and we have bought several over the years and we got a really neat one this time. When David gets it hung, I’ll do a blog on our birdhouses. All our birdhouses have bird families in them and we can sit on our back porch and watch Mama and Papa birds feather their nests and feed their babies.

A close up of one of our geraniums. They are in my top five of favorite flowers. I can never have enough of them. I have some started from seed in my greenhouse right now and I hope to over Winter all my geraniums this year.

Gerbera daisies are fast becoming some of my favorite flowers. Deadhead them and you will get twice as many flowers. They go well with all my geraniums.

More Gerbera daisies.

Aren’t these gorgeous? I got these at Lowes. More geraniums.

I have these beautiful daylilies all over my yard, front, side and back. A few years ago a man stopped at our house and asked if he could get a start of them. I said, “Sure, and do you have any plant you would like to share? ” I dug him a flower and a few days later he brought me three lilac bush starts. I planted them all, but only one survived and it is now producing flowers every Spring. I love to share my flowers and I love trading flowers with fellow gardeners.

These teeny flowers are on a vine I was given for Mother’s Day a couple of years ago. I over Wintered it and it spread it’s vines all over. I had to cut it from different places it had grown so I could repot it and set it ourside. It is flourishing and spreading and has dozens of these tiny flowers on it. I will put it in the greenhouse when it gets cold. We are going to hook up gas to the greenhouse and we already have a small gas furnace to keep it warm in the Winter.

One of the first Zinnias to bloom. Love the little tiny yellow flowers inside it. This is just a small view of all my flowers. Every season there are an abundance of them growing. I planted flowers every year since we have lived here and we have lived here almost forty-seven years. That is a lot of flowers. Some have grown and expanded. Some have died and I have had several do that. Some were dug up by dogs and I expect that. Sugar and Lucy’s favorite place to lay is right next to one of my lilies.

I watched Sugar wagging her tail and knocking the petals off this plant the other day. It is really amazing that any of my flowers survive the backyard with three dogs roaming it, but, they do.

Now that you have seen a few of my flowers I will show you inside my greenhouse. Come with me as we walk through the door.

I decorated the shelf with garden paraphernalia.

My daughter gave me that little toad years ago. He’s been keeping me company in my shop and now he has found place of honor in my greenhouse. I love him so much.

This is a working greenhouse so I have a lot of pots and things around. David was so glad to get all my gardening things out of his shed. I have collected pots for a while and it is a good thing I did because I use them to repot my seedlings. I am so excited that I can start geraniums from seed. One plant costs as much or more than a packet of seeds.

I bought this solar powered chandelier and it is pretty day and night.

This is the little vine I was talking about. See its tendrils reaching out. Just like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk. If I one day appear with a goose that lays golden eggs, you will know it grew way too fast!

This is a fountain we bought probably twenty years ago. The birds like to drink from it.

I love my little greenhouse . Wish I had gotten it years ago.

A few weeks ago I got a call from one of the managers at Ralph Lauren Polo store where David works. She sounded very secretive and I soon learned why. David’s twenty years of working there was coming up and they wanted to throw him a surprise party. Well, I am not one to tell to keep a secret. It’s a real problem for me, especially if I have to be around the one I am supposed to keep the secret from. I had two whole weeks of keeping my mouth shut and trying to not act guilty. Ever see that skit on SNL where the lady could not keep a secret and she went to all extremes not to tell the secret? That is me. One year my daughter-in-law was throwing a surprise party for her then husband, our son’s birthday. She was flying in his sister and brother-in-law from Florida to Chicago. The day of the party David and I were to go to the airport and pick them up. Well, the day before we were all sitting around when out of my mouth popped, “What time is Sara and Jeremy supposed to get here?” I knew immediately what I had done and I went up their stairs into a room and cried because I had spoiled the surprise. The thing is, no one held it against me and our son did have a fun party even if he did know his sister and her husband were coming.”

Well, I managed to keep the surprise. David was shocked to see me sitting in the room waiting for him. He got a call from the District manager thanking him for his time at Polo, a hand signed letter from Ralph Lauren thanking him for his long service and a Ralph Lauren clock that I won’t tell you how much it would cost to buy, but it’s not cheap as most of Ralph’s things aren’t. They had a picture of David set up and a very nice spread of food for everyone. Some employees came in and celebrated with us. I thanked the managers over and over for what they had done for David, but they told me they really depended on him. He has been at this particular store since it opened. He’s been everything from the trash takeout person to Assistant manager and now he folds clothes all day in the back room which he says he likes because he can have a video on and work at his pace. The thing is, this store was lauded for having the most organized backroom where all the clothes that come in are folded and prepared to go on the floor. This was due to David. I wish you could see the back room at a Polo store. Racks and racks of clothes and they all have to be neatly folded and David does most of it. He has trained others to help him. I know he is a good folder because he folded all the clothes in my closet one day. I have to admit it is not as neat any longer, but he did do a good job of it at the time. My closets tend to be messy.

David got this basket of his favorite snack foods. It was packed. And it is all gone now! Ths little box with the brown ribbon held the clock he received. The signed letter from Ralph Lauren is in the frame. David loves working there and hopes to stay until his 25th year when he will receive a gold watch. I pray he makes it as he will be 80 when that day comes.

We finally got our house painted and I love how it looks. The barn quilts I painted go so well with the colors of the house.

I love painting barn quilts. These patterns I got from one of Lori Holt’s quilt books. I have made quilts with those barn patterns.

Father’s Day came and went rather quickly, but David did get a card that gave him a laugh. If you are not a Trump supporter, you might want to look away now. But we both liked it and were surprised our daughter picked it out.

When you open it up, you hear in Trump’s voice, “I love you!” David got a kick out of it.

We have had some very hot days here and I have actually been in our pool a few times. The water has to be 82 degrees or hotter before I will even think of getting in, but it’s been 86 for a few days and felt wonderful.

Our pool looking towards the meadow. I feel like Moses in the bulrushes when I am swimming. The tall grasses are so lovely and with the flowers among it, it really is a pleasant place to be.

We have had the Summer Solstice and now the days are getting shorter so enjoy every minute of each one…We only have a little time on this earth, so make the most of it, but remember the One who created it and who you want to spend eternity with. I have been reading a lot about the Rapture lately. If you don’t know what that is, look it up or better yet, read a Bible. I feel so blessed that one day in a little church in my little town a pastor came to preach who led me to Jesus and I have been blessed ever since even during the bad times.

Here’s to long days of Summer and surprise parties, if you can keep it a surprise! Bye.