This is how my garden grows...

My 200th post is coming this week. I do love to sew and do hate to have things sitting around the house. What does this mean to you? It means a give away! I'll tell you it will probably have to do with left over triangles, quilting and Crazy Mom Quilts. Keep checking back for the give away and how you can enter. Speaking of give-aways....

Marcia at Blue Bobbin is having a 100th post give-away. I was tempted not to tell you since I'd really like to win, but then again, I think you should check out her blog and see what she can do (she even went to a quilting retreat....man am I jealous!!). Now, on to my garden. I am the granddaughter of farmers. Both of my parents grew up in the country and farmed throughout their childhood. They know how to make things grow! I, however, grew up in the suburbs and did not learn how to make things grow. I know how to shell piles and piles of beans and peas, how to pull up onions out of the garden but that's about it.I love to dig. I love to talk to the worms. Speaking of worms, check out this post from A Number of Things. I love color (as you can see from my quilts) and so I love colorful flowers in my yard. Our old house had a little yard and I experimented with a few flowers. Now we have this yard that goes all around the house and has some nice plantings but I'd like to do more.

Below is a picture of the back of the yard. You can see quite a bit of ivy. Apparently there area few tree stumps hidden in that mess. I spend the last several days pulling the ivy out of a small section of the yard (see next picture) and decided that I wasn't going to be able to do it to the back of the yard. I'm going to get rid of what is spreading as much as I can. Ollie's had these big pots on sale this week so I bought three and will plant some really colorful flowers in them to break up the green. I'm open to suggestions. This next picture is the area that was covered with ivy. It took me about two days to pull it out. The tree stump roots are really decaying so I was able to take out a lot of that wood. I love Foxglove. I mean, I REALLY LOVE FOXGLOVE. I am envisioning this whole area just filled with foxglove and snapdragon. I'm not sure if this vision will come to fruition or not but I'm going with it. Behind these flowers is a little area for my tomatoes. I haven't gotten to them yet. I need to stake the foxglove, too. I just think these flowers are amazing. And how that spotting is only on one side of the trumpet. Gorgeous!Next is poor St. Francis. He's lost his head. I did find it but I think the ivy ate it again. Do you think they make cement glue? My Rhododendron are in full bloom. These are some gorgeous flowers as well. Here the coloring is only on one leaf as well. Why is that???? Is it so the bees have something to focus in on? I must find out.If anyone can tell me what this plant is I'd be very appreciative. I guess it is some kind of succulent but beyond that I'm stumped (which isn't hard in the garden). This plant is hidden under the lilac and among more ivy (aren't I Iucky??).And I leave you with Nathan and Nolan's favorite flower: The dandelion. They call the dandelion in seed "wishies". So I hope all your wishes for this beautiful weekend come true.