Morning Glories

My idea in the past was to have a mailbox out front of our house covered in vine and beautiful flowering Morning Glories--like our neighbors have down the street.  Well, we live across from a little wooded area, and the rabbits would sneak over across the street and nibble away.  Why they never found their way to our neighbor's house is beyond me (they aren't that far from the woods!).  So, I completely gave up on the beautiful mailbox idea.  Our mail carrier is probably glad that she doesn't have to fight bumblebees and the like when she delivers our mail.  So, I decided to try to cover up the ugly metal pipe above our well.  The Morning Glory growth has been wimpy to okay in the past...nothing too exciting.

Well, this year I scattered seeds on a whim not expecting much.  How pleased I've been with an abundance of growth and lovely flowers to enjoy!...not to mention not seeing much of that ugly pipe.  I could be from the abundance of rain we've had this year...maybe it was better seeds.  The bunnies never did find these, thankfully.  I personally think they were too busy in our vegetable garden on the other side of our property to care about these flowers.

Smell of Roses in the Air

Whenever a window is opened...whenever laundry is being hug...whenever the mail is retrieved....the smell of roses is in the air.

What a delight!  The winter was hard on my roses bushes, and I lost three of them.  However, the heartiest of them have remained, and how wonderful they smell. 

This huge bush out back we have let grow with sweet abandon.  It is really huge...probably too huge.  However, we can smell it all around.  I've brought some in to enjoy as well.  How I love roses!

The Garden is Now In....and a Game to Recommend

Well, we finally got our veggie garden in this past week (still working on the flowers). I know...it took us forever, but better late than never. It's a small garden really. It makes me sneeze and itch just thinking of weeding, but the veggies are worth it in the end. We put in tomatoes (of course, like, who doesn't put in tomatoes??), spinach, broccoli, corn, peppers (I finally will try to grow some peppers this year--yum), green beans, peas, and carrots. Yum! Hopefully we will get a good enough harvest so that I can freeze a lot for the winter. I so dislike wasting and try to make use of every bit that grows.
Speaking of gardens...I bought this game, The Garden Game, at a yard sale awhile back. It is a wonderful game! I played it for the first time this past week with my kids (6 and 9) after we finished with the garden (I thought it was appropriate since they helped plant the seeds). It was a little over my 6-year-old's head and I had to explain a thing or two to my 9 year old, but it taught all sorts of wonderful things about pollinators, microbes in the soil, composting, mulching, etc. while our little stones worked their way around the garden path. Whoever has the most in their garden (via garden cards--beautifully illustrated, by the way) by the time the first person gets to the garden gate wins. It was fun and educational, and I'd highly recommend it.