Bronze-leaved Crinum

Here at the Empty Nest Gardens my Bronze-leaved Crinum 'Splendens' has started blooming.

This is a tropical plant that I have to take into the greenhouse during the winter months.

The plant is around 3 foot tall and is 3 years old. 

Absolutely a beautiful bloom. 

Until next time,

New Blooms in the Garden

Hello everyone.  These are the plants that have started blooming in the Empty Nest Gardens this week.  This is an antique shrub rose called Seven Sisters

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Native Yucca

The second daylily to bloom - Stella De Oro

The third daylily to bloom is Stella Supreme

And this daylily will be a surprise to even me when it blooms.  I moved it from the backyard to the front yard.  Once it opens I will be able to identify it. 

Until next time,

 

Malee - OKC Zoo's Baby Elephant

On April 15 at the Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical garden Asha our 16-year-old Asian elephant gave birth to a little girl weighing in at 304 pounds!!  This was the first elephant birth in the zoo's history.  Sneezy who is her daddy lives at the Tulsa zoo and is 39 years old.  

Our little baby girl has been named Malee.  I think there are many of us that feel like she is "our" elephant. 

Isn't she cute?

Here she is peaking out from under Momma.

Until next time,

 

The First Daylilies are Blooming

The first daylily to bloom at my house each year is the old time orange pass-along variety.  A girl I worked with in the 80's gave me these.  They are very hardy, you can't hardly kill them.  I like them even if they are very common. 

Many more daylilies have bloomed since I snapped this photo.

Until next time,

Columbines

Columbines are one of my favorite flowers.  I started this dark purple beauty from seed several years ago and I cannot remember the variety. 

This light pink beauty of McKanas Giant.  I also started it from seed about 8 years ago and it continues to come back every year.

These are the flower buds just before they open.

I love the long spurs that grow back behind the flower. 

Until next time,





Shower Finished

For the last 2 months my husband has been working on the shower in our master bedroom.  He removed all of the existing tile down to the studs, replaced some of the plumbing, replaced some of the studs and then hung new sheet rock. 

This is the only picture I had of our old shower.  The shower is in the center of the house and we use it as our tornado shelter.  I took this picture during a tornado warning.  Each cat is snuggled in their crate.

We hired a professional to do the tile work and I am so glad we did.  He told me where to go to buy the tile (he gets a really good discount). 

So I went and picked out the tile.  These are the 13"x13" tiles we used on the walls.

I picked out pebbles for the floor and to create a decorative stripe around the shower.

  The shower looks much better in person.  These pictures don't do it justice. 

And "ta-da" our new shower.  There is no door, I hate cleaning a shower door.  The door knob you see is the door going into the bathroom.  He put in 4 shelves for all our soaps and shampoos.

 

We have a new shower head and 2 more shelves for whatever.

I had to use the flash to get this picture so the color is a little different.  This is a larger, lower shelf that he added just for me.  I place my foot on this shelf when I am shaving my legs.

Another project done.  Now I will start painting the bathroom walls, painting the cabinets and adding new hardware and ......  it never ends. 

Until next time,



Garage Sale Treasures

Hello everyone.  Last Saturday I went to a garage sale at a storage unit in south Oklahoma City.  Now this is the way to garage sale.  There must have been 40 units that were selling old treasures.  The one thing I learned is to bring a piece of rolling luggage next time to store all the treasures I buy.  Wow, they get heavy.  Here are the items I bought.

The floral tea cup is from Germany and the white tea cup is from England.  2 for $1

I just loved this terra cotta pot.  It actually has a hole in the bottom so I can use it outside as a flower pot.  It was $1.

This is what I call a covered cheese plate. $1

I found 3 quilt books.

These books are brand new.  $1 each...can't beat that.

2 Mikasa crystal candle vases $2

This is a 2 piece flower vase.  Each vile holds a single flower stem, 35 stems total.  $3

This is a beautiful silver tray.  It has a few spots on it but looks great with a doily in the center.  And guess what?  This tray was only $1

So I spent $12 for all of this at the storage unit sale. 

Next my little community was having a city-wide garage sale.  By this time is was around 2pm, a little late in the day for a garage sale.  But there were more treasures to be found.

My daughter LOVES Hello Kitty.  I found this Christmas ornament for her for 75 cents.  Love it!!

6 skeins of yarn $3

4 containers that I will use for quilt projects.  They are big enough to hold the quilt books I bought or the skeins of yarn or several yards of fabric.  $2 for all 4

What a great day. 

Until next time,

 

Kaleidoscope Blooms

I love creating kaleidoscopes.  Here are a few I created using photographs of the flowers in my yard.

Columbines

Daffodils

Rose Buds

Roses

Shasta Daisys with Gazing Ball

Spirea

I think the Shasta Daisys with gazing ball is my favorite.  It looks like something from a science fiction movie.  Which one do you like?

Until next time,