"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Weed Or Not


I listened to many of you and abstained from pulling up plants I did not know about.  It is hard when they are small and not identifiable. This beauty is a moon flower and has a lovely scent, but even better, it blooms throughout the summer and early fall.  Nearly the size of a plate, the large plant is covered in these flowers that only open at night.  I took this shot on a cloudy, early morn.  It is also called Angel's Trumpet.


I don't know what this shrub is, but there are several in the gardens and it is very pretty.


This little garden is off the patio next  to my bedroom on the upper level of the back yard.  There is about an 8 foot drop down to the lower level of yard and gardens that slopes down to the lake.  I have to be careful not to roll down the slope.


Remember those teeny goslings a couple of months ago?


What big babies they have become.  Nearly as large as their parents though they still have downy patches. Eat like little goats.  Quite friendly and unafraid, though I'd prefer they stay in the lake and not on my lawn.


These small doves come to eat seed on my windowsills and are very friendly.  All the wildlife seem to be used to humans, unlike their country counterparts. Many kinds of birds.


And here are my new pretties.  The garden center said they were chimes.  What?  Glass balls?  I only bought one, but had to go back the next day for two more.  Rule of threes?  Odd numbers more pleasing or the symmetry?  Can't remember.




Off the subject, but since I always tell you I never learn, well, I passed on this large zeppelin though it pained me to do so.  It is only the second one I have ever seen and I have always wanted one.  They would only come down 10% and I choked at the price.  So, maybe I shouldn't pat myself on the back.  I would have bought it for the right price.  Sigh.

26 comments:

Down by the sea said...

Your Angel trumpet looks so big! The pink bush is spirea. I love your glass chimes. I always think coloured glass looks so pretty with light shining through it. Does it make any sound? Sarah x

donna baker said...

Sarah, will the spirea continue to bloom or just one show? I thought there was no way the glass was a chime, but there is a strong wind blowing today and I thought I heard a sound kind of like doves cooing, but I don't think it was doves. So, perhaps I was wrong and they will make noise.

Michelle said...

Those chimes are lovely and I would have had to buy them, too.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

I've always wanted a Moon Flower, they are magical in the night garden, the one and only that I grew from seed, was enjoyed by the deer....
Love the side garden so very cottage-garden.
Those chimes are lovely, I can imagine the sun shining through them.
~Jo

donna baker said...

I went to the plant store and came out with no plants and these instead. Strange, but they do go with the color scheme on the little patio garden which is all in shade.

donna baker said...

Thank you Jo. I wish I could go get a few more. The little back patio garden is all shade plants like coleus, hostas and impatiens and lots of colors that a match the chimes. I've never had moon flowers either but Logee's Tropical Plants catalog has gorgeous ones. They came back from last year which is nice.

Joanne Noragon said...

Your goslings are much further along. Ours don't have adult markings yet. I'm looking forward to hearing how class balls chime.

elaine said...

I just love your lakeside garden yes that pink plant is a spirea and it is perennial, well, at least here in the UK it is. Love the chimes too. How quick those goslings have grown hope they don't mess the lawn up too much I shouldn't walk out there in bare feet though you don't know what you might be stepping in.

Elephant's Child said...

LOVING your garden. And admiring your fortitude in passing on the zeppelin. I suspect I would have weakened, despite the price.

Jacqueline @ HOME said...

Lovely photographs Donna .... was about to tell you that the pink flower is a Spirea but someone beat me to it .... we have a couple of pink ones and a few white ones.
..... and a pat on the back for resisting the zeppelin !!!!! XXXX

donna baker said...

Me too Joanne.

donna baker said...

Yes. I saw the neighbor with a broom chasing them off her lawn. They like her wide expanse as mine is mostly beds of plants and perennials. They are pretending to fly and look very funny. Hope I'm here when they take off.

donna baker said...

A little voice kept telling me no and I listened.

donna baker said...

Thank you Jacqueline. I hope to find out more plant identities from all of you.

RachelD said...

What a treat to see your garden coming into its glory!! I can see why you were so on pins-and-needles negotiating for the house.

AHHHH, the Goosey-Guys! I can speak from experience with the little beggars (early mornings and sundown when we lived in an apartment complex for two years. They made a path from the lake to our patio door, and the group had grown to literally a hundred or so, clattering and calling along with the mallards en masse until we made bi-weekly trips to the "used bread" store for great garbage bags of the stuff.

And the chimes---what lovely little delights. Ours are all the metal rods with different "note-makers" and all hung down the back wall of the house. Wonderful in a slight breeze, marvelous in a coming storm, and dreamy sleep to the late-night breezes. But there's just something about a glass bauble, shining in the sun . . .

Yes. Rule of three, like Great-Grandmama's pearls. Not that any ancestor of mine up until Mother ever had anything beyond perhaps a pair of pierced earrings (Sis credits Great Grandmother Romy, whom we never met, for getting Mother to let get her her ears pierced---an old picture and a magnifying glass proved the point). So now I have a set, should the need for clutching arise.

Just sillies today---last day of school, and I've got a five-day deadline on a book I'm finishing, so I'm giddy with Spring and stuff.

bye

Frances said...

Donna, a local friend used to grow moonflowers on her little terrace. They were quite magical to watch.

When you mentioned the potential for rolling down the incline of your yard, I was about so encourage to follow you bliss, and then I saw those visiting goslings.

Do you think that the zeppelin resistance will continue strong? Perhaps the dealer will reconsider the price?

Let's see, what else was I going to write? Oh yes, rule of three is a good one and your glass chimes are beautiful. xo

ellen abbott said...

I believe the white flower is a datura, not a brugmansia. datura open at night and close up in the morning. brugmansia or angel trumpet blooms hang down and will stay open for days. datura are also called moon flower and the flowers are very much like the vine called moon flower which also only opens at night.

do the 'chimes' tinkle? they just look like decorative glass balls to me.

your gardens are lovely but I wouldn't want geese in mine. they have prodigious poop.

donna baker said...

It's always happening at your place Rachel. Yes, she planted so that flowers appear in succession which I'm not sure I could do. And just drop a book tease? Tell me more.

donna baker said...

Thank you Frances. I am getting tottery (is that a word) and there are a million little hills and rocks and bricks all of which are not stable. I don't want to roll down the yard for fun, but it is going to happen. Really don't want to tear up my plants. I look like a drunken sailor our there and am waiting for the day I become the lady of the lake. They don't call the dealers to make a bid and I wouldn't take it unless it was 25% or more off. And I need an antique toy zeppelin like I need another hole in my head.

donna baker said...

If they tinkle, I'm afraid they will break so I've placed them where they an't hit up next to anything. Still don't know if they make a sound or not because all the bird babies are so loud. I would think the premise would be something like blowing in a glass bottle as there are small holes in the top of the orbs. Yes, I hope they find a better watering hole than my little lake. Enough waterfowl for this one, but I do enjoy them. One female duck struts across my patio with me sitting there. Someone must have raised her. May have to stop feeding with cracked corn.

La Table De Nana said...

Yes pink spirea..and you are so lucky Brugmansia overwinters..I had to take it in..out..blablabla..still a wonder of nature so beautiful..Love the blwon glass too and your spot..Heaven.

donna baker said...

Thank you Monique. She cut it down to the ground before she moved and it came back. I might go back in a week or two and see if they've put the glass chimes on sale. I'd like to have a couple more hanging out by the lake. I can barely find a spot to plant anything. Good problem to have I think.

jerilanders said...

Donna, Wonderful, peaceful and perfect. The gardens are lovely, I see you've already been informed of the Spirea, I love them and you can get them to bloom twice. My Moonflowers disappeared after the first year. That happens alot. I often wonder how full my gardens would be if EVERYTHING I ever planted actually came back again.

donna baker said...

It would be glorious Jeri. I too would have left a legacy at the farm had my husband not weedeated or sprayed herbicide and burned nearly all I ever planted. I can't wait to see more of your gardens.

Deborah Nolan said...

Dear Donna with all the wildlife in your back yard I don't think you left the farm or perhaps the farm found you: ) I think your second picture is a spires Bush. It looks like mine. Yours looks better though. Think I need to move mine. Love the moonflower. Just beautiful. Hope you had a lovely holiday. Hugs!

donna baker said...

Oh you too dear Deb. My aim is to finish planting soon and cover with mulch. I went home to the farm and blueberries were ripe and lavender ready to pick. My cup runneth over. The husband lost five pounds during the latest illness but is back feeling better.