Thursday, April 4, 2013

Nature's Garden


Thank you to all of my sweet friends for your lovely comments on JoAnn's book, 'Are We Walking To Alaska'. 

You can find all the links for this wonderful book on my side bar. 

I also want to thank you, Dear Friends, for coming by to visit me! 

I so enjoy reading all of your kind comments and appreciate every one. 


Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. 

As I was watching, this red-tailed hawk flew to the 'hawk tree'. 

This is a large Western Red Cedar that stands by itself with a very good view of the valley beyond. 

Birds always land on this tree and have a look around. 


Right after I took this shot, he flew down to the ground and didn't come up. 

Must be good hunting grounds. 


Signs of spring are everywhere now. 

The wild plum trees are blooming and the daffodils are still going strong. 

Can you see my two dogs, Champ and Whitey? 


There's Champ peeking through the plum blossoms. 

The bird feeder is in the tree in between the daffodils. 


My sweet boy, waiting patiently for me to play with him. 

He loves to fetch the ball. 


Whitey couldn't be bothered with all that foolishness. 
He has a bone. 

And when Whitey has a bone, he doesn't let it out of his sight. 
Except to bury it! 

Yes, I have bones buried all over. 
He always has dirt on his nose!



But no time to worry about that, I have daffodils and roses to fertilize. 

The very early daffodils are starting to fade, 
so they get a little fertilizer to make sure we have more next year! 



I will be sad to say goodbye to these little happy faces! 

They are scented, too! 

I do try and plant only scented flowers. 



Here's my boys resting in the dandelions. As you can see we don't use weed killer. 

We keep everything natural and healthy for ourselves, the pets and our water supply. (We have a well). 


As we walk towards the house, we pass the blooming 'Pink Current' bush. 

Now that the berry bushes are starting to bloom,
 the hummingbirds have not been visiting the feeders as often. 

I can hear them chirping and buzzing around me, as I walk around.

There are also bumble bees!  


Another favorite hummingbird flower; 'Salmon Berry' blossoms. 


White daffodils bloom among the mossy rocks. 


These are very old and were planted when my children were small. I don't know what variety they are. 

I try to keep track of things like that, but I always lose the tags. 

I want to start a garden journal and document all that I plant in the future. 

Do you make note of varieties when you plant? 


This is a wildflower that is very much like Coral Bells. Instead of the flower wands being Coral, they are green with a slight tinge of pink along the edges.  I spread the seed around to ensure future wildflowers. 

I now have large colonies of these. 


Nature's garden beneath the Cedar tree. By nurturing wild plantings, I have encouraged nature to create it's own gardens. 

Here we have Holly seedlings, wild 'Coral Bells', and a wild thistle that has the most unusual leaves. 

Oh, and a dandelion or two. 

Nothing I could ever plant would thrive beneath this tree, so I have welcomed these wild interloper's. 


I spent the day weeding around some Forget Me Not plants that migrated out of their rock garden into an area where we lost our Golden Chain Tree in last winter's ice storm. 


Golden Chain tree in summer of 2011

The Forget Me Nots had seeded themselves in under the shelter of the flowering branches. 

I will replace the tree with something else and allow the flowers to stay. 


That's how I garden. 


Mother Nature does most of the work and I just help her along. 


Are you able to get out in the garden yet? What are you growing this year? 
xoxo

23 comments:

  1. I absolutely love your garden! It is stunning among all of the tall trees! We don't use chemicals either!! I sometimes have to pick invasive weeds by hand but it is therapeutic to me! I just love the shots of your pups too! Keep enjoying and sharing all of your beautiful blooms! No blooms here yet...so slow this spring!! Things are starting to come up a bit though! Take care! Nicole xoxo

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  2. I love your sweet boy and all the flowers..good to hear you had beautiful day.
    Blessing,

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  3. The salmon berries are blooming here, too. :) I'm a natural gardener, too. Dandelions are amazing flowers. Just noticed today that there's a Western Trillium that bloomed and I saw some color on the bleeding hearts. Love spring.

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  4. Wow you have a wonderful garden wild and free. I love gardens like this room to move and you never know whats around the corner, great for your dogs too.
    Merle........

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  5. I love looking at your pictures. What a most wonderful place you live in! Just beautiful.
    It's so fun to see your pix. Thanks for visiting my blog.
    Linda

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  6. Stunning views of your home and surroundings! Your flowers are just gorgeous! And your puppies look sweet. You live in a beautiful place! Have a wonderful spring!

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  7. Hello Karen.
    Nice pictures you show - can see that you get spring.
    Yet there is snow in the beds in my garden - no signs of spring here yet - only the damage that nest in a large tree.
    Plus degrees during the day - minus degrees at night. Wishing you and your good Friday / good weekend :) Hugs Hanne Bente

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  8. Oh it is a charming garden that you and Mother Nature have made. The hawk tree is amazing - and the flower photos are so clear and springy. I especially love the salmon berry blossoms. Lovely views too!

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  9. bonjour
    je viens de faire un joli voyage à travers votre région
    j' aime les jardins
    en France ( Normandie ) on a encore de la neige
    le printemps se fait très timide
    mais nous avons des joncquilles
    je suis passée par le blog de Mariette
    à très bientôt
    tendresse
    edith ((iris ) France

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  10. That picture of the red-tailed hawk is amazing!! And look at all that amazing and beautiful green popping up everywhere :)

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  11. Your home has such a beautiful setting - you must feel so blessed. Champ and Whitey are adorable companions and I'm sure count themselves as your youngest children. The photos are so inviting - can't wait to see pictures of everything leaf-ed out! And, those ancient trees. What stories they could tell. -- Jan

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  12. Your Spring flowers are coming in strong and I bet Champ and Whitey are loving every bit of it as much as you.

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  13. you have such a beautiful yard and area. i love the naturalness of it all. and i LOVE your sweet pups, too. :)

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  14. Your natures garden is lovely. So glad that you and the pups are able to go for walks and enjoy it all. The snow is gone here but it is still too cold for anything to bloom. I can't wait.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  15. I really enjoyed the walk around your wonderful Garden, so peaceful & full of beauty, Gorgeous photos thank you for sharing!! Have a super weekend.. Hugs May x x x

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  16. Hi my friend, you know through the other wonderful Scene blog through my eyes, very interesting book.
    Your garden is wonderful magical place that stepping on earth, smell the grass and see the work of nature is maquinifico. Loved the post, I live in apartments have more fruit, orange and lychee, and many lavenders lavenders and violets.
    I love being at home in your blog, your photos are incredible!
    Big kiss and a lovely weekend.

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  17. Dearest Karen,
    Lovely post with your two loyal companions! They are so sweet. You could easily make dandelion salad! With that kind of yield around your place, no problem! Under the shade of trees it will always be very hard to grow anything; we learned that too. Natural things always do thrive best. Only we need to tame the invasive ones.
    No we have not yet been able to get outside. Two days of rain again and rather cool. But things will be better tomorrow. Our plants are outside of the greenhouse however; on the patio and ready to be put in their summer spots.
    Hugs to you,
    Mariette

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  18. I love springtime and all the flowering trees - so gorgeous!

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  19. It really does look like spring has arrived for you! I loved seeing all the beautiful photos, especially the flowers. And I always enjoy seeing your cute pups :) Great photos! I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Karen!

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  20. Such a beautiful garden Karen, especially as it is now bursting into life. I love the way you let nature take its course in places, just how it should be to get the right balance! I am going to DARE to go in the garden tomorrow. The greenhouse glass is still to be fixed by hubby (broken by 'the dog' which is what I call her instead of Coco when I'm angry), but I really must get sowing, even if it means bringing in the trays to germinate. Have a wonderful weekend my lovely. Chel x

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  21. Hi, Karen...I'm sitting here with my second cup of coffee, enjoying catching up on your lovely blog. Love the views of your house and nature around you...and the pups too of course! ;-)

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  22. Everything surrounding you is coming to life - how beautiful! <3

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  23. Karem, your works beautiful! Your house was a charm.
    What a magnificent place, what peace!
    What a delight this minestron and in these cold days there is nothing better.
    A beautiful week for you and a big kiss!
    Sílvia

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Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

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