Picture Perfect!

Confession time! My passion is telling stories through the use of vibrant colorful pictures! The number of pictures is bound to grow as I am proud to announce that I am now a member of the North East Iowa Photography Club and a Flickr 365 group. Let me know what you think of the photos and my photography skills as well as what you would like to see.

For you mom!

I am starting this article off with a picture of a dandelion. I love this picture for a variety of reasons. First of all, the flower is very clear, bright, and vibrant. I guess I did stand still while taking it. Second, the background is out of focus; thus, causing the dandelion to stand out while adding depth to the picture. For the record, I have never thought of dandelions as weeds because I always pick dandelions for my mom which is the third reason I love dandelions. Mom would display them in a jelly jar. Now I pick a bouquet of dandelion every spring and place them on mom's headstone. Awww, the memories!

Stunning blossoms!

This picture was taken during the spring 2019 Amish Greenhouse tour, Canton, MN. I was so impressed with how healthy the plants were and the huge selection of plants. Prices were also very reasonable.  

White Day Lily!

This picture was taken a few weeks ago. I planted Day Lilies in the rock flower bed along the driveway next to the lilac bushes bordered by the barb wire fence. This plant was planted in 2018 and is stunning.

Day Lily!

Gotta admit I am enjoying taking macro pictures this summer. Thankfully, there are plenty of beautiful flowers to take pictures of.

Sunflowers are grown from birdseed!

This beautiful plant is located next to the front patio at the Green Lea Manor nursing home in Mabel, MN. I was told that a resident was feeding the birds wild bird feed and this is the result of her efforts. The picture was taken in the summer of 2019. 

"Licking my lips"

 Another attempt at taking macro photos. I believe that I was successful because when I showed it to Sylvia she smiled and licked her lips; thus, making me smile.

 

Fall 2019 Cresco, IA

Fall in northeast Iowa is absolutely stunning. I need to take more photos this year.

"Absolutely Beautiful"

 I love these flowers.

"Swamp Milkweed"

These plants were planted in 2015 to attract Monarch butterflies which have proved successful. Now they are spreading which I was not aware they would do. It looked like they spread to a flower bed that I don't want them in. Now to figure out what to do. A very pretty plant.

"Day Lilies"

This Day Lilies were planted in 2014 in the first flower bed I planted after moving back to Iowa. This picture was taken in 2017 and the flowers look amazing and are located in what I call the Doggie Bed.

"Doggie Bed"

I like to name all our flower beds. It is fun to think up names plus it makes it easier to refer to a bed by name when I am talking about a specific bed. This bed is the first one I planted when I move back to Hesper, IA in 2014. One of my favorite beds and I love this picture.

Have a great day! Charlene

Spring 2021 Amish Greenhouse Tour

I have made it a priority to go on the Northeast Iowa Greenhouse tour and visit the five Amish flower shops in SE Minnesota every spring. Why!  It motivates me to spend time in my flower beds. I get new ideas and run into friends and relatives and even make new friends. 

The number of greenhouses amazes me, as well as the selection and quality of plants. 

This young Amish boy was so interested in what I was doing and eager to have his picture taken. Of course, I had to get permission from his mom before taking pictures. I could have spent the whole day taking pictures of this little boy and his sisters. 

This picture was taken at the first Amish Greenhouse we visited. The plants looked very healthy and there were not any brown leaves. The prices are very reasonable.

This picture was taken on our first visit to an Amish Greenhouse. The greenhouses are located outside of Canton, MN.

I just love these kids. They are so sweet and kind. 

How can you not like this flower?

 The day we visited the Amish farms, the greenhouses were full of plants and flowers. The families were friendly and so helpful. They answered all my dumb questions. 

What a pretty flower?

There are so many different shades of green and a variety of green plants.

This is my favorite picture from the 2019 Amish Greenhouse tour in Southeast Minnesota, a bee enjoying flower nectar and gathering pollen. 

I immediately fell in love with these cone flower baskets. Buying them is not an option as I am not around in May in water them. One day there will be three decorating our porch. 

 

The map and contact information is up to date and the farms are easy to find. I hope you have as much as fun as we do and make some new friends. 

Spring Has Arrived

Today is the perfect day to check out the flower beds as the sun is shining, causing the dirt in the beds to dry out. Bet the ground will start to warm up now after a couple of sunny days. This year I promised myself that I would document the process of creating beautiful flower beds. It is fun and educational to see the evolution of the beds throughout the seasons.

Yes! The daylilies have broken through the dry leaves and dead stalks. This morning I counted seven daylilies in the rock bed and four more in the morel mushroom bed. I can hear the question swirling around in your mind. Nope, wooden morel mushrooms. I believe that every daylily flower I planted in 2017 and 2018 survived, and they look like they are multiplying. Eager to see them grow and watch the blooms appear.

More daylily flowers breaking through the wet spongy black dirt. I am waiting for the ground to dry out before I clean the beds, so none of the plants break. Don't they look healthy!

The beautiful red peony stalks are reaching for the sun. I can't wait to see their plate-size bushy cotton candy pink blooms next month.

My cousin's husband, Kevin, introduced me to sedums about six or seven years ago when he suggested I plant one by my parents' headstone. It was a perfect choice, and now there are four planted in the flower beds next to the house. Sedums are so easy to grow, plus they flower late summer and produce beautiful flowers in a variety of warm fall colors. If you do not have any sedums growing in your gardens, I highly recommend that you consider adding them to your flower beds.

I must admit that I love adding artistic features to flower beds, vegetable gardens, and lawns. My favorite feature in the yard is this birdhouse made by a former neighbor. The birdhouse provides the centerpiece for a corner in our yard. Flowers have not started to appear, but the field behind the house makes for the perfect background any time of year. The wooden post and barb wire fencing and the netting, as well as the metal bar, adds dimension. The finishing touch is the vines that are twisted around the pole and wire and surround the house.

Get outside and enjoy being creative!

Inspiration

As an amateur gardener that loves gardening, playing in the dirt, and experimenting with plants and design, there are seven activities that I take part in each January. These tasks are inspirational and help me get started planning my gardens. After decades of gardening, it has become a tradition of mine to start researching new gardening ideas on New Year's Day. I doubt I am the only one that spends New Year's Day this way.

Tip #1: Settled in on a cold snowy Iowa day with a hot drink and start searching gardens on the World Wide Web (www). There are thousands of websites that contain a wealth of information along with stunning pictures for ideas and inspiration. I also recommend joining Facebook gardening groups for dates on upcoming garden shows, ideas, support, and inspiration. It may take time to find a Facebook group that you feel comfortable belonging to. Plan on spending the entire day as there are lots of ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Don't forget to save your favorite web links so you can go back later and review the information. I suggest keeping a virtual or a paper notebook with ideas and pictures. Don't forget to check out YouTube for DIY videos and Pinterest for ideas. I hope I have not overwhelmed you!

Tip #2: I have to admit I love visiting garden centers, nurseries, gift shops, botanical centers, and farmers' markets. These properties not only challenge all five senses, but they also make for a fun day trip. Day trips are the perfect way to chase away the winter blues! Don't forget to take pictures! This is not only a winter activity but a year-round activity. Last summer a friend directed me to a country store in SE Minnesota. Newburg Vintage Home and Garden, located in the village of Newburg, is a quaint gift shop located in a historic country store surrounded by beautiful gardens where you can sit and enjoy homemade baked goods. They are open during the winter on Friday and Saturday from 11:00am to 3:00pm so make sure to stop by for gardening gifts.

Tip #3: Dedicate a few pages in your bullet journals or keep a journal just for gardening. Don't have any ideas for page designs! One example is to create two pages for a garden calendar. The calendar will provide you with a map to achieve your gardening goals. For other ideas, search the internet for bullet journal pages for gardening images. You will find more examples than you will ever need.

Tip #4: Now that you have gathered all your ideas and pictures, it is time to organize your thoughts. There are plenty of tools out that will help you organize your thoughts. As an artist, I love to draw illustrations of my gardens.

Tip #5: Maybe not the most enjoyable activity but definitely an important if not critical task that will minimize stress and make gardening enjoyable. Highly recommend creating a budget for your gardens. Budgets can be developed by using a spreadsheet such as Excel or keeping track of expenses in a ledger.

Tip #6: Winter is the perfect time to take classes and hang out with other gardeners. Contact your local Master Gardeners or Extension Office or area garden center for a list of upcoming classes. Just ran across registration information for Cedar Rapids'  Winter Garden Fair which looks like the perfect event for fellow gardeners.

Tip #7: If you have not gotten hooked on Pinterest yet, I highly recommend setting up a Pinterest account and start creating your first board. Searching and pinning will keep you busy for hours. You will find so many ideas that you will want to head out and start digging up your gardens.

Have fun!