You Have Not Because You Ask Not

It's a simple flower, I know.....
but I've wanted one of these coneflowers for a long, LONG time.
 Today, while visiting a friend at the lake, I noticed she had a few...
 so I asked if I might have one.
Now I have one - right here in one of my own flower beds!
"You have not because you ASK not."  (James 4:3)

8,000 Words

If one picture is worth a thousand words..
 
 
 
 

Cool Morning Reflections

 Compared to the flamboyant display of the day lilies and Russian sage,
our black-eyed Susans appear unusually timid.
It's rather unusual, I think.
They usually are pushy and bloom with little concern of overtaking 
everything else around them.
Meanwhile, the hosta are following the examples
of the day lilies and sage!
The unseasonably cool weather we're currently enjoying 
makes strolling in our yard SO delightful.


Trimmed

Years - MANY years - ago, we "lifted the skirts" (thanks to Outlaw Gardener for this 
apt description) of this odd evergreen that we inherited when we bought the house. 
We liked the trimmed up version better than the original.
 However, its triple peaks have been annoying me for quite awhile.
 It was time to give it a hair cut.  
 And so he did.
Not perfect.  But SO much better.

 Tara Dillard posted this quote that is VERY reassuring to me--
particularly during THIS season of our lives: 
"A little studied negligence is becoming to a garden."
~Eleanor Perenyi, 1918-2009, American Author of Green Thoughts
.


Consider the Lilies

"And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin.  
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?
So do not worry."  (Jesus, Matthew 6)

De-Limbed

"De-limbed".  A term I read on another garden blog.
Can't think of a better way to say it!
What a difference.


Irresistible!

I wish I'd read Pam's advice before I took this photo of a giant thistle
Saturday at our local County Extension Gardens.
It really WAS amazing - taller than my husband, I'm sure.
It was off the beaten path, but thanks to a Master Gardener working there,
we found it--along with many, many other beautiful flowers...
 It really IS great advice.
And I can't think of anyone who does it more naturally than
Sue (and Allan) at the Tangly Cottage Gardening blog.
 It's one of the reasons I find them so irresistible!
Yes.  I'm a big fan of Tangly Garden.
(All these - and so much more - at the Extension Gardens.  Always delightful.)

Nothing New, Really...

 While strolling (limping, actually) out to dead-head some of our white roses,
 this was some of what I passed.
 Nothing new, really.
 Just our simple (and somewhat neglected) flowers, yard and beds.
 And weeds.  Lots of weeds.
 
Our physical limitations this spring have resulted in a bit of neglect,
I fear.  Still, there is pleasure to be found.  And we are.