Ode to May........

May...It's here, It's here

That lovely time of year.

Heavy laden boughs that bloom

It's time to sweep away the gloom.

Love is sweet and in the air

Birds are nesting everywhere

Smell the Lilacs heady perfume

Blossoms brighten up the room

New life swells within each form

Nature replenishes with each baby born

See the gangly fawn with spotted coat

Rabbit, Chipmunk, Fox and Stoat.

Woodlands reflect a sky so blue

Forest floor is an Azure hue.

Bluebells dip their lovely bells

To the earth where new life swells

May Day maidens shine with pride

As they stand at the May Queens side.

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Decorate each Maidens hair

May poles on each village green

Morris dancers skip and preen

Ending up a fun filled day

In the Merry month of May
JKS April 2012.

Robin's Nest.................

We have our annual Robin's nest on the front porch. There are 3 existing nests that they seem to rotate. The middle one is the chosen one this year and she has shored it up and refurbished it. I have yet to see her sitting on it but have seen her visiting. So maybe they are still in the process of making the nest habitable. This is one of the pair complaining of my arrival just as they decided to drop in on the nest. I continued on to the front garden and ewwww .....there was the Robin hunting for a worm and was hot on the trail, not inclined to leave either so I got quite close. She looked at me as if to say, this is a BIG one and I am not leaving till I get it. Oh gag.....and it was. It was a very big juicy worm. I could not look, even though I took the picture I had to leave. Pity those babies have not showed up yet, it would have fed them for a month. On a brighter note the Cardinal hubby was out back being nice and eating seeds. He and the little wife I pictured the other day in the apple tree, have a nest in the front Blue Spruce. Here she is to remind you, what a lovely couple they are................ Meanwhile Mrs Robin was back on her nest. Maybe I should light her up at night so she can see..............nah....don't think she would appreciate that. Looks like the lights have to stay for a time yet.

Killdeer.................

This lovely lady allowed us to see her nest and eggs. She was a little upset at first but then decided we were not there to do any harm. So she stood and looked at us while I took her picture. Here are her lovely eggs...........she is a proud mum, and dad was close by too. Its in a public park and so I am sure they are used to being interrupted. After she allowed us to admire her brood she got back on and snuggled down on them again. We didn't get any closer than she was comfortable with. So as soon as she saw we would not get near the eggs she went back to nesting happily. Isn't she lovely? I hope her 3 little chickies will have a long and healthy life.

Today in My Garden...........

I have a horrible cold so I waited until it was about 45degrees before I went outside. It was sunny. I finished putting down the rest of the mulch on my garden pathways. I still need at least 12 more sacks of the stuff. This is good for now though. I need to get out and finish the side gardens over by Bud's side. Take out all the dead stuff and seeds. Once done with the Spring clean up I really don't have much else that's really work. The rest is fun stuff. Transplanting and putting in annuals.
I was so happy, I saw two butterfly's. Last year I didn't see any all summer and here it is only April. I saw a Cabbage white yesterday but didn't have the camera and it was flitting hither and yon and not settling anywhere. Today this one was sunning herself.



Then when I went to see if the Apple blossom was out this little girl was back in the tree sunning herself. Then her ol man came by and they went off together. I bet they have a nest.


Our apple tree is strange. It was an ornamental crab apple when we bought it. That has pink blossoms.



Now the main tree has come through. So now it has white flowers one year and pink the next, some years like this one, both blossom. I was looking to see if the white ones are ready to open. Its rather unique. I could have pruned it so that the white one would be gone but why? Its pretty this way.



The kids were out in the garden supervising.


The poodles get in all the pictures if possible. This path goes behind the (what was) the fountain. This year that fountain (it leaks) will hold flowers instead of water. All the little kids love all the pathways that meander around the gardens.It makes it interesting I suppose. I also have poodle paths for the dogs who wont stay off the garden no matter how I try so this makes it easy for them


The Trillium is all out now. I must get some more.


I like to have interesting things sitting around to put plants in. That's one of the more fun things that come later.



I put in a few pansies today, but I have a lot more to put into containers in shady spots.
Maybe on the back of the little wagon.

A gardeners Poems.............

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in the garden,
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Gurney~



In a garden green and gay
All my troubles fade away
Sweet contentment here I find
Joy of heart and peace of mind
Patience Strong




Rainy days of April so they say
Give way to the pretty flowers of May
Gentle buds on fruit trees bloom
Bursting forth from winters gloom
JKS April 2012



What more could the heart desire
In sunshine or in rain
Than a quaint old cottage
In a little English lane
Patience Strong


White door cottage



The Gardeners Morning

The robins song at daybreak
Is a clarion call to me,
Get up and get in the garden,
For the morning hours flee.

I cannot resist the summons,
For what earnest gardner could?
For the golden hours of morning,
Get into the gardners blood.

The magic spell is upon me,
I'm glad that I did not wait;
For lifes at it's best in the morning,
As you pass through the garden gate.

Howard Dolf

Poodle Pathways.....................

We do try to keep our garden pet friendly. In our case Poodle friendly. When we had our tiny toy poodle named Bridget we had installed pathways through the flower beds so she could hold court. Bridget was of the opinion that the world revolved around her. It pretty much did in her short life time. She loved people. When Bud would come home next door she would go to the fence and greet him or anyone else who happened to visit him. So we put in a pathway with a stone for her to stand on. On the road side of the house another trail went to the fence. I was also watching my nieces kids at the time and they too would like to go through the flowers behind the bush and back on the small trail. Bridget was killed one day in a freak accident, it was heartbreaking and shocking......well we now have 4 poodles and two are small ones who also love attention, nothing like Bridget but still..........they do love to think the world revolves around them. Must be something to do with the size. One can not help but ooh and ahhh over such cuteness.
Now we also have Tristen, and he just wanders where he feels like it. I decided to put back the poodle paths. Well today Brea found the first one, you could see her make a bee line for it and it was as if she called her sister over. They both stood on it as though it was the best thing in the world.


The pathway will not be quite so obvious once the flowers are growing up. It sort of fades so they can hide out back there and spy on us hehe.............a few more pictures of the poodles while I am at it. The two in the above picture are Brea (the darker one) and Bella. The one below is Brea who was hiding behind the swing looking innocent. She was checking out the new mulch that I had put down. Isn't she cute?



This is Bodicea or Bodi as we call her. She is our plus size model (shhhhhhh) she is sensitive about this. She is so cute and such a good girl. Tristen loves her because he can hug her and we have to keep him away from the others. After Bridgets untimely death we keep small children away from them.

Then our goofy poodle is Bijou. She is a beauty too but such a screwball. She is high strung and nervous. We got Brea and Bella from the same breeder as Bijou. We loved the personality. We didn't intend on getting two when we got them but the breeder brought two to show us. Could not decide so well, we ended up with them both.

A Slow start.......................

Well here we are in April and its a very slow start to Spring. The flowers are reluctant to come out. I think that having been fooled once with 80 degrees and then having snow dumped on them.....well I suppose I would not be eager to repeat the performance either. No daffodils so far this year. The only ones blooming are the mini ones, probably because they are close to the ground. Out front one lonely daffodil is showing itself. I hope the others decide to come out, maybe that one is the scout?


The only reason I have tulips out is because I bought some in a pot from the store. Oh and one shy one hiding under the Holly bush.


The Primroses are also reluctant, and are making a very poor showing. The yellow is doing OK but only one flower on the red. Just not right is it.


Well blue is better, the Periwinkle and Violets are doing well enough. Even they are late.


The wild flowers are even reluctant and the Trillium's not even making a showing. So what's left? That is it for now. Hope it will soon warm up and I will have something worthwhile to show on my blog.

Flowers on Saturday............

I did actually take these pictures on Saturday. Some lovely Spring blooms.
I am linking up with


These blossoms were outside the local shop "Toms Food Market" in Traverse City.






Then in my son in laws garden I found these.

These have to be among my favourite Daffodils.

Some little woodland flowers.


The tulips are almost ready to brave the elements

A little woodland garden

Well is it Spring or not?............

There was a few weeks of really hot weather, followed by a huge snow storm. Then it was cool for a time and now it's beginning to warm up again. So what are we to think? Should I or should I not start to get the garden sorted out? Thing have popped through and sort of just sat there wondering if they should come any further? We have had some good frosts so its still a bit iffy. Of course here in Michigan, and Northern Michigan at that, we can not really feel safe until after the end of May. So they say. I generally take a chance during April if the weather seems like it will stay reasonably warmish. So...........I did go and buy some pansies. They love the cooler weather so I am thinking I will make a start with those and put them in containers so they can be moved to a shady spot once it does get hot. They don't like the heat at all.
I found these primroses out in the front garden. Those in the back are not up yet.


Some of my little wildflowers are making a showing but not the Trillium just yet.


The Quince is blooming out front as well but nothing on the back one. That is further in the shade. One of my favourite shrubs because it makes me remember the Japanese Quince that would grow up my dad's garden shed.



Some other Spring flowers are making a show but they look weak, they lack strength. Not that I blame them they need some warm rain. It has been drizzling today but they need a down pour, a soaking rain. Then some sun and they will all liven up.


My regular Daffodils have not popped yet but maybe because they are closer to the ground these mini's are up and proud. So they should be, sweet little things.