Plant of the Week #5

This week's plant of the week is another one of my favorites-hydrangea. I have 3 in my back yard that are about 5 years old now. Two are blue and one is more pinkish-purple like the one above. They are virtually maintenance free and provide me with lovely blooms year after year.

We get a lot of small frogs in our neighborhood, and one of their favorite resting places are the large hydrangea leaves. They like to jump out at me when I water my plants and give me a little scare. The girls like to search for them in the leaves and then catch them and put them in Winston's pool. Here are some facts about hydrangea:

• First discovered in Japan, the name hydrangea comes from the Greek “hydor,” meaning water, and “angos,” meaning jar or vessel. This roughly translates to “water barrel,” referring to the hydrangea’s need for plenty of water and its cup-shaped flower.
• Hydrangea colors include white, blue, pink & purple and are determined by the acidity level of the soil.
• In acid soils the flowers will be blue and in alkaline soils the flowers will be pink.
• Two common varieties are Hydrangea macrophylla (rounded cluster) and Hydrangea paniculata (pyramidal cluster).
• Hydrangeas are deciduous shrubs that grow from 4-12 feet depending on their variety.
• Hydrangeas are easy to grow in well-drained soil. They prefer morning sun & afternoon shade.
• As a general rule, fertilize twice a year in early spring & early fall. Use a time-released fertilizer if possible.
• In the Pacific Northwest the best time to prune is after blooming is done in the fall, usually around October.
• If your hydrangea's leaves are lush & green but don't have any blooms, you may be over-fertilizing.
• Insect pests include aphids, leaf tiers, rose chafers & red spiders.

Low Tide

Today we headed down to the Olympia Farmer's Market to see if there were any good plants to buy. Unfortunately we didn't find anything, but we did see some yard art made out of steel in the shape of a Corgi. Gabby wanted so badly to buy it, but I wasn't willing to pay $50 for a piece of metal shaped like a Corgi when I have the real thing at home!

We headed over to the harbor and were really surprised to see how low the tide was today. We had never seen it that low. It was about 12 to 15 feet lower than usual. The floating dock had sunk down to reveal tons of mussels. The rocky beach was crowded with clams spurting water everywhere. Corey & Gabby saw lots of tiny crabs underneath the rocks. They had a good time exploring all the sea life.


The bridge to the floating dock. It is usually barely sloped.

Corey & mussels on the dock pylons.

Scott & Gabby with hundreds of mussels. You can click on the picture to see all those mussels close-up.

You can see how low the water is because the mussels that reach all the way to the top of the picture are usually under water.

Girls turning over the rocks to search for crabs.

Beautiful Puget Sound.

Piano

Gabby has been taking piano lessons again for the past couple of months. She's made great progress and is happy to have graduated from her "pink" books. She is now onto the "blue" books which is Level 5. Great job, kiddo! Keep up the good work.

Friday Night

Tonight Corey went to a birthday party. I received a call about an hour before she was to be brought home and told by her friend Jessica that "Corey has been attacked by a dog so you need to come get her". Naturally I'm right in the middle of making dinner. I yell to Gabby to turn off the oven when the buzzer beeps and I grab my purse and head out the door. Of course I don't know what to expect. My mind is just running rampant. On the way out I see Scott who is driving home from the gym. I tell him what happened and he follows me down to Kennydale park.

We find that the birthday girl's family has a dog that for some reason became all excited and had jumped on Corey & bit her head. She had a big lovely gash that was bleeding...you know how head wounds are. She also had a nice hole behind her right earlobe. Amid many apologies by the birthday girl's parents we packed up Corey and headed home where we cleaned everything up, slathered on tons of Neosporin and then topped it off with an ice pack. The head wound looks like it could use a couple of stitches, but we'll wait & see. They don't really do stitches anymore. Maybe we can hot glue it? Somehow I don't think Corey would like that! It was definitely not how I wanted to spend my Friday night! I'm just happy that Corey is ok. Kids........they sure know how to kick start your heart!

More Spring Blooms

A few tulips have bloomed finally!


I love the foliage on my Bleeding Heart.


The tiny Azalea I planted is blooming! It's actually red though the picture looks more pink.

Report Cards

Corey's report card came in the mail today and we were very happy to see she had gotten straight A's! Great job Corey-we know you worked very hard, especially in your least favorite subject-MATH! So to celebrate we will soon be going to Corey's favorite restaurant-Saigon Rendezvous in downtown Olympia. Way to go Corey!

Plant of the Week #4

Another plant which I love is the Buddleia (pronounced BUD-lee-ah) also known as the Butterfly Bush. It is a magnet for all the butterflies who pass through gardens seeking nectar. I have one in my back yard called "Honeycomb" which produces yellow flowers. I planted it last year and hope to have some pretty blooms this year. It is now only about 2 feet tall and is quite gangly. I've put my old tomato cage around it in hopes of containing it a bit. Butterfly Bushes come in a variety of colors. The one most people are familiar with is the dark purple. They also come in a variety of sizes, most ranging from 6 to 8 ft tall with the larger varieties from 10 to 12 feet tall. If you have a lot of room in your garden and want something easy to grow, this might be the plant for you!

• Buddleia was named after the Reverend Adam Buddle who was a botanist and a rector in Essex, England.


• Out of the 100 species of the butterfly bushes, most are shrubs while very few are trees.


• They can be either evergreen or deciduous.


• Flower colors may be purple, white, pink, yellow or red, and they usually have an orange throat in the center. It spreads by seeds that are produced in abundance and dispersed by the wind.


• Though most of today's offerings have Chinese ancestors, it is originally from Chile.


• Avoid fertilizing butterfly bush; extra-fertile soil fosters leafy growth rather than flower spikes. Remove spent flower spikes to encourage new shoots and flower buds.


• Butterfly bushes also attract hummingbirds, making them must-haves for hummingbird gardens, too.


• Prune the plants back to the ground in late winter. This perennial will re-emerge from its roots in spring. Blooms tend to be larger and more prolific on butterfly bush's new growth, giving you incentive for pruning it. You essentially want to treat the butterfly bush plant as if it were an herbaceous perennial rather than a shrub.


• Butterfly bush plants like full sun and a well-drained soil. Butterfly bushes are relatively drought-tolerant.


• Butterfly bushes are considered invasive plants in some areas, including the Pacific Northwest

A Few Blooms

I found a few things blooming in my back yard......it's finally spring!!


Magnolia Susan


Bog Rosemary


Not sure what these are called. Corey planted this a couple of years ago. It comes back every year even in the pot.

Seaside, Oregon

Today we travelled about 135 miles southwest of here to a little town called Seaside, Oregon. The Internet said it would be about 70 degrees there today, and I think it was pretty close to that. The sun was shining and the wind was pretty mild compared to what we usually get on the Washington coast. It was a long drive, but definitely worth it.

We walked along the boardwalk and saw the Seaside Aquarium but couldn't go in because we had Winston with us. After that we ate the picnic lunch we had packed right down on the beach. The seagulls were eyeing us the whole time. After we ate the girls wanted to go in the water so we left our stuff on the upper portion of the beach only to find that those sneaky seagulls had grabbed food out of our bag while we were gone. They tried their darnedest to get into the goodies but all they managed to do was break the chips & crackers into crumbs. They could not get inside the big plastic storage bag. Ha!

We all had a great time, especially Winston who just loves to roll around in the sand. Next time I think we'll leave him home so we can check out the aquarium and shops. After we got home poor Winston had to endure a bath to rid him of the ocean smell and my van had to be vacuumed (again!). Luckily we had pizza leftover from our card party last night so I got out of cooking dinner...yahoo! It was a very fun day, definitely one we would love to repeat soon!



Girls next to statue of Lewis & Clark.

Girls next to whale bones at the Seaside Aqarium.

Winston trying to snag a strawberry.

One sad dog. Corey wouldn't give him a bite of her sandwich.

Sand pals.

Running from the waves.

Run girls!

One drenched dog.


Gabby on the boardwalk.

Got sand?

Girls on the boardwalk.

Enjoying the sun.

Corey's sand castle.

Beautiful Seaside, Oregon.

Mima Mounds

Today we travelled a little south of Tumwater to visit the Mima (pronounced mee-mah) Mounds. When I researched these mounds on the Internet, they seemed pretty interesting. However, in real life they are not so interesting, pretty much a bunch of mounds with grass growing on them. I guess there are many theories of how these mounds have come to exist. Personally, I think they are the work of prehistoric giant moles. We went around the 1/3 mile loop and didn't really see anything worth mentioning other than a couple of potato bugs (or rollie-pollies as Corey likes to call them). Oh yes, we did see a big spider on the little boardwalk that scared Gabby enough that she would not walk by it. I took a couple of pictures, anyway, so here they are.


Scott learning all about the Mima Mounds


Gabby & Corey looking at that big spider.


On the observation deck.

Corey & Scott on the trail.


The observation station.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday wishes go out to my very good friend Rozanne. I miss you lots. I hope this is your best birthday yet!

Mid Week Happenings

We're half way through the week. Hurrah! Just a few of the things that are going on around here:

Monday was the beginning of a new trimester for Corey, and she has started Track & Field at school. I'm not sure how long Corey will last as she found out you actually have to RUN to do track & field. Huh...go figure! She said she'd give it one week and then decide. I'm hoping she'll give it at least a couple of weeks before she makes up her mind.

WASL started for both of the girls. So far so good. Gabby said today that her hand is tired from all the writing she had to do. They both said yesterday's tests were pretty easy.

Last night the Mariners won their first home game against the Angels 3-2 in the 10th inning. Everyone was talking about how great it is that Ken Griffey Jr has come back to Seattle after 10 years. We hope to make it to a Mariner's game some time this summer. Hopefully they will have a much better season this year.

Gas is now $2.25 a gallon at Costco, up from $1.99 on March 24th (the last time I bought gas). Increasing gas prices are a sure sign summer is coming. My odometer now reads 3994.....I'm so close to 4,000 miles and on the the 19th my van Misty (or YAR as we like to call her) will be 8 months old. Scott tells me I really need to drive more...but most of you know that I hate to leave Thurston County.

The weather today is sunny but a bit cool. We are enjoying seeing all the flowers blooming. The tulips are on the verge and I actually saw a couple that were blooming on our daily walk at work. We may head up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival this weekend if the weather holds. The grass has started growing again. I saw tons of people out today mowing their yards.

On our way out to pick up Corey from track we saw two ladies walking two Corgis that looked just like Winston! Just another exciting week in Tumwater.

Plant of the Week #3

One of my favorite trees is the Magnolia. I have one in my yard-Magnolia Susan-and no, I didn't buy it because it has my name!-but because of the beautiful dark fuchsia-colored blooms (as above). We planted our tree when we moved in our house 5 years ago. It is a very slow-growing tree, having grown only about 2 feet taller since it was planted. It is on the verge of blooming right now and I hope to have some beautiful blooms by next week (cross fingers). When I went online to research the Magnolia I was overwhelmed with all the information out there! I guess I'm not the only one who finds this plant beautiful & interesting. Here are some facts I hope you might find interesting:

• Magnolia is the official state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana


• Magnolia flowers may be white, pink or purple


• There are about 223 species of Magnolia in existence in the Magnoliaceae family with about 80 species in the United States.


• Magnolia flowers are typically pollinated by beetles. Magnolias flowers do not produce nectar, but they do produce large quantities of pollen. The pollen is high in protein and the beetles use it for food.


• The Mobil Oil company was originally supposed to be named Magnolia Petrolium


• The plant’s blossoms lack real petals and sepals; they are made up of petal-like tepals


• Magnolia has attracted the interest of the dental research community because magnolia bark extract inhibits many of the bacteria responsible for cavities and peridontal disease.


• One of the oldest nicknames for Houston, TX is "The Magnolia City" due to the abundance of magnolias growing along Buffalo Bayou.


• Magnolias produce cone-like fruits that are reddish-brown. They contain red seeds in the shape of a kidney. The seeds mature in the mid-end of autumn and birds love to eat them.

Magnolia fruit

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I hope the Easter Bunny made an appearance at your house! He visited us and sent the girls on a treasure hunt to find their goodies. They really enjoyed following the clues that the Easter Bunny had hidden around the house (he even hid one in Winston's box of treats!). They got lots of candy & each a new Webkinz-a Schnauzer for Gabs & a Bulldog for Corey.

This year instead of dyeing eggs we decided we would make & frost sugar cookies. We used Rozanne's sugar cookie recipe (which turned out great by the way-thanks Rozanne!) and a recipe I found on the Internet for icing. The girls had fun making the cookie dough. When it came time to roll out the dough we searched high & low but could not find either of my two rolling pins! So, the girls and I drove out to Fred Meyer in the pouring rain and bought two new rolling pins. Thank goodness they were open today. After we got back we rolled out & cut the cookies then made 4 different colored icing. The girls had great fun decorating the cookies but they soon got tired because I guess we made too many. Scott & I got to judge which ones were the prettiest. They did a great job, don't you think? Winston was happy, too, as he got to lick up all the frosting that fell on the kitchen floor!