My Late Spring Garden 2019

The late spring garden was so beautiful this year.  After letting my garden go to weed when I went back to work full time, I've been painfully renovating it the past few years.  It's been such a difficult ordeal, but I think I've finally started to see my hard work pay off as the gardens I've completed looked stunning this year.

This little pond garden is right outside my front door.  It's cheerful daisies and sound of water greet guests when they arrive to my home. 

 I have so much of this iris in my garden.  It grows and spreads so fast.  It's very difficult to divide as the roots are so hard and thick.  But it is a pretty plant as the foliage is always attractive even when it's not in bloom.

This pink peony did so well this year, but unfortunately it was at the expense of a crab apple tree.  It's planted right under a tree that appears to be dying so it got plenty of sun instead of shade.  In previous years, this peony never even bloomed because it didn't get enough sun.

A close up of one of its blooms...ant included!

More peonies.  I love the deep burgundy red of this one.

And this white beauty I showed you last week, but it was still in bloom looking prettier than ever so I wanted to share more photos.  I cupped my hand around the bloom so you could see how large the flowers are.  Isn't it just gorgeous?

My favorite clematis is just starting to open up.

Here is a picture of that same dark peony pictured above as seen with it's companion plants in the garden.  I love the white background of the Viburnum bush and Goatsbeard.

The spirea bushes are starting to bloom.  This white one is always the first to bloom.

Another angle of the Viburnum bush and Goatsbeard with the garden shed in the distance.  

I mentioned last week how beautiful the lilac bushes were this year.  The lilac bush next to the shed really did well in comparison to previous years.   l loved how it looked right next to the the Viburnum on the left.

Another beautiful peony.  The closeup of one of its bloom is shown beneath this photo.

That is a white perennial geranium in front of yellow iris pictured below.

I always love it when my poppies bloom,  I only wish they lasted a bit longer in the garden.  They only bloom for two or three days and they are done!  I love the orange blooms against the pink Marguerite Daisies.

View from the garden shed looking back up at the house.

A close up of the Goatsbeard bloom.  I couldn't believe how covered in bees this plant was.

I was "blessed" with these two white metal poles cemented in the ground when I bought the property. I turned one into a spot to hang baskets, but I haven't done anything with the second one yet.   I should probably have my husband attach a cute bird house to it.

A close up of a Viburnum bush with Iris growing up through its branches.

Pretty daisies growing by the pond.

A close up of the white Spirea bush and one of its blooms.

Another view of the upper pond garden.   Bachelors Buttons, purple and yellow iris, daisies, and white geranium are all in bloom at once.

A close up of one of the clematis blooms.

This garden was renovated two years ago and is just now starting to fill in nicely.

There is a lot of purple iris in this garden because this plant also grows fairly well in the shade, and it's primarily a shade garden.

And another view of the lilac and viburnum bushes in bloom by the shed.

I look at these pictures and they make me kinda sad because now my garden is in that "lull period".  All the spring flowers are done blooming, and we are awaiting the summer flowers to bloom, so it's just mostly green.  But when it does happen, it will explode with hot, vibrant colors!  I can't wait!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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4th Of July Metal Tier Tray

In the spirit of Patriotism,  I decided to temporarily change out my summer lemon tier tray for a 4th of July design.  When the holiday is over,  I'll put the lemon decorations back in until fall.

I had so much fun playing with the colors red, white, and blue while putting together this tray.  I actually found many of the items in my own kitchen, like this red gel mold and vintage egg beater.

These vintage salt and pepper shakers were also in my stash.  My tray is deep and I need to raise some items up so that they can be seen so  I had my husband cut a few small pieces of wood and I painted them white.  It works great, you barely notice the wood base is even there.

I'm always late to the party when it comes to purchasing items for my tier tray.  It's because I wait for the items to go on sale, and then they are picked over.  But I did find a few things at Hobby Lobby like this wooden star, the "America the Beautiful" sign, and the burlap star picks.

I picked up the red, white, and blue roses at the Dollar Store.  Hobby Lobby had them too, but for $9.99 a bush...no thank you!  I also picked up the tiny white flowers at the Dollar Store too.  Flowers make such a nice filler for tier trays.

The vintage pastry cutter is also from my kitchen as well as the red cookie cutter.

The ceramic pot I panted myself years ago and I pulled it out of my garden shed to use in this tray.  The red mug came right out of my kitchen cabinet.

When putting together a tier tray for a holiday not everything has to be the same theme if they coordinate in another way like color.  In this tray,  I only have a few true patriotic elements, and everything is else is red, white, or blue.

A good tip when decorating your tray is to not only fill your empty spots with flowers or greenery, but fill up your containers too, like I did with the coffee mug and pot!

I'm having so much fun decorating my tier tray and dining room for all the holidays and seasons now that I have repainted it white.  The all white background makes decorating so easy...everything goes with white!

I just love this sign!  Even though its meaning can be interpreted different ways,  I mostly look at it from a physical viewpoint.  My husband and I road trip across this great country a lot, and I'm always amazed and awestruck by the diverse beautiful landscape of our country.

Other than a patriotic welcome sign and pillow on the side porch (not pictured) the only other 4th of July decorations I added was this vignette to the top of the piano.  I bought the flag for the tray but it was too tall.  Because it was metal,  I couldn't cut it down, so I just put it in the flower vase that usually sits on top of the piano.  Then I added some 4th of July pictures that were taken of Alethea and I last year.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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June Instagram Round Up

Once a month I like to show my readers some snapshots or selfies of what I wear in real life.  Here is my round up for June:

I wore my new dress from Stitch Fix on a warm 80+ degree day to go car shopping with my husband.      I was so cool and comfy in this dress!  I wore it with silver athletic sandals because I thought I'd be walking a lot.

However, I didn't need the comfy sandals after all, because we bought the first car we saw.  I've been driving my new compact SUV for couple of weeks now and loving it!

Other than a warm day here and there, it's still been very cool in Wisconsin.  Father's Day was only 54 degrees if you can believe that!  I wore this outfit to church, then out to celebrate Father's Day with my husband.  We went to lunch then a movie.  We saw "Aladdin" and really enjoyed it.  The choreography was amazing.  Loved all the beautiful color in the film too.  And the actors who played Aladdin and Jasmine were incredible.  After the movie we went to Culvers to get a free Father's Day ice cream cone for my husband.  The top is from Stitch Fix and the pants are from Charlotte Russe.

Sorry this picture is blurry.  I didn't notice it was blurry till it was too late to re-take it.  I wore this dress out to lunch and shopping.  The dress is by Liz Claiborne.

I received this dress from Stitch Fix last year and I wore it to church.

I wore this outfit to church on another cool day.  I think it was in the sixties on this day.  The top is from JCPenney.

Another church dress and also another Stitch Fix dress.  Stitch Fix has the best dresses!  I rarely return any dress I receive from Stitch Fix.

I wore this Stitch Fix dress to get my hair done, then I met my husband for lunch and ran my weekly errands.

I guess you can tell by this post how much use I get out of my Stitch Fix clothes and how long I keep them.  They really do have longevity in my closet.  Both the dress above and the top below are from Stitch Fix and I received them both over a year ago.

I wore this outfit running errands and having lunch with my husband.

As I put together this post,  I couldn't help but notice that I either wore a dress or white pants with a cute top.   It's my spring style:  white pants whenever it's too cold to wear a dress.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!