A few shots from Grassy Waters Natural Area today

Daughter and I took a walk on the boardwalk over these wetlands this afternoon, and it was so beautiful. The water lilies were blooming.

A bunch of these yellow flowering bushes rising out of the water....

Lovely blue water hyacinths...

Some beautiful white puff balls. Someone I.D.'d these for me one year. But I have forgotten the name! They look like atomic balls!

Water lilies stretching far and wide....

Some build up of floating plant material making an artistic pattern....

Stacked canoes ready to go...

And check out how much money can be saved by avoiding bottled water! Amazing!

Xoxo....Julie   (that was a nice walk on a cool breezy day....well, in the shade anyway.....)

My rain lily bouquets!

Well, while I was busy at something in the house, my yard, which was suddenly and beautifully covered with rain lilies, got sabotaged!  By what, you ask? Not a thing, but the cutest girl in my world! EMILY JUNE!!!!

The yard was temporarily a lovely field of sweetness!  Until Ems decided to pick them all for her Mom and I.  

We decided to make a short stemmed, and longer stemmed bouquets (those that that weren't ripped out so mightily)!!!

We are decorating the carport with our bouquets! Are they not just so sweet?  They will stay open for days in water. At least some enjoyment can still be had! Ha! The joys children bring just cannot be  increased!!!! No way.

Good rosy morning!

I went out to water the tire garden and found this huge spray of Drift roses! I love when I can catch them fresh and perfect. They seem to fade fast.....much faster than other roses. But....they sure can put on a show!!!!!

Have a happy Sunday!

Julie

My pink tipped Euphorbia Lactea

You would think I would have seen that weed and pulled it before taking the picture, and maybe added more shells, but what can I say! This plant is much brighter tipped in winter months, and the pink is still there. It caught my eye yesterday and I thought I'd show it. It's hard to imagine, but most days it goes unnoticed by me. Pretty though, eh??? I just noticed the picture of it in the side bar from a few years ago, and you can see it has grown a bit! Lots more twists and curls!

This picture is for Elizabeth @ http://elizabethannesgarden.blogspot.com who asked to see a full view of the tire garden.  Click on picture to make it larger. You can see I have some tires that are three high, some are two and some are one tire high.  This can be done in a more attractive way.  Mine really isn't all that large. I had gotten the ones that are flat on the ground started when I was planting collard greens in them and needed more tire space, but for succulents or flower gardening it is nice to stack higher to save your back.  I have also seen where you can do rows kind of staggered and you can build out from higher tire stacks to lower and be able to plant in the spaces between the tires as well.  I am actually thinking of using some 7 inch high (or so) edging to be able to close in the areas around the tires to plant in the spaces as well.  I think some sweet sort of wild flowers would look very cool growing about.  We shall see.   I have not painted my tires because the sun and heat down here would probably have it all cracking off.  I will, someday, empty these out and rearrange them in a more attractive manner.  It will be a lot of work, because they are all full of soil that will have to be managed and redone.  I can't think about that now until fall/winter here.  Hope anyone who feels inspired to make a tire garden will do so and let me know so I can see what you do.  Hey... here are some more sites you can check out I copied from Google Blog Search!

1. 
   

   Making Tire Planters | ThriftyFun

   
   

   www.thriftyfun.com/ReadersRequest_745.html

   Apr 21, 2013

   This is a guide about making tire planters. Old tires have been used for years to makeinexpensive and creative planters. ... Old tire with/without rim; Sharp kitchen knife; chalk; potting soil; spray paint. Directions. Draw pattern ...

   - References
2. 
   

   How To Make A Tire Planter | Vegetable gardening hints

   
   

   www.vegetablegardeninghints.com/

   Mar 30, 2013 by The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

   The post How To Make A Tire Planter appeared first on The Cheap Vegetable Gardener.Used tires are a difficult waste product to dispose of as they take up a great deal of space and are discarded in large volumes every year ...
3. 
   

   100 Days to Hippie: Day 13 -- Tire Planter

   
   

   www.100daystohippie.com/

   Apr 1, 2013 by Tiff

   When I first told my mother I was going to make a planter from an old tire, her mind instantly flashed back to the tacky whitewashed tire planters from the 1970's. The horrid fashion and decor of that era must have left her with ...

   More results from 100 Days to Hippie
4. 
   

   Seven best Ideas of How to Reuse and Recycle Old Tires | Austin ...

   
   

   www.austinautoguide.com/

   May 14, 2013 by admin

   These old tires are recycled and reused so that there is reduction on the pressure on nature and even the pollution is reduced by not burning or incinerating these old tires. Rubbers produced from rubber machine are ... Planters- one of the most common ways of using old rubber tires are for planters. One can plant flowers or small vegetables ...One can search online for new patterns to make a pair of sandals at home themselves. These sandals and sleepers are very ...
5. 
   

   How to Make Recycled Planters | The Discovery Blog

   
   

   thediscoveryblog.com/

   Apr 9, 2013 by Lindsay N.

   If old shoes and boots aren't your cup of tea and you would prefer something a little more stylish, why not look at making some unusual but artistic planters from old tires? Old tires cut into sections and painted to look like ...
6. 
   

   Uses for Old Tires Finding creative ways touse w... - just a marine

   
   

   justamarine.blogspot.com/

   May 3, 2013 by just a marine

   I don't know how they do it, but I have seen where they take an old tire and cut it tomake a tire swing that looks like a horse (complete with stirrups). It was at our local petting zoo. By Khickman. Planters With Inside Out Tires ...

   More results from just a marine
7. 
   

   Little Known Ways of Re-Using Old Tires - Scarborough Disposal

   
   

   www.scarboroughdisposal.com/

   Jan 27, 2013 by admin

   Make Pots Out of Old Rubber Tires. Discarded rubber tires make excellent plantersand pots for plants such as herbs, shallow-rooted vegetables, shrubs and flowers. Unlike ceramic and clay pots, rubber pots will not crack or break and are ...
8. 
   

   DIY - Self Reliance: Recycle old cars parts : making an old tire planter

   
   

   diyreuse.blogspot.com/

   Jan 9, 2013 by geekyartistarabwoman

   Recycle old cars parts : making an old tire planter ... Hacks : Reuse old FlatBed scanner - make a Powerful lamp · Do It Yourself ! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ! ... How tomake a Rubber Tire Flower Pot · ✿ DIY Homemade ...
9. 
   

   Weekend Project: Tires to make our house pretty | Such and Such ...

   
   

   suchandsuchfarm.com/

   Mar 28, 2013 by suchandsuchfarm

   In fact, old tires are hella handy to have around the farm. ... that didn't work out too well for us last year), make nesting boxes out of them for your chickens, build an Earth home with them, just throw them down a hill and see whose tire goes the furthest ormake flower planters out of them… which is what we did. ... So Saturday morning, Dave and I took the time to make our house look more like a home and less like the “before” example on an episode of This Old House.
10. 
    

    Using old tires to make a flower bed - Green Energy - ECO Friendly

    
    

    www.ieee-institute.org/

    Apr 5, 2013 by Mark Stevens

    Getting free old tires should be easy from many places. When getting new tires you might get old ones for only $5.00 On average all you will need is maybe four or five for a good bit of planting. But large installations may ...

Catching and releasing moths with Emmie

Our yard is full right now of tiny moths that hang out in the grass. Emily became enthralled with them and we decided to capture a few to have a better look. 

She has released them now and is looking forward to a new search after school.

She is such a neat girl.

My new auction addiction!!!

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/

I am completely smitten!  I have a bid on a couple of Vera Bradley handbags, and a Betsy Johnson bag for my DIL!  This is so fun.  I love to search for a color, or whatever my heart desires, and browse the selections!  Hope you will enjoy, if you choose to!  I discovered this site in the middle of the night last night!  If anyone knows me, now you know why I am half asleep during the day!  Late night browsing! ;)

A little posey of each of my roses!

I looked out the window this morning and  saw that each of my mini roses bushes had at least one flower so I could make a bouquet of all. Aren't they sweet? I added a sprig of jasmine.

A few pictures from the tire garden this morning

A volunteer sunflower amidst the periwinkles....so sweet!

Mother of Millions nestled between the tires!

I love how these grocery store mini red roses grow in clumps!

A few yellows

The Black Knight has re-seeded along with a lettuce plant!!!!!

A few light pinkish mums

And check it out.....another darn tomato found back where I do not pay any attention! I had moved this and a few others to my long lost porch of despair 5 months ago, and I guess we have had enough rain to keep this fighter going!!!!!

Have a great week everyone!

xoxo- Julie

Some little plant lives found!

I was in Lakeland, Florida this past weekend for a funeral.  My Moms last sister passed away. All three of the siblings went to heaven in the same year period. It has been a sad year, for sure.

As we were walking through a bank parking lot back to our hotel, I found these plant growths on these trees. The leaf shot is to attempt to find the name of these trees. I will look for an APP to try and identify.  One of these growths looks like a bit of sphagnum moss, and most look like some form of moss. I wonder if they will all grow up to be sphagnum moss????? Neat to see how they start out.....just a light circular patch of green on the trunk. Pretty cool. I patch was much more wild and had a shredded appearance.  Well, I had to stop for pictures! Exciting stuff, eh?????

The last shot was of a rosé I found there in Lakeland which was nearly the size of my hand!!!!! They sure have gorgeous flowers!  It's just a beautiful city!

The very last shot was the sort of backdrop in front of a lake downtown there, at a gorgeous garden called Hollis Gardens. Unfortunately we only spent 5 minutes before they closed. My cousin says we will return when I get back over there, which I can hardly wait to do!

Take care!

Julie

Super Doozey!

Oh my gosh! I came home this morning, after kids to schools and everyone to work, and found this picture, drawn by 8 year old grandson, Donovan! It's Super Doozey! A tear came to my eye! How sweet. What a boy!!!! (Click to make bigger).
I'm adding a picture I just took of the Super Doozey doggy hiding from the camera!!!!! Hahaha!!!! It's a rainy, melancholy day here.