It’s been too hot here the past week or so… hovering in the low 80s. I know, I know, I’m a weather wuss. But that’s (one of the reasons) why I moved here!

My iPhone has a handy, dandy feature where it shows me the current temp in whatever cities I have selected to check. It frequently reminds me how glad I am I live here, rather than in the parched desert. Here is where things stand at 12:56pm on Sunday, July 19th.

• Mill Creek, WA: A perfect 64°
• Salt Lake City, UT: 94°
• Kennewick, WA: 83°
• Princeville, HI: 80°
• Phoenix, AZ: 110°

The high today will be around 74°. And if that weren’t enough to make me love living in Washington, take a gander at what’s been happening in my garden the last while. Those tall pink and white foxglove just sprouted from seeds that blew over from the field behind my condo. Cool, huh?

How are you enjoying the weather??

I had plans Saturday.  Things to do, places to be, people to see. 

 However, before I started into that, I decided to spend a moment trying to create a floral graphic for the “Growing Gifts” application in Facebook.  Big mistake.

I should state here that I don’t really like Facebook – I don’t take the funky tests, I don’t join in all the hearts and hugs and hidden egg applications.   I mostly just check in now and then, because it has enabled me to reconnect with a few friends from the past.  

But there is one Facebook application I really like – Growing Gifts.  Basically, you choose from a selection of graphic flowers (using seeds you earn by tending to others gardens) and send them to your friends.   I like this app…   because I love gardens and flowers.

They have some lovely flowers to choose from - but also some very boring ones.   I decided to try my hand at designing an interesing offering to submit to Growing Gifts, and created the blue honeywort plant (aka blue shrimp plant) in the purple pot.   And after finishing that one, had an idea for another… and then another… and another…..  and I never made it out of my house. 

(Acutally I did – but just to the garden where I planted a few real flowers).

So I completely wasted my day obsessing and making garden graphics. But I was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out, and submitted them for review/acceptance.  They’ve been getting a good response from the design team and I think they’ll be accepted.  But I have no idea how long it will be before they show up in the application, could be months…. 

So I’m sharing them with you now.   Enjoy your flowers from me.

Do you have a favorite?

Oh… and Happy Mothers Day!

I saw something today that was kind of cool, but also kind of creeped me out.   It was this cluster of yellow dots on my siding.  When I got closer, I saw the dots were moving….  and when I got even closer, realized they were baby spiders.   You can click the pic for a closer view….

I did some online searching and discovered this:

In late summer or early autumn many spiders mature mate and produce eggs. The common Garden Spider lays from three to eight hundred yellow eggs that she cements together and covers in a dense layer of coarse protective yellow silk and detritus. When spring comes the following year, bundles of tiny yellow spiderlings with a black spot on their rear end can be found.

If disturbed, the bundle of babies will ‘explode’, with individual spiderlings dispersing away from each other on tiny silken safety lines. Once the danger has passed they climb back up the web and form a clump again. Before emerging from their egg sac, the spiderlings moulted once. Once emerged, they remain together until they have moulted yet again and grown big enough to be independent.

I know they are only garden spiders – but I have more spiders than I need in the garden.  I disposed of the little critters.

I love spring rain. Or summer rain.

Basically, I just love rain.

I love the way it sounds, the way it smells and the way it makes the colors in my flowers come alive.

A few weeks ago I stopped at Molbaks and picked up some primrose and daffodils to grace my patio as I am waiting for the bulbs and flowers from last year to bloom again. That sweet baby daffodil just keeps blooming.

And after discovering my first little crocus bud munched into oblivion before it could bloom, I’ve regularly followed shiny little slime trails to pots and rocks, searching for and dispoing of the evil slugs that lurk beneath… just waiting to feast on my garden.  

And then today….

I opened my blinds today and looked out into my garden and saw this!

The cute little iris that I’d planted early last spring (just before it bloomed) had survived the winter and has burst forth into glorious color on my patio.   

Daffodils and tulips from last year are several inches out of the ground and developing buds.  YEAH! 

And…  

My slug hunting has paid off, because the crocus and and primrose are also in bloom.

I love flowers.   Anything new in your garden?

One of my favorite things about living in the northwest is the abundant supply of affordable, fresh flowers.  Even in the middle of winter…..  

I live a little over 1 hour south of Mt. Vernon, home to the annual Tulip Festival.   Jealous?   

In March, you can drive around Mt. Vernon and see acres and acres of daffodils. Tulips in April. Iris in May.

I love the northwest.

While at Central Market (great place for natural foods) Tuesday, I noticed a sign announcing the arrival of the Mt. Vernon hothouse tulips, just the day before!  

And there they were…. rows of fresh cut tulips in a rainbow of colors….  for only $4 per 5 stem bunch.   Prices get even lower when they start cutting in the fields.

Obviously, I had to have three bunches. And aren’t they lovely?  Makes spring feel not so far away….

Southwest has airfare on special from Phoenix to Seattle in April………….