Here's One Thing I'm Getting Done for the Bridal Shower...

I am so enjoying getting ready for this bridal shower, but I keep coming up with more ideas and time will run out.  Are any of you that way too?  My best inspiration comes at the last minute!

Well, the party is outside, so I needed to freshen up (okay - in all honesty I never did plant any pots this year, so technically it's not freshen up, it's more like plant them up) some pots for the patio.  

Just started playing with Instagram.  Do you like to play there?

Thanks for buzzing in and just hope I have enough time left to take pictures of the shower so I can share them with you!

My Cottage Garden Is Buzzing Again

I love, adore, cherish, prize, and treasure spring at Sweet Bee Cottage!

Not only that...

  I am crazy about it, 

 nuts about it, 

 mad for it,

 smitten with it,

 sweet on it,

 stuck on it,

 think the world of it,

 delight in it,

 dig it, 

(whoa - that felt like a Brady Bunch reference)

 dote on it,

 fall for it, 

(now that's punny)

flip for it,  

go for it,  

have a soft spot for it, 

 a yearning for it,

enamored of it,  

and cherish it.

Wouldn't you?

Buzzingly,

All synonyms courtesy of thesaurus.com and me!

Linking up to
Show and Tell
at
My Romantic Home!

A Little Sweat in the Backyard and My Very Own Bunhead

I have to confess to you.

Worker Bee and I have sadly neglected our backyard over the past couple years.  At a glance everything looked okay, but really, we needed to prune and clean up and just plain old work in that yard.

We decided to tackle it in quadrants.   The first area we started on was our coastal redwoods.  They had grown quite shabby and the needles that had dropped must have been about 2 inches thick.  So we raked up all those needles and pruned up the low branches (hopefully we won't regret that decision too much in the future) and cut back all the vinca major growing under the three trees.  

After all that sweaty labor, it looked so inviting, but there was no place to sit.  So I grabbed our two adirondack chairs from the front yard and a table I already had.

I potted up a couple containers.... 

 to give it a little more personality.

Brody likes it! (Doesn't it look like she's roaring?)

 Sam likes it too (but he is the worst cat for getting a picture, so at least the back of his head is in focus).

Care for an ice tea?

 Oh and I planted a couple more pinks for centerpiece on our new outdoor dining table.

New dining table I said?  Well, you're just going to have to wait for more on that chippy story for another post.

grow little pinks, grow

I was on a roll and finally planted this old wheel barrow.  

I just love geraniums!

And would you look at how loaded with blooms our Rose of Sharon is?  I'll have to get some pictures when it is covered with blooms.

I mentioned my own little bunhead....

 Baby Bee just performed in her 7th dance recital!

Worker Bee's mom flew out for the recital.  I love that she makes the effort to come for Baby Bee's special show.

And, more good news - SCHOOL'S OUT SCREAM AND SHOUT!  More fun projects to come!  

Thanks for buzzing by!

 

P.S.  Speaking of bunheads, have you watched the new show?  Bunheads that is?  Not sure about it, but I'm willing to stay tuned to see where it goes.  I loved Gilmore Girls, did you?

P.P.S.  Oh and not all of those backyard quadrants are done, so as we make our progress, I'll keep you posted.
P.P.P.S.  I'll be linking up with Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson for Share Your Cup Thursday.
P.P.P.P.S  Also linking up at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party!  The more the merrier!

Garden Tour #3

I finally want to share with you the last of the gardens Worker Bee and I visited for our anniversary date day.

Garden #4

Who Needs Water?

Is xeriscaping popular in your part of the country?  

Love those pillows!

We live in the Central Valley of California.  The gorgeous Pacific Coast is a couple of hours away to the west, but it is very HOT in our valley in the summer.  We get very little (or really no) rain during the summer.  We aren't quite a desert, but we're pretty close to it.  Xeriscaping is a way to garden and use as little water as possible.

She's growing artichokes!  I LOVE artichokes!  They are my very favorite vegetable.

 This gardener had a very water wise yard.  Lots of cactus and succulents.

This bricked in circular area is where her swimming pool used to be.  She filled it in and planted a garden.

 I have to confess, I'm not that big a fan of cacti.  I think I might have the opposite of a xeriscape garden at Sweet Bee Cottage. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the chairs, table, and footstools from an old tree.  

 Now I mentioned I'm not a fan of cactus, but I do have a thing for succulents.

This hanging was made in felt pockets.  And do you see the cute little birds on the ends?  The gardener took a very plain boring wall and made it cute!

The side yard was very welcoming as we walked out of the garden.

Can you tell the lattice is inserted in the fence and is like a window into the neighbor's yard?  Love those suns too! 

The front yard didn't really give away much of what the backyard was like except for these rusted flowers.  Definite xeriscaping there!

And one last shot of the mailbox and the Mexican primrose surrounding it.  Aren't they pretty?  These will just spread and spread and spread.  

Well, things are still pretty busy here.  We just finished state testing and Open House is next week!  Can I just say, "YIKES!!!"  But it will all get done and it's all down hill from there.  Only four more weeks of school. YAHOO!

Thanks so much for buzzing in!  

I've got so many projects I'm buzzing about and I can't wait for the summer to come so I can tackle them with you.  

(You are going to help, aren't you?) 

P.S.  I still have one more garden to share with you so I hope you come back to see my very favorite one we visited.

P.P.S.  I always loved when a letter I got in the mail had a P.P.S.  My cousins and I used to write back and forth over the summer and we always had plenty of P.S.es (how would you pluralize that - I'm not sure).

P.P.S.  This garden tour is my cup of tea so I'm linking up with
Have a Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson!