Balisha's Garden 2014 Review and 1st New Year's Eve

Sometimes I don't like those year end reviews on TV. So here I am following the crowd and taking you through my last year of gardening. I'll try to make it interesting. Here goes: 

Spring came and my little garden by the drive started blooming. Daffodils and hens and chicks. In spring, we are thrilled by anything that blooms. We had a rough winter and this past spring was looked forward to like no other. The bloggers were lamenting the cold weather from east to west. Spring was a respite from all that weather, so that anything blooming was appreciated. Before long the mulch will be hidden.

Tulips and daffs. Such a little bouquet compared to some of the other bloggers gardens. This little planting is special to only me. It was a pot of springtime from my daughter years ago. I just plopped them in the ground as they were in the pot. They come back every year and I have divided and planted them in other places in the garden.

Mary's Garden just starting to take off. I'm not a good judge of how things will fill in. Always think I need a little more. Do you see those little hostas?

My little veggie garden in containers just starting out. One tomato, two tomato. Herbs and lettuce in the other pots around the yard.

The early hosta surprised me with lots of blooms this year. Must have been a good year for them. This is where I found the little green tree frogs.

Do you see how Mary's Garden is filling in? 

Tim's garden filled in too. The orange lilies will have some company this next year. There will be a bit more orange in my gardens.

This hosta, one of seven, was so pretty. A bird built a nest in amongst the vine this year.

Purple coneflowers bloomed for so long. Some years their stems get a bit ugly, but not this year. They bloomed and bloomed. Great munching for the finches. 

We put some planters out at the end of the drive. They were planted with just geraniums and did so well.....I will do that again this year.Our mail carrier had a bit of color with the red and then the yellow day lilies.

Here are the tiny tomatoes mixed in with the Purple Hyacinth Bean vines. A handful a day....some made it to the house :)

Birds dropped sunflower seeds in several places....sunflowers filled in where weeds might have. This one is in my stackable planter on the deck. We got to see the finches up close as they stole a seed or two.

Now this is a pretty flower. Star Gazer Lilies popped up in several places around the yard. They were brought in and graced our home with their beauty and fragrance.I seldom make bouquets from my yard. I love to see them growing outside.

A basket of tomatoes. Enough for us two. BLT's for lunch...yum!!

Black Eyed Susans and Japanese Anemones mix together well. They are indestructible and well worth the wait. 

Can't forget the woods. It's the end of the growing season and this little bluebird house is empty. The Honeysuckle vines are turning yellow and gardening has come to an end. 

Well, not really the end. There was still the dreaded fall cleanup. All the bloggers were dreading this, but we got it done. I did most of it, but the final raking out was done by the fellow who mows for us. The first year that I couldn't really get it all done. When we had our first frost...the yard was cleaned up and I could walk along the woods edge and sprinkle wildflower seeds. I think that the birds were following just behind me, but a few seeds will grow in the spring...always a surprise for me.

So, my year end post has been done. As I look back on the 2014 garden, I am thinking that I did quite a bit more than the past year. Doing things a little at a time is my way. I don't know what 2015 will bring......whether I'll be able to do more or less. My lesson from 2014 is to be patient....things will grow....things will fill in.  

Balisha

As for New Year's Eve. We will go out for an early dinner in Rockford and then home to watch the new year come in in NYC. I'm making a couple of snacks for us.

We'll probably tell the old story of our first New Year's Eve, when Joe was in his house and I was in mine. His companion...Laddie the Springer Spaniel. Mine was Maggie the Cocker Spaniel wearing her party hat. We were on the phone and both watching the same show on PBS TV. He toasted the New Year with a martini and a steak and I had a little bottle of wine from one of those 4 packs and a lobster tail. We were getting the idea of marrying....thinking that we didn't want to spend New Year's Eve like that again. We got married 5 months later. The rest is history.
Happy New Year to all....Hugs, Balisha