The Bloom Day I missed

I was on the road to Houston for work on the 15th and as it turns out my computer is out of hard drive space. So I am pretty late for Bloom Day. But here are my pictures anyway:

Columbine--I have a couple of these in the yard, but this one is the best. Each year, I collect seeds, but I haven't been successful to grow them from seed.

Wood Hyacinth--this is the first time these have bloomed (since I moved them Fall 2005) and they are beautiful.

Lilly of the Valley--this is the only one I have. I think my aunt gave it to me a few years ago thinking that it was a hosta. I think it's great now that it's bloomed. Hopefully it will spread.

Allium (I think this one is "Purple Sensation") --I planted 5 of these but only 4 grew a stalk with blooms. But I think they are really cool. I've seen tons of them in gardens in my neighborhood.

Those are the majority of what is blooming. The strawberries have some flowers (berries coming soon!). I also have some sort of summer bulb that is blooming a light purple flower. The foliage indicates some sort of ornamental onion.

Garage Sales and African Violets

Mom and I ventured out on Saturday, May 3rd for the annual Highway 38 garage sales. Now this is the 5th year for this and it is a BIG deal to Pendleton. The town practically shuts down for it--just like during the Heritage Fair. I guess small towns can do that--you know so people can buy other people's crap.

A couple of thoughts on garage sales on the highway:

• It's on the highway, where there are few stops and the speed limit is 55. At times, I felt oddly unsafe while traversing the 2 lane road to look at someone's trash.


• It's on the highway, where there are generally not neighborhoods or subdivisions. We would go for quite sometime before finding the next sale. We even ventured miles from 38 looking for the posted barn sale or huge sale.


• The happens from Noblesville to New Castle. We made it from Noblesville to Pendleton; Lapel runs through it. This is the country--farms, trucks, and livestock. We're not only looking at other people's cast-offs, we were looking at country-kitschy cast-offs.

Don't get me wrong: we had a good time and found a few good things, but the majority wasn't all that great. It was open on Friday and I think the good stuff went that day.

But the find of the day, in my opinion, was the biggest African Violet (above) that I have ever seen. I purchased it from this oh-so-adorable lady in Clarksville. She was the cutest thing and grew all of her African Violets herself. She told us how to take a leaf and create a new plant. And, BONUS, since the violets had only ever been given rain water, she gave me a gallon of rain water to take with me to keep them happy.

Moving...meh...

Official Moving Day is May 31. Everyday I am overwhelmed by how much I have to do before then. I'm off to a good start, though. My Virtual Garage Sale is happening on craigslist.com. I've put some things on FreeCycle and hauled about 2 loads to the Goodwill. But I still have a lot to do.

The inside is daunting--but deciding what to take from the garden is even more so. Here's a list of what I hope to dig up and re-plant at my new place:

Tulip (3/4 are coming with)--these are quite possibly my favorite thing in the spring. I would have liked to somehow tag them to know when ones are which color, but that's for another year...

Iris (1/2)--these are budding, not yet blooming. But they smell so wonderful. Some are from Edna's, my late neighbor, garden. When I think about my love for a beautiful outdoor space, I can definitely mark her as an influencer. So I have to take some of these, but several were here when I moved in--I won't take them all.

Crocus (1/2)--I just planted a good 100 of these last fall. I'm definitely taking some with me.

Allium (3/4)--I just planted all of these last year as well. The 'purple sensation' are blooming right now and they are just beautiful.

Daffodils (all)--these are too beautiful to leave and they were the first bulbs I planted.

Minor bulbs (a few)--I really like the dwarf irises, the Grecian windflowers are good ones, too.

Muscari (lots!)--there are a tons of these and they are just beautiful when they bloom. A big sackful is coming with me (even though they were already here).

Hosta (a few)--some of the smaller ones are coming with me; the big boys can stay

Perennials I planted that come with me (at least most of them): delphinium, coreopsis, columbine, creeping phlox, day lilies, other lilies, lily of the valley, Beard tongue, asters, and sage.

A few things that existed in the yard prior to my arrival that I think I should get to take some of: lilies, clematis, lilac bush starts, maybe a rose bush, and these little blooming bulbs that I don't know what they are.

What I'll leave behind: Rose of Sharon, the lilac bushes, most of the roses, a lot of minor bulbs, the peonies, many irises, the wisteria that refuses to bloom, one of the clematis vines, the mums, periwinkle, weeds, weeds, and more weeds.

I'm taking a lot--but part of the reason why is that I know these won't be taken care of once I leave. It's a rental property and few renters care about keeping a garden, especially one that is larger than the amount of grass. I'm being selfish, but only because I care. I feel like an adopt-a-plant caretaker--I have to keep these precious creatures in my possession to ensure their survival.