My Grama's Soul

Anyone who knows me, knows, I have been a lifetime Gardner.  When I was young I used to have around l50 plants in my home.  Mind you, some died...but nevertheless, it never took the joy away from looking after the one's that survived.  I lived in AZ for most of my life so gardening can be sketchy.   It does delight me to see that gardening has taken hold once again in this beautiful world of ours.  I hope that this is not a passing fad like Sourdough Bread and Kambocha and all that baking we were doing during the early days of lockdown. Gardening can be a lifetime endeavor guaranteeing the Gardner earthly delights each and every day.  Keep on digging in that dirt. Stay happy Jo

Well, I have fallen off the wagon with my posting everyday for 100 days.  I have not felt well for the last few days so have been resting and taking care of myself.   Here is a picture of my back yard garden.  I sit out back often and just appreciate being able to do so and enjoy my yard. Stay well and happy, JO    

Gardners, by nature, are a hopeful lot.  We'll take a seed, a small cutting or a small starter plant and nurture it till it grows.  Part of this is the love of seeing the metamorphosis of the seedling to the full grown plant or bloom. We garden with the hope that our efforts will produce something useful and beautiful in the end.  Sometimes things die, but that does not prevent us from our continued gardening efforts......we don't GIVE UP.   I believe that the events in our world happening right now can correlate to a gardner's efforts in their own home. Our world is FULL OF plant loving people who garden for beauty, necessity, hobby or just for the love of getting their hands in dirt...and each one of us does this with hope in our heart's that our plant will survive and thrive. We know that we need to stick with what works and neglect the rest.  So right now stick with the positive people and people who believe we will not ...

  Each year around Mother's Day Trader Joes has glorious peonies.  Sometimes they are a light whitish blush color  and sometimes they are the bolder warmer pinkish color as above. They are always reasonably priced at $7.99 a bunch.    You never know how they are going to open..whether they will remain a bright pink or fade to this glorious blush color.  This particular  bunch has flowers the size of saucers. What starts out like this becomes this..... They truly are the most gorgeous of flowers. Takes one's breath away. Just sending some  beauty out to this wonderful world of ours. Stay well and happy. Jo

For those of you living in colder parts of our country, I wanted to share pics of what it is like in Arizona right now.  Flowers are blooming like crazy as it has not turned so hot yet. The jasmine has bloomed and the fragrance is truly heavenly...but it doesn't last for long.  So we do enjoy it while we have it. The lavender and dianthus are taking off as are the bottle brush bushes.  The bees are especially fond of the lavender and the hummingbirds LOVE the bottle brush. We have a resident humming bird who lives in a tree nearby and often vacations in our little courtyard.  He loves the Buddha fountain I have hidden under the bamboo. Most evenings he comes here for water and to take a little bath while Skyler and I are in our TV room watching a movie.  We can see him through the window as he often comes to show us how lovely he is by putting on a display in front of the window. I always like to think th...

I've posted before of the difficulty  of a spring or summer garden in Arizona.  In fact, gardening in AZ can be a challenge any time of year....here.   We have lived here going on three years now and I never tire of changing things around or sprucing things up.  In fact, at 70 years young I still get a kick out of decorating and fluffing up my house. These are photos of both the front and back gardens of our home.  Most of these plants have been here for the whole time and they just keep thriving in spite of AZ weather.  As you can tell.....I like a "full garden" look and the more the merrier I say.   For all of you who are still dealing with snow and slush....here is sending spring to your corner of the world. ENJOY!! JO

My daughters CT scan came back with positive results......yeah..... She still does have some health issues but it is not as serious as we feared......Thank you GOD. We all can now breathe a sigh of relief. hugs, Jo

My husband and I have only been in our new spot since August of this year...and with family happenings and just life in general...we have not been able to finish  some of the projects we want to do around here.  One of them is our little back yard. I love to garden and aim to have a wonderful garden in this house as well. I garden in pots for the most part as our soil here in AZ is so bad....although, we have made a small raised bed in the yard. It is visible in the above photo.  We have not decided what to plant yet but that will be done by the end of the month or early March.  Many of these plants were brought over from our big house and have managed to survive our hot, hot summer so I think they will survive in this new spot. I'm trying vegetables for the first time this year.  I have never attempted to grow then in pots so we will see what happens.  Above we have strawberries and red swiss chard along with oregano, thym...

Here is the little garden that graces the front door to our new, sweet little spot.  I have always believed that your front door area  gives such an important message as to who lives inside. It is a welcome to all who visit your home.  Most of these plantings were in place when we purchased this house.  However, the previous owner was a very tidy gardner and liked everything shaped into little tiny balls.   Not so.....with us.  We like a much more lush feel to our gardens.  The tree in the corner is a Ficus and the previous owner was kind enough to leave it for us to enjoy.  The tree is in such a large pot that it allows the Vinca to thrive below.  I might add that much of these planting are volunteers ( which all of you KNOW THAT I LOVE.....less work). I have always believed that a fountain will help plants thrive.....it could be inside our outside the door.....either place will give such a serene feel. W...

I have been very fortunate and have done many, many wonderful things during my lifetime.  Yet, I find, there are still a few things I yearn to do.  One of these was to take an OUTDOOR SHOWER.  My current home is certainly not plumbed for such a thing..so this summer I went looking online. Found this at World Market.  So I knew it would work for me and I could even take it to our new home when we move. It hooks up to the outside hose bib...and since the water temperature in AZ is ALWAYS HOT coming out of the faucet here in the summer...at least at my house it is...I knew it was my solution. We have used it all summer long before and after getting out of the pool....and I have been able to sneak out late at night and take a little rinse off under the stars. (O:(O:(O: The is something so uninhibited about being able to shower outdoors surrounded by nature (BTW I do live in the city).   I have a table with my coffee cu...

These are blooms that managed to sprout during this hot, hot summer we have had in AZ.  It does always amaze me how anything can grow so beautifully in this heat of ours.  Roses, garlic and oregano in a little vase....fragrant and nice combination....don't you think? Fall is around the corner......the light is changing....it is in the air. xoxo Jo

so simple....... so lovely......... ~~~~~~ Hugs, Jo sign by Style Carrot