In My Garden - Candle of Life

 Hello, my friends!

Thanks for anyone who was able to vote on the Webby Award. "More Than Santa Baby" didn't win but it was not because I didn't tell folks! It was a long shot, being up against HBO and Netflix, for Pete's sake! Thanks very much for anyone who took the time to vote, I appreciate it!

So, how are y'all doing?  April is flying by and guess what, I had a birthday! Yes indeed, maybe the American astronauts went around the moon but hey, I am thinking our trips around the sun deserves celebration too. (I wonder if anyone wrote a note to them saying "I love you to the moon and back? LOL!) Usually, April can be quite rainy but this year, it is not so in this area. We are desperate for rain, truly we are. Please, I asked you all to vote for a Webby award in my last post, would you all pray for rain for us?  Anybody know how to do a rain dance and direct it to Georgia, USA?  Thank you!

I really wanted to get to the Botanical Gardens in Athens, Georgia in April for my birthday but since it has been so dry and hot, I thought I might wait and see if May will bring some showers and they might be nicer to view. So....how about I just appreciate my own garden? Richard is a great photographer, but you know, he is an excellent gardener also.  

We got this pot of petunias in Old Town Conyers, from a halfway house where recovering alcoholics sell plants from a small nursery. Helpful for them and lovely for us! 

Anybody remember the tree we have out front that had the blossoms? It now has leaves! As I told you, it is a sassafras tree. You can always recognize it. It has THREE different leaves! One leaf has 3 lobes, and one leaf has two lobes (like a mitten) and one just looks like a rounded leaf. 🍃 There, like that photo! See all three leaves above? Now, you can identify the sassafras tree! It used to be the source of wait for it...root beer! Now, in the autumn, these leaves turn the most gorgeous colors- orange, red, yellow and even purple! This is a native tree, and it came up in our yard and Richard liked it and it is growing. 

Close up of the Columbine!  This was given to us in a pot and Richard left them out when they went to seed and the wonderful plant dropped its seeds and now, we are enjoying them anew! (The Dutch iris is in the background blooming. My brother gave us these years ago. He grew them from seed!)

Dutch Iris!  Here it is!  We usually have more to flower, but we think with the lack of rain, they are struggling a bit. 

Our front porch is becoming like a fern corner!  The small ferns in front of the tricycle stand are ebony spleenwort, and we dug those up from our yard! They are native plants and they are growing well. The other ferns are Kimberly Queen (from Australia, I believe) and Autumn fern is from Asia. 

Pinks! (Dianthus) How I love these!  They remind me of my in-law's garden in England; my mother-in-law loved her pinks. I did a post about these before.  They are not called pinks because of their color, it is due to the edges of the flower, see how it looks as if they have been cut with pinking shears? The actual word "pink" is taken from these flowers. Honestly! 

Always good to get a few bright red flowers like salvia to hopefully bring the hummingbirds to us!  If only I can keep the squirrels from digging it up!  Why do they do this? Who knows? 

Besides loving flowers, we also enjoy brightly colored leaves.  This is a pot of coleus.  It is a very cheerful sight as we climb our steps!

Justin Hayward is having a concert tonight in Augusta, Georgia. We wish we could be there!  Since we will not, I think I must have a song from him to end this post.  Hope you are all doing well and hope you liked our little trip around our front garden.

Oh! And I took all of these photos, if you are wondering why they are not good as usual.  What was Richard doing? Why, watering the plants, of course!

"Candle of Life" was written by the late John Lodge but Justin Hayward sings it in concert, and I have it for you here. It is from the album "To Our Children's Children's Children".