Garden Time

We always have to wait until after Mother's Day to begin planting because we might get a frost. Most of the plants came back that we put in the ground last year. We had only a few to replace. Love these Hot Lips.

I was so excited when the Hosta came back.

The Maples are doing well.

The Mexican Primrose are taking over the rock wall……a good thing.

The window boxes are overflowing…..maybe there are too many plants in there?

The Knock Out Roses look great.

100 bags of bark/mulch went around the garden beds this year. We had to cover all of the holes that Argo dug over the winter.

Pumpkin mound. Randy planted a nice carving size pumpkin.
Note: the caution tape is for Argo….STAY OUT OF THE GARDEN BEDS!!!

We hope a good cucumber crop will climb up these iron railings (left over from the deck railings). We hope to have long skinny ones and slicing cukes.

Five different kinds of tomatoes in four different garden spots….it's an experiment. (Early Girl, Better Boy, Cherokee, Sweet 100s, and one other that I can't remember at the moment.)

More tomatoes…..different bed. We also have three kinds of beets: red, white and orange.

Five kinds of carrots……different colors. The last time we were at Trader Joe's, we bought a bag of multi-colored carrots…so fun and tasty.

Bee pollinators…..there are three of them in the garden. These are scientifically designed nests that make the bees' lives easier and safer. We hope we are improving the ecological system in our area and also hope for a more bountiful garden.

I am trying new plants in the window boxes on the west deck…..trailing Vinca and Euphorbia. Really tired of Marigolds and Petunias.

Walla Walla Trip

Allegiant Air is not our favorite but it did get us to Pascoe (an hour from Walla Walla) in 2.5 hours. Heidi and Stuart have built a lovely house……very cozy and comfortable.

Heidi has just started to work on her garden. They had a long and cold winter. We enjoyed the greenery as there were so many beautiful trees, bushes and grass….a nice change from AZ.

Opening day of the Walla Walla Farmer's Market was lots of fun. Randy found his favorite honey…Star Thistle, and we got some veggies for dinners.

We watched a group of cloggers for a bit.

We then headed to Palouse Falls. The Palouse River, which is responsible for these falls, was the geological legacy of repeated glacial dams and floods from the ice age. The falls are 180-190 ft. tall and are the official state waterfall. A kayaker rode these falls in 2009 and lived to tell about it.

Dakota enjoyed a bit of tree climbing after our picnic lunch.

Very interesting geology in this area……love the layer upon layer of basalt.

Dogwood trees were in bloom everywhere.

Just gorgeous.

We toured the Whitman Campus on Sunday where both Heidi and Stuart work. Beautiful!

Art and sculpture are everywhere on the grounds.

It's a large campus for the 1500 students who attend this liberal arts college. They boast a nine to one student to faculty ratio.

We, of course, had to see the climbing wall.

On the way to the airport on Monday, we visited a bird sanctuary.

We spent a bit of time in this blind looking at all of the wildlife.