They're Back!

As the wisteria, redbuds and dogwood blossoms fade away and the leaves of the trees are back in their full summer glory, our azalea blossoms are back!

We've lived in this house since 1982. That first spring, in 1983, we saw a beautiful display of white azalea blossoms in our front yard. It wasn't nearly as big a show as now but the blossoms were huge and we liked the way it looked. So we've left it all alone to simply grow larger and larger.

 The flowers are large with just the hint of pink inside.

 We've tried to find more bushes like them but haven't been successful. So over the years, we've covered a branch with a brick and it's rooted there. After a year or so, DH digs it up and transplants it in another part of his woods. We hope to eventually have many more bushes of white.
The bush used to be nicely maintained in the yard. As it's grown, we've lost part of my flowerbed to it and it's gone way over the driveway. We live on a hillside and we have to drive near the edge because we don't want to hurt the gorgeous flowers!
Do you see where DH has used rope to pull the branches back toward the house? You can see the driveway through the bottom right corner of the picture. My job is to hold the branch up while he pulls and tightens the branch. We have some stakes in the ground under the bushes to hold them.  We have to do this every couple of years. Still, the flowers extend way out on the driveway.

 We're supposed to have alot of rain in the next few days. Last night it began with a fair amount of rain. However, yesterday afternoon we made our annual trip to Stanley's Greenhouse to pick up some plants. DH got some hollyhocks and azaleas. We're continuing our effort to try to get hollyhocks established here. They don't really like this kind of weather. Where I grew up, Mom and Dad had a ton of them. I've brought seeds down here and tried but they're not happy and don't come back, if they even grow. So he'll try again this year!
I buy things for the decks. We don't really have a garden or flowerbeds. We're surrounded by trees so I haven't been very successful with that. However, the deck is usually full of plants. I tried to winter the ferns again this year in our little greenhouse. I think I lost most of them this time. We'll be pulling out plants later this week to see what's survived enough to recuperate out here! I always buy a hanging fern.

 This post on the deck gets more light so I"m hoping this plant will be happy. It's gorgeous now but we'll see what happens when it gets hotter!

 Right now all the plants are still in the boxes waiting for the rain to end so I can pot them in their permanent spots...

Right now it's not raining but I have to go to the studio. If it's nice this afternoon I'll plant a few of them. However, they're predicting up to 4 inches of rain by Wednesday so I'm thinking maybe I'll wait til then to move them. They're protected by the upstairs deck where they are now so alot of rain shouldn't bother them too much.
So what's on the loom? Right now it's empty. I just took off a warp of red with some chenille in it. Just red. What's going on the loom this morning? More red with no chenille.....I'll see if a picture looks good for next week. I'd like to get this warp off quickly as well. It's not very exciting but the woven pieces will be nice! After that, maybe I'll put on a green warp. Hm, Christmas colors? Ha! Not really. Just some nice woven pieces to sell.
Until next week, enjoy spring (Moose Jaw's getting snow for a couple of days so they will have to wait a bit yet!) and keep weaving!!
Carol