I have been busy making cement garden decor

and I especially enjoy making water containers.

Some with shapes......

some with decorative rocks........

some with a little charm.

With the Texas wind and heat.......every thing bakes and is in constant need of water, 

and I love to see bodies of water, such as ponds or bird baths in gardens. In the photo above, "my patio garden" has natural elements

 like pine needles, pine cones,

 and rocks from a distant river bed

I grow succulents of different kinds in buckets and other whimsical containers, 

and native pincushion cacti ,

and I use my homemade cement containers to hold rocks and frog figurines. I love water on rocks because it gives the rocks a whole fresh and pretty look. 

I use the large water containers for birds, bees, and lizards to get a drink in the hot day. I toss in few shells that my small children( at that time)  gathered on Galveston Island on our family trips so many years ago, and added a small turtle figurine.  

To my delight this tiny little toad.....about the size of a nickel, found it's way into the water and perched on top of the turtle waiting apparently for a fly to swim by. 

If you click onto the photo, you can see the unique and beautiful design on this tiny toads back.

How about you?

Do you like ponds or bird baths...........

maybe a fountain as well?

I would love to hear!

Leave those orchids ALONE!!..........but feed the Zinnias breakfast!

I'm not kidding! My husband brought orchids home

to me for this past Valentines Day.......I love them.......however, they always seem to die within a month..........

until I learned that Orchids want to be left alone. They don't like constant attention........something I am always doing with my flowers. So I just sat these orchids in a lightly  lit area in our living room ( the photo is with them on the dusty porch)   where I could admire them "from a distance:".............and look!.............

not only are they still living, they have bloomed!  

If you want to raise orchids, don't water them until they feel dry........and don't let them sit in water.  Keep them in indirect light and where it is not too hot and not too cold...........but most important.........

don't baby them.

As for my Zinnia gardens this year..........I have been storing up all of the egg shells from cooking and all of the tea and coffee grounds from the kitchen. I sprinkle these along in the gardens about every two weeks

and now my gardens are in full bloom

and very healthy.

Even the Snap Dragons that had started to die, have now sprung back to life with a little sprinkle of coffee grounds and egg shells.  

As for the prairie.....it is full of wildflowers..............which don't get fed, but have been helped out with the abundance of rain that we have unusually gotten this year. 

They grow in big patches along the grounds and I could stay and walk in them all day!

Even the wild daisies which are usually in small clumps, have grown tall and wide.

We also have an abundance of rabbits this year. They are content to lie in the tall grass in the late afternoon.

How about you?  

Do you have a finicky flower?...........what is it?

Do you feed your plants now and then?

I would love to hear!

Just a few short weeks ago,

my garden looked like this..........

and now the black eyed peas that I planted have grown to be very healthy. They haven't started blooming yet, but it wont be long..........I hope!

My tomatoes have done well this year, but I am not giving them a chance to turn red............

no, 

they get plucked when they are still green and turned into a delicious plate of fried green tomatoes.

If you would like to make these for yourself, just wash and cut off ends of green tomatoes. Slice about a quarter inch thin....... roll them into a mixture of cornmeal and flour mixed together, dip them in buttermilk,  and then roll them in the cornmeal and flour mixture again. 

Fry them in a deep skillet of hot oil until golden. Drain and serve hot with a side dish of ranch dressing! 

So good!

I had company the other day as I worked out on the grounds. This vulture and a few of his friends stopped by to take a look around.........

and I saw this from a distance

got closer to discover a Coach-whip snake coming out of it's hole. 

It was as curious about me as I was it and I was able to get a good close up picture........

see the dirt still on it's head? 

It is also a time of lots of zucchini on the vines, and time to make wonderful zucchini bread.

For a great recipe, visit my cooking blog by clicking onto this link

My Country Kitchen 

So tell me.........what is growing or watching in your back yard?

I have found that trying to raise wildflowers..........is much like raising children

I adore all wildflowers because of their various and unique features...........

and they grow abundantly on the grounds, but not close enough, I feel,  for my flower beds........

so  I am constantly digging them up from the space they want to stay in........

and transplanting them close to my home......smothering them with care and affection......

just like a mother pulls her child from a place that he is interested in to keep him close,

and just like a child........the wildflowers prefer to be left alone and let to choose their own space and surroundings. 

and after awhile, I begin to understand........and let them be........

sigh

the woods are beginning to get overgrown from all of the rains and looking at them, 

one might think that nothing is there.......but overgrown brush.........

but come with me...........take a look..........

at a glance this is nothing but a scraggly and unkempt bush ........

but any scraggly lady still  loves her jewels.....

and this Texas native is adorned in colorful berries. 

The yucca is also thorny and plain during some months......

but in early spring.........

they have a heavy hairdo of blossoms............

which turn into large pods.........

and then dry, open up, and spill out hundreds of seed.

More beautiful wildflowers have found the perfect spot to bloom.......

and wild vines cling and grow up an old mesquite tree that is also covered in moss.

Sophie has spied something........

a thorny headed , horned toad.......

in the middle of it's  "ant lunch"

(click on photos for a better view)

and it looks as if it is wanting us to go away.

out of the woods and into a little more tame part of yard,

the pumpkin vines are starting to get those big ear leaves that I love.........

and my grandmother's Lantana  is blooming in the garden,

happy that I planted it there. 

The air is filled with the fragrance of fresh mown grass

and my chickens are enjoying the cuttings...........

they do their little "chicken scratch dance"

and nestle down in the soft dampness of it.

and the grounds are now clear of the jungle that had sprung up from the recent heavy rains.

Now...........for the wild ones............there is not much of a place to hide......

The toad seeks shelter by the watering can.............

the rabbit eats cautiously at the feeder..............

and the bull snake rushes up the tree..........

wishing I had not spotted it.........and wishing I had not cut down the tall grass it was hiding in.

(click on photos for a better view)

Yet..........I think it is smiling...........a little..........

don't you?