Gardening in the Northwoods- the flower edition (and a side trip of trilliums)

The seasons change quickly up here and low and behold, it was snow flurrying about 2.5 weeks ago and now it has suddenly changed to  summer - we've had *2* 85 degree days- in a row!  What in the world happened to spring? Oh right, that was last week.   Silly me, thinking we might have some mild weather.  BUT I am not complaining about the heat, one bit.  I will complain about the mosquitos- that is the drawback of not having drought conditions....

A magnificent scene

Beauty in the north

Anyway, I have some lovely daffodils this year, but many of my clumps are getting a bit sparse, so it is time to divide them.  Well, not right now, I have to wait until late summer.  You need to let the foliage all die back naturally and really you should wait until at least August.  Then let the bulbs dry down a while and it can get quite cold before you replant.

Hyacinths

Now the trick is how does one figure out where one's daffodils are without doing a proverbial "stab in the dirt"??  The MA thinks that I can take good pictures of their location, which totally doesn't work.  For a variety of reasons.  I have come up with a good way, though, and that is to put a layer of pea gravel (or this year it will be sand) around the base of the flowers while I can see where they are and which ones were lacking in floriferous-ness.  It worked several years ago, so I have no doubt it will work for me this year.  My technique is to then dig up the clumps, replant a bunch of them, then toss the extras aside to get all mixed up so no one can guess which kind is which!  :D  Or I will attempt to perhaps put them in separate piles and try to keep them identified, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I was you.

Fritillaria or trout lily

I did some major weeding last night and tonight, and I have found that not quite as much stuff died as I thought.  I lost the usual amount of sempervivum and some of the fuzzy grey creeping thyme, and I imagine I am missing a few things that I have not noticed in the rock garden yet, but I found some of my favorite things.  And then a few of those things I realize in my hurry to escape from the mosquito onslaught I forgot to photograph.  Well, just  BOO.  I can catch them tomorrow.

Pheasant eye daffs under the lilacs

And I discovered this guy flying around!  I've not seen a sphinx moth quite like this

One of my mini evergreens

Sea Holly (ignore the weed remnants)

Rock garden Gentian

My fern leaf peony- not sure if this guy is going to bloom this year

Another sea holly- haven't finished neatening up this area- mosquito issues!

We also took a drive a few days ago, when the weather was a little overcast and cool (you know, that week of spring) to see the trilliums in bloom on Lakeshore Drive between Butternut and Schnur Lakes. So amazing this year- seriously it is worth the drive if you are within an hour or so of here.  It is like a carpet of trilliums that go on and on and on for a couple miles.  It is a pretty road anyway, but this is just spectacular.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to see all this green.  The leaves are almost fully developed, they are just a little on the small side yet, the crab apples and apple trees are starting to bloom and leaf out and the lushness that is the short season of summer in the Northwoods is upon us.  I intend to indulge in every moment of it that I can- at least until the mosquitos send me into the house.  But there is always tomorrow.

Until next time, find some joy and pass it along.

Bee update and other stuff

blood root

I was planning to do separate bee updates and posts from other things, but you know, it takes a long time to do one and I am too damn tired to do two. So folks, you will have to BEE PATIENT AND FORGIVING!  HAHAHAHA  these bee jokes are just going to go on and on, you know that, right??  :)

Brushing the bees away from the queen cage

carefully replacing one of the honeycomb dealies where the queen cage was

Our bee tools- hive tool, paint brush, multitool and spray bottle of sugar water

Anywho, we went into the hives tonight and took the queens out of their lil cages.  They could have been out already, but the corks that we were supposed to remove and replace with marshmallow fell into the cage, and then got in the way of the queen getting out.  sigh.  Well that was no big deal, and we just pulled the screen off the cage and dropped her in.  For anyone who thinks they can tell a queen bee from the rest- that is highly unlikely.  I mean she looked exactly like the rest of them, except she was holding her butt up in the air, very unqueenly if you ask me.  But hey, what do I know.  Anyway, she disappeared into the crowd.  I am sure they know who she is.  Interestingly, they had already started "pulling comb" on the side of one of the queen cages.  VERY fascinating stuff.  It is a trick to deal with those bees all clinging to the different parts.  We were trying to replace the combs without squishing anyone, which we mostly succeeded with.  Everything is all good to go now, we shouldn't have to do anything except fill the feeder pail once in a while.  They can take it from here.  We will just keep an eye on things and make sure there aren't marauders around.

Removing one of the parts of the hive to make sure the queen got out of the other cage - you can see the watering pan that has rocks in it for the bees to land on to get water

Crazy isn't it

And of course we had the cork issue here too.  

The bees had started to make comb on the queen box!

So today I went for a little photo shoot of some flowers both planted and wild and got a few nice shots. It gives me so much pleasure to have these flowers around and I am assuming that pretty soon the bees will start visiting these different blossoms as well.  They were pretty busy in the hive today, haven't seen anyone out and about quite yet, but I bet that will come soon.

Crocus

Blood root

Anyway, here is a selection of some of my finest daffodils and there are a few mayflowers and blood roots too.

And as we go into spring, and then summer- remember to be a joy giver!  And save some of that joy for yourself.  If you can't bee happy with you, how can you find happiness in the little things in life.  And those little things are everything!

ON TO PLAY WEEK! (is it done yet?) and weekend wrap up

Play week is not for the faint of heart.  It is a tremendous amount of work and I will be standing a lot this week.  A LOT!!  I hope I can find my black crocs, because I am going to need them.  Which reminds me, I have to find a black t-shirt sometime this week, or go buy one or something, because the ones I had are just too unimaginably big and I think I thrift shopped them.  I am so impetuously compulsive sometimes about that sort of thing.  I am sure those big t-shirts would have been fine.....  ugh.

So tonight, it is full dress and makeup dress rehearsal, and I am going to be putting makeup on the main cast members.  I am excited about this, being able to do the lions and scarecrow's makeup, PLUS the witches and the tin man!!  And Dorothy, but I just need to glam her up a bit, she can do fine on her own mostly.  I adore this part of makeup, including sliding eyeliner on the nervous and blinking furiously boys that are in the cast.  Some of my favorite moments of hilarity and bonding have taken place while staring at the anxious eyelids of the play cast members.  It is an intimate moment in time, so to speak, lots of fears have been revealed over eyeliner.

I am making sure to pack healthy food, including some of the copious amount of hummus I made last night and probably will have some almond milk along to make a protein shake.  I will need the energy to teach all day, then go directly to makeup and then to staging and marking for dress rehearsal tonight. The first dress rehearsal generally finishes after 8:30 pm.  With 49 munchkins involved......  oy.  They will soon find out that the witch really resides behind the stage, as I do not take any fooling around when we are in character..... something that the big kids understand, but the little kids don't quite get.  Sorry kiddos, Mrs. Oswald has been taken over by one of her other personalities.

So weekend update- I did end up getting the card table- even though we went and had Chinese last night to avoid the whole cooking thing.  Which is cool as I have lunch now for today, since I did not get all the cooking done I had planned yesterday.... but that is fine.  I had NO IDEA that the Chinese place had a tofu dish.  YAY!

I got a 5.5 mile walk in also, even though I swear people were conspiring to goof up my afternoon to myself.  I didn't exactly get what I planned for, but oh well.  It was good enough.

One week from today people- one week from today begins my spring break, and I begin it with............drum roll.............. a dentist appt!!!  WTF?????  WHAT WAS I THINKING??????? I can't even.

But then I can go to the gym all day if I want!

Can't think about that now, too much to do before that.

So a few weekend photos, I have a couple including a stone house one or two and a few other little things.  Because it reminds me that life will be back to "normal" soon

peek!

Stone house

Little Cabin in the snow

Winter shadows

Until next time, be a joy giver and avoid those joy stealers!!  HEY, and if you find yourself to be stealing someone's joy, give it back. You both will feel better!  :)

Daffodil watch, 2013

I think this is an exciting new addition to the Mad-Art Teachers Blog!  Daffodil watch!  I live for the days in the spring when my daffs are blooming.  I adore them and their little sunny selves with a passion that I hardly understand.  I have probably 15 - 20 different varieties of them, ranging from huge Alfred yellows to teensy little minis, whose names escape me in my tired delirium.  Minnows?  nope, um, I'll think of them.....  Anyway, lots of sizes and colors and assortments.  I know I have a bunch that need dividing, too, so that gives me a duty for the summer.  (HA!  I was actually right- Minnow is one kind, and Tete-a-tete and Sundisc)  whew!!

Anyway, this was spurred by a few incidents that have happened lately, the main one being that once again I missed the American Cancer Society's daffodil day..... for heavens sakes.  I know approximately when this happens, and yet every year I miss it.  So of course I happened on a lovely bouquet of them on the school secretary's desk and was immediately enthralled and frustrated.  Sigh. 

 The next thing is way good for me, as I have a lovely arrangement of spring flowering bulbs that have been growing for the past 4 weeks.  I got them from a sweetheart of a friend for Valentines Day.  YAY.  Anyway, I have had 2 different purple hyacinths bloom now, plus some gorgeous red tulips and just lately some orange ones, but this morning, hidden behind a tulip was this...... 

I gasped when I saw it.  Seriously, I need to buy myself some more, because I have been staring and sniffing this poor guy nonstop since this morning.

Just when the snow and cold becomes next to unbearable (or at least my whining about it does) then that little darling bundle of yellow peeks out at me.  YES!!!

Anyway, hidden underneath of this  white   is a huge assortment of my gorgeousness in yellow... and orange and pink and white and a touch of red........

I kinda dig this swirly pic on its own terms!

So here begins Daffodil watch 2013.  Expect weekly (at least) updates on the progress of said floral feats of delightfulness in yellow!

What a great way to anticipate some joy!!  

Trending Purple (flowers) with hints of pink and white

So the Mad-Art Teacher had a nasty-ass headache last night.  It was in my sinus and in my forehead and in my neck.  Neck rubs helped a little, Ibuprophen helped a little, laying  down in my bed for a teensy nap helped a little, too.  But what made me forget about it completely is going on a little photoshoot around my yard.  I have a surprising amount of flowers in bloom right now.  Most of them are very subtle, not too showy or flashy.  Except for my azalea bushes, they are like blinking neon signs and they smell so good!

I have detected a distinct purple trend in mid spring flower fashions!  With hints of pink and white.... 

Here is the show-girl of my garden right now- "Pink Lights" Northern Highlights Azalea

Perennial bachelor button

Purple Perennial Geranium

Lupines in the garden

Chives

First Siberian iris of the year

Tattered remains of the creeping phlox

Spiderwort

Purple/pink drumstick Primrose

Heucherella bloom

Heucherellas

Rock garden Perennial Geranium

Bleeding heart

It was great to get down and shoot these closeup, walk around outside and find some little pockets of pleasure.  I also noticed that I have a LOT of work to still do in those gardens!  Too many weeds in some of them yet.  Guess I know what I will be doing this Memorial Day weekend, in between the rain showers!
Regardless, spending time in the flowers will give me some joy!