Garden photo's

This first photo is a close up of my Mum plants in the process of forming their flower buds. It is hard to believe that these little hard green buds will soon open to be big vibrant flowers. Mum's are a type of plant that teaches you about waiting. The Mum's start growing in early spring. The old plants will begin to have new stems and leaves grow from the bottom of the plant. (So it is very important that you let the dead part of the plant stay on the plant over the winter so that the new parts of the plant will grow in the spring.) Also in leaving the dead top, the seeds will fall into your garden and then you will also get new baby plants.

All summer you need to fertilize and water and pick your plant back. If you don't pick the plant back then you will not have a big bushy plant come fall. Then in the fall you wait and wait for the plants to finally bloom. I'm still waiting. I have one plant that has it's buds opening. A brilliant deep purple color is soon to emerge. Photo's will be coming soon.
This is a photo of a Cosmo. Another from the seeds given to me by the Librarian. I was surprised to find that Cosmo's come in different colors. I need to do some research on them. This photo is a little blurred. Sorry. I'll need to get out and get a sharper photo later.



This is another Cosmo. I love the yellow center with the deep purple and then light purple pink color. It is just beautiful to look at.










This is a Dianthus. These plants are small and are good for the front or boarder of a garden. If you pick the dead flowers off they will continue to bloom from spring to fall. My neighbor saw me clipping the plant down earlier this year and thought I was making a mistake, but was glad when the plant re bloomed. This plant is part of the Carnation family. This spring at first bloom my garden looked so pink from my window. It was just wonderful to look out and see all the pink.

So today I am handing more applications in to stores in the area. I'm hoping that soon I will have an interview and that I will have a job in a few weeks. My husband had a bad week last week. Some of it he caused for himself, and some of it is just from the learning curve. I was worried he was ready to give up, yet on Saturday he came home in better spirits and feeling that he was looking at this job as a training experience. He is learning the skills he needs to stay in the auto industry. He is ready for some bumps and disappointments but hopes that for the bulk of his time he is able to learn and grow. It will also be nice if he can make enough for us to survive. His pay check this week was not very good. It makes me so thankful that we have savings. I will also be a little more relieved when I have a job to help buffer the bad days. It is also nice that we have quality health insurance for our family that is not so expensive that we can't pay it.
A blessing of all these trials is that so far it has been drawing my husband and I closer to each other. We look for ways to build each other up, and to keep positive. We are growing and learning. Like a garden it takes time,and a lot of waiting before the beautiful blooms appear, and the delicious fruit is ready to eat. Each day is full of hard work so that the end result is worth the effort.
Saturday I spent time in my garden. What a blessing to have a place to go and just work and have quiet time to think and reflect.