Lenten Rose

The Helleborus Orientalis or Lenten Rose it's the first plant to bloom in my garden. It blooms in the winter! I had always wanted to have one of them. But I didn't know how to take care of them and didn't know which one to get. There are many different colors of them!Until one day my friend Ali and I exchanged plants. She came to my garden and picked the plants she wanted. Then I got to go to her garden! I was surprised to see this plant. And was a little shy to ask for it, but I was there to get whatever plant I wanted, so I asked for it and she gave it to me.Since she has been gardening the Lente Rose for a long time, she gave me some advised of how to take care of it. According to her, this plant does good in the shade and doesn't like it to be moved. It will take a long time to recover. I decided to plant it in a corner where it gets plenty of shade. It has been there since, and I don't think there is a better for it. Besides, that corner used to be boring. But now it has a couple of colorful plants that makes it attractive, including one that blooms in the winter.She gave it to me at the end of spring. The plant was done blooming for the year. I had to wait to the next spring to see what color it was. I'm really happy with the color, or colors, because some of the flowers are white and others are pink. The only thing I'm not so happy about the Lenten Rose is that, the beautiful flowers don't turn up they turn to the ground!
It is good to cut the old branches at the end of summer or fall. But I didn't do that last year. Here are the before and after pictures.

Before, messy with last year's old branches.



And the after picture. All cleaned up, with only this year branches. It looks so much better!

Beginning 2012

I don't do New Years resolutions, I don't keep up with them, and they make me feel guilty for not doing them. For me, when I see the need to change the way I'm doing things or, if there is a habit that I think it'll be good for my life, I just start doing it right there. No need to wait for a new year.
But in December we traveled to Nebraska. To spend the holidays with friends. At their house I didn't have to do all the things I do at home. It was a good vacation, with lots of rest, and plenty time to just think. It made me slow down, and that gave time see the beginning of a season, the new year.Somehow I wanted to begin it by being more productive in the things that I enjoy doing for fun. They are photography, cross stitching, and blogging. I have been doing these things for a awhile now, but not in the way that I want. Just a little here and a little there, or whenever they come in mind.Being a mother is my main job. And I also know that my condition interferes with me doing these hobbies. That's why I came up with some type of plan. A plan that will help me concentrate only on the things that are good for me. You'll be surprised of how much time I spend on things I don't have any interest on. And because of all those distractions, I have neglected things that are fun and good for meI got so excited, that I went out and took all these pictures, and hundreds more.

Everything was brown, except for me! I put some color to the brown Nebraska with my bright colorful clothes. :)

The One With Lots of Flowers

After I give my address to someone that wants to visit me, I tell them that I live in the house with a lot of flowers. And that's what they do. When they get to my street, they look for the house with lots of flowers.

The problem is that there's another lady in my street, with a front yard full of flowers! Her name is Ali. And I think she does the same thing. She tells people that she lives in the house with lots of flowers. Because people come to knock in my door and ask for Ali! I don't mind telling then where she lives, but her friends like to come really early. They wake me up!

Her friends are morning larks, I'm a night owl!

I Didn't Plant That!

Those purple little leaves and flowers look really good with my about-to-bloom daffodils. I don't know the name of that plant and I didn't plant it. It's a weed!I put a lot of good stuff in my soil for the plants that I place there on purpose. And when I stop pulling out the weeds that come out of the nowhere, they take advantage of my good soil and grow really fast. I need to start coming out of the house and pull out all the weeds and grass that are taking over my garden.

Confused Plants

Here I go... again.

I want to start posting about my garden again, I know I have tried other years and didn't keep up with it. But I'll give it a try one more time.

I'll start with these pictures from January.

Because the mild winter in our area, some plants kept blooming through December and January. We did have some days that were really cold and the flowers and buds got flash-frozen.

This weather got the plants confused. The Cone Flower stops blooming in October - November, but this not this year, this is a picture of the burn buds on January.

There are some plants that are close to the schedule, like the Dahlia. This is how all the plants should be looking in January.

La Marcha de Zacatecas

I love the way the United States Navy Band plays La Marcha de Zacatecas.
They also have other good pieces of music in here. There, they have Anchors Away, we sailors never forget Anchors Away! For me, it reminds me of boot camp, more than getting underway.

Listening to the clear sounds of La Marcha de Zacatecas played by the Navy Band, was really nice.

But the way I listened to it, back home, was very different. The way we enjoy La Marcha de Zacatecas is when it's played by a band with a tuba and big tambor (drum), in the middle of lots of dust. Yes, It has to be dusty!

Viva la musica Mexicana!

I'm home sick!