Daisy Highside (Osteopermum ecklonis)

We planted these on Wedneday, April 26.
Care Notes: Full Sun, Water lightly

Impatiens Double: Victorian Rose

We planted these on Wednesday, April 26.
Care Notes: Shade, Water regularly

What Do You Use for Garden Tools?

This morning, I started to read Sharon Lovejoy's Trowel & Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies & Shortcuts for the Gardener. Towards the beginning of the book, I came across the following:

Don't be afraid to break the rules about what to use for garden tools.

I chuckled to myself, as I reminisced about my mom's lamentations regarding her kitchen belongings. My dad (the man who taught me so much about gardening) often took something from the kitchen to use outside. If my mom's kitchen scissors were missing, we all knew who had taken them and where they could be found.

The Song of the Herb Robert Fairy

Little Herb Robert,
Bright and small,
Peeps from the bank
Or the old stone wall.

Little Herb Robert,
His leaf turns red;
He's wild geranium,
So it is said.

Thank you, Dawn (By Sun and Candlelight), for making me aware of the above poem from Cicely Mary Barker's The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies.

Wildflower or Weed?

A few days ago my children and I discovered these unknown plants growing near our back fence and in a nearby flower pot. The purple flowers look so delicate and I am inclined to leave them where they are, but first I would like to know whether they are a weed or a wildflower.

Does anyone know what they are?

Update: Our unknown flower has been identified by Dawn (please see comments) as Herb Robert. More information about this annual can be found here, Noxious Weed Control Board.

A Prize Winning Photo!

My nieces' new dog explores a flower pot.

My Pint-Sized Gardener

Here is a picture of our flower picker.

Yardwork with Children

On Wednesday, I decided to spend some time in our backyard rearranging the landscape which has looked a little strange, since we had two big fir trees cut down last fall. My children were all excited about helping me, except for my youngest. He systematically picked our little fig tree and every flower he could find in our garden. He would pick a flower; I would admonish him. He would help us move a few little rocks and then...He would pick another flower before I could stop him. After every flower was picked, my son returned to a tulip, whose petals he had plucked, and tried to eat the filament and anther. Last year, it was the squirrels that kept destroying my flowers; this year it was my little boy. I would much rather see my little boy delighting in picking the flowers, than a squirrel ruining my garden!

Our Garden

There is something about the outdoors that beckons to my children year round. Whenever they are outside, they marvel at God's creations. They bring me worms, beetles, caterpillars, roly polys (a.k.a wood louse), pseudo-scorpions and whatever else they find. They notice the "little bells" on the hyacinths, the first tiny forget-me-nots, the cherry tree blossoms, the rose buds, the lupines, the colors of the lilies and the green strawberries that are always eaten by one of God's creatures before they can be picked. They climb trees, run and play. My children also sit on a piece of fossilized wood, looking at a statue of Our Lady of Grace, and pray. I pray that our blessed Mother, the patroness of our garden, always watches over my children, as they delight in the wonders of God's creation.