Garden Friends

After a bit of drought, we had some big storms roll through last week. The rain replenished everything. Our garden is buzzing again. I love the bees and butterflies. The vicious mosquitos I could do without.

 What's the buzz where you are?
Thanks for stopping in.
I have you have a fantastic weekend! ;)

Summer Buzzzzz

Our salvia and butterfly bushes are in full bloom. And that means these guys are pretty happy. I tried and tried last year to capture the perfect in-flight bee photo and kept coming up short. So far this year I have only had slightly better results. Here are my latest attempts. Getting that shot is on my summer bucket list.

What's on your summer bucket list this year?

By the way you can check out Alicia's Bucket list template here for a fun way to keep track of your activities.

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Linking up today at Deb's place. Stop by to say hello:

Thanks for visiting today!

If  you have just a quick minute in your busy day, would you please vote for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Photography Blogs Contest. I am honored to have been nominated and would be so thrilled to make the Top 25. I'm currently tied for 25th place with two other contenders. I need your votes! Just click the button below. :)

Thank you so much for your support!!!

Fresh Summer Flowers

Good day my friends!  I'm afraid I don't have much exciting in store for you today. Just a few summer flowers to bring you a little cheer. We finally got around to sprucing up the flower beds and boxes a bit last weekend, and these are a few of my new favorites. 

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Pssst. There's still time to enter my giveaway for a seat in Kim's Photoshop and Elements Workshop. Don't miss out, click here to enter!


By the way, I'm now on Bloglovin: Follow my blog with Bloglovin. Thanks for stopping by! Have a beautiful day!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Cameillas

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for our Cameillas to bloom. 

We've had buds for over two months now. 

Finally, this week we saw some gorgeous blooms!

Shades of Autumn - Purple

If you've visited in the past few weeks, you know that I've been joining in celebrating the fun and glory of Autumn with the Shades of Autumn Photo Challenge hosted by Kristi of Live and Love Out Loud, and Rebecca of Bumbles & Light, and Alicia at Project Alicia. It really has been a blast searching for each week's theme and checking out all the participant's gorgeous pics!

This week's color is purple. At first I thought this would be a tough one as purple isn't really a color that I'd normally associate with Autumn. But, I found it many places nonetheless. Most of these plants aren't Autumn-specific bloomers, but I did shoot each of these this week, so they are plants that are found here in SE Virginia in the Fall. I hope you enjoy them!

Simple Things Sunday

Simple Things Sunday is all about sharing simple joys or an image of something that made you smile this week.  I LOVE gardenias and we have several bushes out front. They smell amazing and the white flowers are so crisp and pretty.  Here is a picture I snapped this week of one of the blooms. 

Want to know the secret to beautiful gardenias that bloom again and again?  Pickle juice. No kidding!  Whenever we finish a jar of pickles I leave the brine in the jar, fill it with water and dump it on the roots. It really works. The plants go nuts. Now you know ;)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

No veggies for us this year, but our gardens are all abloom. I love the colors!

What's growing at your place?

Free Public Garden Admission on May 6th

Celebrate spring with FREE admission on National Public Garden Day, May 6, 2011. Sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens.  Many of the countries' biggest and most beautiful gardens are participating in this event. You may print as many vouchers as you need for your party! This would make a great field trip or just a fun family day out. Can you say "picnic"?  Or, as my littles call it, "picpic" ;)

To grab this freebie visit Better Homes and Gardens, select your local area from the pull down menu and print your vouchers. Must be redeemed on May 6, 2011.

Here are a few pics from our last trip to the botanical gardens. It was lots of fun, but gosh, I had forgotten how long it has been. We had only 3 kids then and I had long hair and fewer wrinkles ;) Guess we now have a great excuse to go back!