First of all, this is the most lush and aromatic that this shrub has been in the three springs we've lived here. I LOVE it! We think it's some sort of a honeysuckle plant. I spent so much time pruning and cleaning it up last fall. I thought, "well, it may be rough next spring with all that I've done to it, but will be better in the long run". Well, it's better in the short run, we didn't have to wait!
Last spring I was at a garden center. You know how they have the area where the plants are super pathetic because they were missed in watering or are just root bound or something? Sometimes they're free, or a dime, or quarter. That's how I got these two lupine plants. I LOVE every thing about them! I like the leaves and the colors are fun.
This is the purple lupine. I like it even better than the fuschia one. To the best of my memory, I think that each plant was a quarter!
My sister's family has a new member. His name is Bo. They got him three days ago. A co-teacher of hers has a toddler and new baby and just can not give him the home they think that he deserves. Those people got him last year from the Nebraska Humane Society. What is sad to me, he was already 3 yrs. old then! So! He's lost two homes! Poor Bo! I'm announcing right now, if my sister and her family gets rid of him, he's mine...I'll be his forever home! He's 4 yrs. now and a mix of beagle and basset hound. Yesterday, she brought him out to meet his canine cousins.
So, pictured here is my husband Jim, My dad Delmar, My folk's Lab Brie, Bo and our Lab Zoe. Bo had a great time with his new cousins...at times yesterday we were all laughing 'til we cried. It was a joy seeing this "Lost Pup" have a renewed zest for life in his new family which includes other dogs. We're one of those familys that are also each other's friends. So, our nieces and nephews have sibling relationships with their cousins. In spite of addictions and alcoholism, our lives are good and worth living with the tools of AA and Al Anon. Amazing what a year can mean to us all of us after just a few are in recovery. Life is great!
Oh Cindy~~~your flowers are GORGEOUS!! The delicate light pink and then the billant purple lupine..just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet afternoon...with your family and doggies! It is amazing how our sweet pets bring such simple joy and laughter, isn't it?
Thanks so much for sharing!!
Hugs,
Lynn
Great pictures! The flowers are beautiful and the family, including the dogs, are adorable.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are great. Amazing how lupine does so well there but won't grow in this hot climate. Glad that life is good.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to believe it's June already. Where has this year gone?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers. The dogs look like they're having as much fun as the people! How fun that the pets can come visit with their families. laurie
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers. I need to make room in my front yard for some. If I planted flowers in the back my dogs would trample them.
ReplyDeleteWhen our family has a get together it always includes all the dogs. We joke when they're all coming in the door at the same time. "Look out, it's the Bumpus's dogs!"
Nebraska just looks beautiful! And what a great idea to nurse those flowers back to health--and do they look healthy!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the comment on my blog--I hope to stop by yours often!
Well, whatever you did to that shrub, it sure liked it, because it's blooming it's little heart out! Just gorgeous! My mother would be so jealous of your lupines. She's been trying to grow them for years. The plant itself grows, but no blooms. Ah well, such is the life of a gardener!
ReplyDeleteSweet, wonderful doggies.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I love the lupine plants. They are just breathtaking. What a great deal too.
Hi Cindy! Thanks for the Etsy order. I sent you an e-mail through the store, but I forgot to ask you if you want this in a matt or glossy finish.
ReplyDeletethanks,
Crystal
Hi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog. I saw you became a follower and came right over to say, "Hello".
I miss the flowers that grow in the north. I am from Washington, D.C. and still miss the smells, sights, the aura of where I grew up.
You wrote, "In spite of addictions and alcoholism, our lives are good and worth living with the tools of AA and Al Anon. ...Life is great!"
WELL - DITTO TO THAT FROM ME!
Prayer Girl