Nås, our village in Sweden is known for it’s potatoes.

The West Dala River runs through our village and the sandy soil is perfect for producing potatoes.

When we got to Sweden in June, the little plants were just poking up through the soil.

Nås is so far north that there’s about 20 hours of sunlight a day in June.  This is the same field two weeks later!

Here in Long Beach, we have very sandy soil, too, which means potatoes are a great crop to grow here, too.

Since we were going to be gone for two months this summer, I didn’t plant a garden this year—except for potatoes.  They were left to their own devices while we were gone except for a timer on the sprinkler.  Thank goodness they thrive on neglect!  A few days ago I dug them all up.

I guess we’ll be eating a lot of potatoes!

While we were at Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, everyone kept telling us how beautiful the flowers were at Temple Square.

The trouble is, when you’re at Market everyday, it’s hard to find time to do anything else.

But finally, on Sunday morning, we decided we had to see for ourselves.

And I’m so glad we did!

Words could never describe how beautiful the flowers were.

And I can’t imagine the number of tulips that were blooming everywhere!

I can’t even guess–5,000?  10,000?

They were everywhere.

I love it when flowers are planted in drifts.

It wasn’t all tulips.  There were these pretty purple flowers whose name I should know, but can’t think of just now

There were cherry trees just about to burst into bloom.

But it was mostly tulips.

If you looked closely, however, you saw that they were underplanted with other flowers, too.

These almost looked like poppies!

And this statue was so joyful!

I couldn’t resist a couple of angles.

You must think I’ve posted every photo I took there….

…but I promise I didn’t!

I edited the best I could.

But there were just so many to share.

It was hard to know where to stop!

So, Ill leave you with these last few.

I hope you enjoy them.

We stayed at the Belagio while in Las Vegas.  The hotel is beautiful, starting with the glass installation in the lobby ceiling.  It’s by Washington glass artist Dale Chihuly.

But the truly amazing thing is the garden at the end of the lobby.  I love the wild foxgloves that bloom near our woods, but these were pretty impressive.

Poppies!

And orange tulips!

I love this glass water feature.

There was a lot of whimsy in the garden, like these giant ants and mushrooms.

And I loved this pot spilling flowers out–and the giant trowel.

Here’s another view of the trowel.

In front of the Chihuly Studio, there was glass mixed in with the plants.  How perfect.

I think this was my favorite water feature.  Next time it rains, I’ll picture giant watering cans pouring the water down on me.

At Sally’s suggestion we also wandered through the Wynn and Encore.  It was decorated just for me–with butterflies!

I loved the marble floors.

And it was okay that they threw in some dragonflies.

Not only were there butterflies in the marble floors, but the carpets, too.

Isn’t the mosaic work incredible?

I loved the whimsy of these lights.

This atrium was fantastic with the umbrellas.  They just need the giant watering cans from the Bellagio!

Sally and Melissa.

I know water features (didn’t we used to just call them fountains) are very in right now, but I didn’t plan on one in my vegetable garden.

Mother Nature, on the other hand, thought I should have one–courtesy of the freezing temperatures we’ve had for the last 10 days.

I know it’s time to do the fall clean-up in the garden, but it’s so hard to cut back or pull up plants that are still blooming, even if the last rain storm beat them down and tipped them over.

Yesterday was an absolutely glorious fall day.

After taking full advantage of the extra hour we got from “falling back,” I headed right out to the garden.

Well, after I checked with my neighbor and expert gardner, Melinda.

She grows the most beautiful dahlias, and I wanted to know if it was okay to cut mine back now.

But how can you cut back things that are still blooming???

And even things that aren’t still blooming are still beautiful.

This sunflower head is 20 inches across!

And my little sunflowers are still showing some color.

What’s prettier than yellow and blue?

And what’s fresher than daisies?

These line the whole west side of my vegetable garden.

I remember sitting on the lawn at my grade school during lunch and making daisy chains from the daisies that grew wild in the grass.

And later, when I was in high school, daisies were a favorite of the flower child generation.

I still love them.

On the north side of my parents home was quite a patch of big daisies that seemed to thrive on neglect.

When they sold that house a few years ago, I dug up a few and they haven’t disappointed me a bit!

Even my hollyhocks aren’t ready to say good-bye to summer.

And this feverfew grows wild next to my compost pile.  It got started when I tossed a commercial bouquet of flowers onto the pile last year.  Instead of composting, it decided to sprout!

Very high up on my favorites list are nasturtiums.

Could it be because they are so easy to grow?

Or because they cover so much ground?

Or because they’re ORANGE–the most popular color in Anna Lena Land?

Maybe.  But, the long and short of it is, I didn’t cut back or pull up any of the flowers.  I know with the next storm they’ll probably be goners, but until then, if they want to bloom, who am I to stop them?

Wild things are blooming!

I don’t want to sound all cliche` about Spring Has Sprung or Enjoy The Wonders Around You, but I do like to see things coming to life this time of year.  I took a little nature walk around my house yesterday, and these pretty things were there to greet me.  Thank you, Mother Earth.

Just across the road from the end of our driveway there are some trillium blooming.  These are clinging to the edge of the ditch.  They must really understand that whole bloom-where-you-are-planted thing.

Cowslips.  These are growing in the wetlands near my cabin.  I love the yellow and the way the sun shines through them, making them glow.  They are mostly known as skunk cabbage around these parts, but I prefer the English name–Cowslips.  

Across the road in the Crowleys’ fields there hundreds of them.

I even found this Oregon Grape blooming.  It’s the Oregon State Flower.  I wonder who let it north of the border!

And even a few domestic flowers are blooming to brighten the landscape.  These little primroses are always a welcome sight.

And by the back door the white camillas are showing their pretty faces.

Happy Earth Day!

A Happy Accident!

Last year, after my pots of daffodils were finished blooming, I put them behind my potting shed, at the edge of the woods.  I’ve been very slow about getting my fingers in the dirt this spring, but the other day when I was walking over to the studio, something yellow caught my eye.  I detoured to behind the potting shed, and there were my pots of daffodils–completely neglected but blooming away.  It was like getting unconditional love!  “You may neglect us, but we’ll bloom for you anyway,” they seemed to be saying.  

This little pot had tipped over and is broken.  Shame on me!  But, true to their indomitable spirit, they just turned their heads toward the sky and bloomed anyway.  I have to laugh a bit because it looks like one of those fabulous “artsy” arrangements–but it was just a happy accident!  I gently carried it over to my front walkway–pine needles and all–so we can enjoy it in it’s well deserved place of honor.