Wildflowers

Because I have a knack for procrastination, I tend to write about things long after the fact, so here it is, nearly summer, and I've just finished working on my spring wildflower post.

About half of these photos were taken on our property, and the other half were taken at Carter Caves State Park in KY. We love the way native wildflowers herald Spring, but it's taken us a while to learn even just a small handful of them. We use the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers and also Newcomb's Wildflower Guide.

This is a Common Blue Violet:What I originally thought was just a mutation of the Common Blue Violet turns out to be the Northern White Violet:
I think this is the Smooth Yellow Violet, but I'm not positive:
Cutleaf Toothwort:
This looks suspiciously like Garlic Mustard; if anyone knows for sure, please tell me!
Rue Anemone:
I haven't a clue what this one is, so, again, if someone knows, please tell me. :)
Dutchman's Breeches:
Spring Beauty:
Wild Blue Phlox:
This looks similar to the above phlox, but has split petals and looks like an odd cross between the Wild Blue Phlox and the Ragged Robin:
Large-flowered Trillium:
This grape hyacinth is not in the hyacinth family, and, alas, is not even native to North America (it originated in the Mediterranean region), but it does cheer us up with its pretty color every spring:
Even a dandelion can be beautiful. While many consider this a weed, it is actually a lovely plant, full of uses. We just don't particularly want it in our garden beds where we're trying to grow another vegetable.
The kids want to make sure I include the Daisy Fleabane**. They have a most peculiar saying and habit. Whenever they see these, they say, "Daisy Fleabane: must whack", and then proceed to hack it off with a stick (or at least they used to). Yes, I'm well aware my children are insane. ;D
**Apparently, Daisy Fleabane is another name for Philadelphia Fleabane. Ds#1 noted that this year's crop is a very pink variation on the other years'. Not sure why though. Oh, and for those in Indiana, here's a quick guide to some common wildflowers: http://www.huntington.edu/thornhill/checklist/commonwildflowers.htm

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Free stuff, good stuff, tasty stuff

I've been wanting to do a post on spring wildflowers (because I love them!), but it's not happening yet. Here's a teaser with Virginia bluebells to show you what you can expect:In the meantime, I've found other goodies to share with you!

The talented Elizabeth of Gassner Custom Soaps (and more! Her lipbalms are tops in my book) is offering a bar of free soap for the price of postage. How generous is that?! While you're there, check out her weddings and Mother's Day offerings.

Carrie, Under The Willow Gifts, has Earth Day and Mother's Day specials, and I encourage you to try her incomparable Natural Laundry Soap.

For those of you who make your own body and bath products, there are a couple of ladies who are offering some nice specials too. Joanna is having a Destash sale on some of her EOs and FOs...mmmm! For those of you in Europe, Gracefruit is having a 20% off sale...yes!

For others, still, who are more interested in gardening: if you're wondering what you should be planting now, Mother Earth News has a helpful guide.

And those of you who are wondering what to do with your bounty of radishes and asparagus (oh, was that only us??), Mother Earth News has a nice recipe to try.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

A funny title happened on the way to the conference

As people may or may not have noticed, I was MIA for a bit. We went for a little vacation to the East Coast. Sorry, Carrie, we were south of you and north of you but not quite close enough to say hi on a relatively tight schedule.

For part of the trip, the kids and I went to visit with relatives (our favorite relatives!) while dh went to his annual conference. He is one of the authors of a paper presented at the meeting, and I thought you might like to know that the title of this paper is "Porkbutt's dumb statistic: evolution and prospect." If you click on the photo below, you can actually see the title:Who says academics have no sense of humor? ;)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

More on gardening

"Topsoil is an important natural resource that we have been very careless with, and about 70 gigatons of topsoil are lost each year due to inefficient agricultural methods." ~ Michael Wysession, How the Earth Works from The Teaching Company (emphasis mine)

The boys and I watch educational videos if we're at home during the lunchtime. Currently, we're watching How the Earth Works, and I was astounded by the above fact the instructor presented. For many years now, whenever we drove by a sign that said "Topsoil for Sale", dh always shook his head and said, "they're selling their souls." He's so right.

But on to a more cheerful gardening topic, the really nice seed company, Hometown Seeds, that I have on my sidebar, gave me some lovely sample seeds for having their logo on my blog. Click on photo below to see what all the seeds are.Look at the lovely variety of shapes and sizes of all the seeds! Nature creates the best works of art.
A close-up of the very cool lettuce seeds:
But, given how lame my reviews tend to be, which is why I don't have a blog devoted to reviews, I will refer you to the always gorgeous, always readable Amber's Ambry blog for her terrific post on Hometown Seeds.

I can't wait to try out some of these seeds though...or, more correctly, I can't wait for dh to try out some of these seeds!

By the way, our asparagus are poking out!!! :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams