Refreshing June Strawberries

Who can't resit a bowl of home grown strawberries? Nothing beats going out in the yard and picking a bowl of berries whenever you want. I love not having to pay the store prices for something I can grow in my yard. Soooooo tasty and the kids love them too! I know this because I get the luxury of doing their laundry and their shirts are covered in strawberry juice :).

June Flowers in Full Bloom!

Blue Perennial Salvia. The Bees love it! I hear buzzing each time I weed and I smile thinking they are busily gathering nectar from my plants to make honey. GO...BEES GO!!!

Here is one of my favorite perennials.....Hen & Chick. I love them to pieces. They multiply all the time and are as small as my fingernail to as large as my hand with fingers spread. They are so beautiful in the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. How great is that? They are sun lovers and really don't need a lot of maintenance. They grow well in containers, and in rock walls. Hens & chicks prefer the sun and grow in dry areas.

Beautiful Orange flower. Re-seeds itself and is very beautiful in the summer.

Peony before it blooms. It is in need of Iron. The leaves are not green enough. I will fix that one!

Pink Peony After it blooms! So big it falls over and I need to stake it up. Look at the foliage after the Iron was added to the soil. What a difference. My soil has a lot of iron, but the plant can't take it up as readily because it is locked in the soil. So....I have to add more to green some of my plants up.

Pink trailing mini petunia.

Pink trailing petunia. A must for any container. A bit Pricey...but worth every penny for a nice flowering container.

Orange Tall Lily. I love these full plants with wispy Orange lily's on the top. They spread like weeds but I love them!

Stone Crop is a great ground cover plant. I love that it is low to the ground and fills in the voids in my flower gardens. It spreads and is great in rock gardens.

Pink Flowering Oriental Lily. I love the freckle like dots in the center. What a beauty!

Tall Pink Oriental Lily. Great for the back of a flowerbed. Adds height and beautiful color.

Purple and White Pansies mixed with Green Michigan Ferns. Great combination for the shade garden. I love how the Pansies Pop with color!

Red Weigela Flowering Bush

Happy Birthday Cupcakes

I wished my friend a Happy Birthday with Cupcakes. I baked some chocolate cupcakes and decorated them lightly with chocolate sprinkles.

I wanted to say Happy Birthday in a creative way, so I gathered some melting chips and went to town decorating!

I melted the chips in the microwave and then stirred until all the the lumps were gone.

When the chocolate was smooth, I spooned it into a frosting bag with a basic Wilton lettering tip.

I wrote Thank you onto wax paper with the melted chocolate. After it dried I was able to easily peel the chocolate words off the wax paper.

I pressed the chocolate word into the top of the frosted cupcake and delivered them!

1st Birthday Smash Cakes

My cute sister-in-law called and asked me if I would make SMASH CAKES for both of my nephews 1st Birthdays. I was delighted. The idea is to have a cute cake just for the 1 year old to destroy and eat! Soooooooo much fun.

This is my version of a BYU Baseball Smash Cake. It was fun to make.

I loved how this baby blue star cake turned out. I also enjoyed how my nephew really savored each bite as he grabbed handfuls of the frosting and put it in his mouth. What a fun birthday idea.

Summer Succulents

Hens & Chicks in an old container. I love the aged look paired with the cascading succulents.

This bird feeding container made a perfect planter for my succulents. I love add dimension and bones to my gardens. So when this lovely container came my way....I new just what to do with it.

Succulents....

And more succulents....They grow almost anywhere there is sun!

Awe...Summer Flowers

Iris and Blue Flax

Whimsical Blue Flax

Yummy Yellow Iris

Siberian Iris

Variated Hosta & a Yellow Pansie.

Chives

Mint Chocolate Cupcake

Here is a homemade mint chocolate cupcake. I made these for a neighbor around St. Patrick's Day. I prepared a regular cake mix and mixed up a mint cream cheese frosting to go on top. For the curled chocolate, I took a Hershey's minature chocolate candy bar and shaved pieces of chocolate off with a potato peeler. The curled chocolate added just the right look to top it off. I wish I could eat mint cupcakes every day!

A few of my favorite things...

Nature has always inspired me and filled me with awe. I love to see little colorful butterflies in my yard. Here is one I saw this week. Its wings are a bit tattered by the crazy weather I suppose. Seeing a beautiful butterfly always reminds me that there is a God. How else could such a beautiful thing come to be?

I love shade gardens and the plants that we find there. Here are a few from my garden. I love the dramatic Red and of course the Purple pansies! Who doesn't love flowers? When they bloom it reminds me that all the work to plant and care for them was worth it.
These little buttons fascinate me. Little English buttons are so beautiful and spread like weeds. Perfect if you have a lot of space to fill in. Lovely little things in the Spring! I only wish they lasted all year round. Keep on coming flowers!!!