Category Archives: Illinois

More Flooding On the Illinois & Fox Rivers

We’ve had a lot of rain to go along with
our long, cool spring and once again,
our rivers are rising!
( We got another 2 inches of rain right after these shots! )
Junction of Fox and Illinois Rivers, Looking East

Veterans Memorial Bridge (RT.23) connecting Ottawa’s North Side to Ottawa’s South Side.

Looking across the water to Allen Park in Ottawa, IL The water is halfway across the Park.
This years flooding is minor compared to what we had in 2008. This light post is the same light post in the picture below (it’s on the boat docks under the same bridge in the second picture ).  Normally it stands above the water.
I think the water was a little deeper in 2008…. What do you think?   I had to stand on a nearby hill to get this shot because of the height of the water!

Jeanne Lajoie

One of my favorite little roses is starting to bloom!
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Jeanne Lajoie is a miniature climbing rose 
(another mail order plant) O

Tomato Plants…. and Magpies

Grown with lots of Organic Love…..
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Top left~ Tommy Toe cherry, Top right ~ Martino’s Roma
Bottom center~ Tiny Tim cherry

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…..oh, and here’s an update on ‘Grannie’s Magpie’

It’s covered in blooms!
(all hanging down in typical wild columbine fashion)

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Up Close and Personal

And the growing continues…..
(I was too lazy to add the botanical names this time around so if ya know ’em, shout them out!
Lilly of the Valley

My D and J’s Annabelle Hydrangea and a “gift” fern (ostrich?) .

Variegated Hosta

Wild Violets

Bitter Sweet Vine w/flower buds

Persian Lilac finally popped (mmm, smells good!)

More Lilly of the Valley and Vinca Minor

Chris’s White Pine

Little decorative bird house I painted on arbor

Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’

Amur Maple with buds

“I can’t remember the name of this one” Hosta

Francis William (I’ve always wanted and finally got one!) Hosta

Columbine, ‘Grandma’s Bonnet’, getting ready to bloom

new leaf swirl, on same Columbine

new Columbine bud on (unknown as of yet) volunteer seedling

Cat Mint

Hey Sissy, this was sold as an accent plant in a Patio Pot a while back~ It’s a Weed!

Volunteer BeeBalm (Monarda) in “said weed”

more wild Violets

Last years Coneflower seed head after the finches picked at it.

another one

Cobweb Houseleek, Spider Web Hens and Chicks
Sempervivum arachnoideum~ not planted yet

Resin Owl in “theme pot”
dada dada dada dada~ Bat Chime!
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Happy May Day!

 
 
 
 May 1st arrived bright and sunny!
Even if the temperatures only made it to 55 degrees 
and it sprinkled later in the afternoon!
To celebrate, 
here are a few more pictures of what’s blooming in my garden.

Bleeding heart, Dicentra spectabilis

  
The tart cherry is finally fully bloomed!
Even Daisy was enjoying the sun!

Apples and Cabbage (more signs of Spring in Starved Rock)

 
 
 
 
 
Commonly called mayapple~  Podophyllum peltatum,
cover parts of the wooded areas.
the Skunk Cabbage here~  Symplocarpus foetidus, is a rather foul smelling plant that love wet areas.
 And the final sign that Spring has arrived in Starved Rock…..

Another hike through Matthiessen

 Sometimes it’s hard to believe that a place such as this exsists in the middle of flat prarrie and corn fields. 
 headed down (the ultimate workout!)
 shallow water

 spanning the canyon
 crack in the wall
vines 
(it was so humid that the lens on my camera fogged up)
Matthiessen State Park, Utica, IL

Matthiessen

Climbing Nasturtiums

In a wild corner of my yard grows a wonderful little annual.
I religiously order seeds from one of my favorite catalogs~
“Pinetree Garden Seeds”
they don’t actually cling or wrap around but just sort of grow along anything that will support them.  
I’ve had them reach close to twenty feet before the frost gets them here. 
The seed catalog recommends that if you are ever in Boston, you must visit the Gardner Museum “to see the single minded, eclectic collection, listen to the music and see the old fashioned nasturtium baskets trailing their vines some fifty feet to the ground.”
I have yet to try them in hanging baskets (I will someday, I keep telling myself), but for now I’m just happy to watch them scamper carefree through the wild places in my yard.

colors of summer

I just thought of something…
green and blue are my favorite colors… 
throw a little white into the blue and
sprinkle little dots of color onto the green 
and you have instant summer!