Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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As I peer out my kitchen window the landscape is a bit boring in October. I have to smile as I think about a recent outing. Friends from our garden club went to visit and have coffee at the Harvest Moon Pumpkin Patch at Oakland. These seasoned gardeners were enticed to be kids again and boy, did we enjoy the outdoors. Adults and children should always take advantage of the great fall temperatures and a chance to visit a pumpkin patch. The landscape at Harvest Moon was beautiful, with maple...
It’s that time of year when looking out my kitchen window, the blooming plants have likely reached their peak growth. Things are gorgeous. Of course there are a few plants that are either stressing from the intense heat a few weeks ago or are just bloomed out. You have to overlook these plants and enjoy what you have. In my garden, it’s fun to clip bouquets using the multi-colored zinnias, delicate cosmos and annual asters that are blooming. I’m lucky that friends gifted me with garlic chive...
When it's hotter than blazes and mosquitoes are a biting, do you question just why you are gardening? I do. Then the next day, the morning is cool, a breeze comes up and as I look at my flowers out my kitchen window or prepare a pitcher of cucumber water, it's all worth the sweating and bites. Well, the bites are questionable. Looking at the flowers out the window and mornings on the patio are my favorite. The morning light just seems to make the flowers show off. We all enjoy our flowers and ve...
As perennial flowers bloom out during their season and others wait their turn, there are blooming annuals for a quick glimpse of color. Even then, there are times when looking out my kitchen window that the greens in the garden take front stage. I’ve just trimmed the spent iris and peony pods. Looking out my window the hostas are well leafed out. I’m a hosta fan and I’m fortunate I have shade for them. There is a variety of them in the flower garden and they put on quite a show. I don’t know th...
We've all heard it, April showers bring May flowers. For Nebraskans it's May showers that have helped kick in the May flowers and we hope this just continues. We sure don't want more storms. We've lucked out where I live that iris stems stand tall and the winds haven't caused any damage. Others haven't been so fortunate. I guess that is why when a flower bud opens, we better enjoy the show. I look out my kitchen window and realize what a blessing it is to be able to view the flowers. Not only...
I was busy this spring morning clipping little stems of grape hyacinth in my garden which is out my kitchen window. Containers, including a small glass cream pitcher and a tiny crystal cordial glass, are now filled with the pretty purple flowers. I just can’t resist clipping the flowers when they bloom in my garden. They remind me of what I think were gentler days, or perhaps a slower-paced lifestyle. My mother-in-law had grape hyacinth in her country garden and had shared the bulbs with me. I enjoy sharing them too. I’m not sure of the pro...
It still looks like winter out my kitchen window but I’m totally admiring pastel colors and cute little bunnies on everything I seem to look at the past week. Is this just because I’m tired of the gray winter scene outside, or is it because we are in Lent? I’m researching plants for the garden, shuffling my seed packages and asking friend gardeners if they have started seeds indoors. With another birthday being marked off, I find myself thinking of my garden bucket list. The bucket list chang...
It’s a new year which leads into new garden ideas. Visions of growing, blooming plants come to mind while a coat of snow coats the backyard as I look out my kitchen window. Garden seed catalogs have started arriving and flipping through to favorite categories I can’t help but notice the price of seeds has not come down. Will that stop us? Probably not. It means reading more and being a bit more careful when placing those tiny seeds we plant. The first step to planting seeds comes before we pur...
I’m anxious these days to get in my vehicle and drive. It’s time to stop looking out my kitchen window and look upwards at all the beautiful fall trees with leaves of golds and reds. Taking a drive with my husband, I was treated to a spectacular show of Mother Nature’s painting skills. In my area of Northeast Nebraska the trees are dotting the landscape in gold, burgundy and deep red. Along a mile stretch of a country road, three acreage driveways and groves are filled with trees that are flood...
It’s “peek time” in the garden. I don’t mean peak time which is the finalization of time in the garden when everything is at its best. It’s time to take a sneak look at what is happening with some of the produce in the vegetable garden. I’ve been scouting the pumpkin patch for well over two months but suddenly the vegetation is so thick that I can’t see the pumpkins that are buried in the patch. So I wait. It’s the same with potatoes. Especially sweet potatoes. Their crop is underground and it isn’t time to harvest them. So I wait. As August is...
July in the garden brings on another pace for me. I sort of slow down and look at what is blooming out my kitchen window. I've hustled through the previous months planting, watering and weeding. The weeding and watering doesn't stop, but on this particular morning, the chores don't seem as demanding. Sitting under the patio awning I'm placing flower blooms on the paper of phone books. It's time to preserve some of those special blossoms. Pressing flowers is an old art and I'm hoping an...
It's February and to no one's surprise, I have a severe case of spring fever. It didn't help that the Cuming County 4-H Extension assistant presented on the topic of basil at our recent garden club meeting. I can hardly wait to watch basil seeds sprout in my new seed-starting system and then to smell the fragrant leaves of the plant. There are so many ways to use basil. The herb isn't just for adding flavor. It can be used as medicine, an aromatic, spicing up food and yes, even for it's...
As I look out my kitchen window, I’m not only day dreaming in color for spring and summer, I’m also enjoying the fluffy capping of white as the recent snow covers the landscape. What a fun site as birds are fluttering around the bird feeders and winging their way to the bird bath. Mother Nature gave us this beautiful winter setting, although I know it also makes for a lot of extra work for farmers and road crews. My visions and dreams of color have been spurred by the seed catalogs that hav...
Christmas can be many colors and styles. There is traditional red and green, then comes gold and silver. There’s a plethora of color schemes to decorate your tree. I change mine out every now and then and this year is red and gold with traditional ornaments. Ninety-five percent of the ornaments have been gifts. I recently had surgery and knew I wouldn’t be able to decorate the Christmas tree as easily. One of my daughters and a granddaughter helped me with the project three years ago and off...
Sometimes I need to look out my front door rather than out my kitchen window. Today was one of those moments. What a show I was gifted with. The sunrise was a ribbon of colors that would be very hard to duplicate. I snapped a photo of the sky, streaked with golds, oranges and blues. There were little puffs of clouds that looked like very stiff whipped egg whites spread across the sunrise. Perfect! There isn’t any more that can be said to describe it. I’ve said goodbye to my colorful view out my...
Looking out the kitchen window, there is still a lot of color in the flower garden. Flowers just aren't as vigorous as they were a few months ago. I was fortunate to recently view some wonderful flowers that were still in their prime as I traveled on a bus trip to Mackinac Island in Michigan. Located in Lake Huron, the trip didn't disappoint with eye candy for flower lovers. I'm thinking the waves of humidity from the water is a breath of moisture each day for the flowering plants. Never have I...
Looking out my kitchen window I see there is a change in the August garden. It's rather gradual but it's there. The first noticeable visual is the green tones. Don't get me wrong, the flowers are still blooming brightly, with hydrangeas showing off their stately white blooms. The zinnias are sporting round pallets of color and alyssum is setting on new purple and white blooms. Petunias seem to have reached their peek bloom and vincas, oh I can't brag enough about the vincas that are bursting...
Lantanas are blooming their little hearts out. They love the hot, humid days of July in Nebraska. Humidity occasionally fogs over the view out my kitchen window but, as it slides off, we are delighted to again see mama turkey by the flower garden. She was standing as if on guard this wet morning. On guard she was, as to our delight, we spotted a young turkey nearby, busily pecking away for bugs in the grass. Summer out the kitchen window includes, not only the turkeys, but also bright bursts of...
I love the sound of a sprinkler on the garden. The spit, spit, spit of water lets me know the day will warm up, corn will continue to grow in the fields and my garden will also thrive and surprise me with new blooms. It’s summer in Nebraska. Looking out my kitchen window, I can’t help but gaze a bit longer at some head turners. Pops of flowers, when in full bloom, are head turners. As the month of June unfolds, there were not enough peonies in my life. The early head turners are done and it’s ti...
I started my day looking out the kitchen window at the spring green of grass, iris, peony plants and the leaves on trees. May offers such a pretty green in the landscape. The early iris are blooming including an orange toned flag iris and a light peach iris. Buds have formed on others and the peonies are budded too. Two little bushes, little Henry sweetspire, haven't shown their leaves yet. If they don't soon, they will have to go. That will mean back to a nursery to find something to fill in th...
The sun is shining and the temperature is above freezing. As I look out the kitchen window things are slowly greening up. A pot full of happy little pansies were added recently and they are showing off their faces on purple toned petals. A variety of birds are fluttering about the garden, traveling from feeder to feeder and landing on the bird bath for a quick drink. Oh, spring in the garden. I'm watching the garden as tulips and daffodils sprout up and shoot blooms. I'm anxious to hit the garde...
March can be a gray month. The grass is still brown and crunchy. No flowers sprouting. Occasional sunless days. When the sun does shine through my kitchen window, I get anxious for spring planting. The realization of how March affects the garden world brought to mind that the month definitely spurs the love affair we have with pansies. I can hardly wait to shop for pansies. Years earlier I would love shopping for the early blooming plant as a gift for my mother’s March birthday. I wanted the b...
As I look out the kitchen window I can't get excited about a Ground Hog's prediction. It is February in the Nebraska garden and it is cold and, except for birds at the feeders and cats playing in the backyard, it's pretty bleak in the garden. Despite the lack of color, I did get my fix of fresh flowers on Valentine's Day. I was asked to be the driver of a fresh flower delivery van. The day started early and when I entered the flower shop, it was a blur of activity. The three flower designers...
Kicking off the new year in one degree weather, looking out my kitchen window was, truthfully, “warm” as I went from the window to a recliner and sat in front of the television, watching the Rose Bowl parade. Those floats made me dream of a flower garden filled with colorful blooms. I won’t be plucking petals to make a float, but I am thinking ahead to a certain flower arrangement. In 2021, we traveled with friends to Cape Cod. Yes, we saw some cool gardens. We also saw a few lighthouses which...
I never get tired of watching birds out my kitchen window. At times, there's a large flutter of blue jays, yet other times, I catch a glimpse of red from Mr. Cardinal. Equally as pretty is Mrs. Cardinal perched on the edge of the bird bath. If you like watching birds you need to feed and water them just like any pet. Keeping a bird bath open in our Nebraska winters calls for a bird bath heater. In our case, as in probably most, you also will need an outdoor extension cord. The few extra cents a...
