Season of Gardens

 

This week the weather has been amazing; so spring-like and maybe even a bit of summer. The perfect season to be outdoors and in the garden. Now the first few pictures are in a park about 1.5 miles from my apartment. I probably could have walked there, but didn't want to carry the picnic I had prepared. How wonderful to be outdoors enjoying the day. The river is called the Willamette (an Indian name). The boat is called The Portland Spirit. They do river cruises throughout this season. It is quite beautiful from the water when cruising. They were just turning around when I snapped the picture, heading back to Portland.

In the park I found dogwood and roses. Loving flowers so much, I am always on the look out for them.

Our picnic was of course also tea time. We had egg salad sandwiches, fruit, olives, and macarons. I love the challenge of putting together tea time or a picnic from what is in the cupboard. Sometimes those end up being the best, plus less stress. Just toss things in the basket and off we go.

But now let's get serious about gardening. Ha! Even with just having a patio, my "live-in gardener" and I can't ignore getting a few plants. So off to the Canby Garden Fair we went. There were tons of tomato plants, but we decided it was flowers for us this year.

So many beauties to choose from. We only have a few pots to fill; so we couldn't get much. But enjoying the looking was part of the fun.

Several times I had to stop to smell. These lilacs were amazing.

And then we returned to our little patio garden. A friend gave us this jasmine plant when we moved into the apartment and it has flourished in a pot, climbing up the bird feeder pole. I imagine the birds are enjoying it now too.

I even had my morning tea enjoying our little patio garden.

If you look closely our little table holds the flowers we brought home from the garden show. I can't wait to see them flourish on the patio this summer.

Are you planting a garden? Do the flowers just call to you to take them home when you see them at the garden shop or market? It is hard for me to resist. Now how many pots of flowers will this tiny patio hold?

One more picture just to make you smile. There is one squirrel that likes to visit our patio every few days. He is quite unafraid of people. I think someone must feed him. He will come right up to our window and peak inside to see if we are there. Here he is enjoying our little birdbath. It is hard to keep the birdbath clean, as our neighbors above us also feed the birds and the residue sprinkles down, not that the birds or squirrel mind.

Sending love,

Marilyn