Gotta love a garden

As you read this, I'm far from home, on my way to some meetings followed by a speaking event. Hopefully, back at home, Hubs is remembering all the flowers I planted and giving them a daily drink so they'll still be around when I return. Before I left I took lots of pictures to prove that--at least for a little while!--my courtyard contained some lovely flowers.

I have to confess, I do NOT have a green thumb, as this sad-looking verbena can testify. I purchased it a week ago, and I thought I'd killed it. But Daddy looked at it and said it was just too wet (you can water plants too much???), to let it dry out a bit, and it might recover. Well, as you can see, there are a few new blooms, so maybe it'll favor me and return to its former glory.

At our other house, I planted a knock-out rose, and within three years it had grown to a massive, pink-blooming bush of beauty. So I'm hoping I'll get the same results from this knock-out rose. (I chose yellow rather than pink because yellow provides such a nice contrast to all the purple in my courtyard. I need some yellow to signify the gold crown a king might wear. Purple, of course, is the color of royalty so it goes well, too, in the courtyard of a place called The King's Inn, right?)

I spotted this fuschia plant hanging in the flower section at Lowe's and let out a squeal of delight. When I was in Ohio with Tracie, Judy, and Cathy a few years ago, I saw fuschia plants and thought they were the prettiest things. Apparently they can grow in Kansas, too! So I brought one home. I just love it!














The same day I bought the fuschia, I also snagged three clematis--two purple, one white--and Hubs and I strung chicken wire across the fence so the vines have a good climbing station. (I walked to the local lumber yard and carried the roll of chicken wire home under my arm. And nobody laughed. That's the nice thing about being in a small town--you can do quirky things and nobody laughs. )

I've always loved pansies--they are such cheerful little flowers--and I'd already potted some before we made this move. So I just set up the pots in our new courtyard. The bright little faces seem just as content here as they did at our other house. And with all the shade in our courtyard, I'm hoping they last a little longer into the summer than is usual. Poor little things are a bit like me--they wilt in the heat.

Another flower I've always liked is snapdragons. 

As a kid, I loved pinching them and making their mouths open and close. The snapdragons in Daddy's garden and I had some lovely conversations. I planted both red and yellow snapdragons in various places around the flower beds, and I'm looking forward to next year when they've reseeded and popped up in places I didn't plant them. I love surprises. :o)

I'm hoping our shaded courtyard will be a good place for both impatiens and a hydrangea to bloom. Daddy says the leafy plant sharing the space with the hydrangea isn't duck weed (I was going to pull it out) so I should leave it alone and see what kind of blooms develop down the road. If it doesn't pop up with blooms, though, I'll be giving it a tug. I want FLOWERS in my courtyard, not just duck weed-looking clumps of green.

The former owners planted some lovely purple-blooming shrubs, but there was a little hole that needed something. Bring in the foxglove! The bloom on this flower is so interesting--almost a pink leopard print. And I'm told it will get very tall and continue to bloom well into the summer. I sure hope so! It's probably the most unique plant in the entire courtyard.

 Isn't this a darling little lion cub? He's keeping watch over the blossoms, counting butterflies, and greeting visitors. I couldn't ask for a more pleasant little courtyard companion. And as long as he doesn't start sneaking off with our strawberries, all will be well. (Hubs chose that spot to hold the strawberry pot...and I love it! So clever.)








And that concludes the tour of The King's Inn courtyard! Although it's a small area, it should be very cheerful with all the splashes of color. That is, if my not-so-green thumb doesn't present itself and scare the poor things into neglecting to bloom. Time will tell, I suppose. But for now, I discovered the joy of pushing my hands into the soil, burying the roots of little growing things, and dreaming of the day they bloom with fervor. (Do you think maybe that's the feeling God has each time a child is conceived?)

When I return next week, I'll announce the recipe winner from last week's fun. In the meantime, feel free to visit The King's Inn website and browse around. It's a neat place to be!

God bless you muchly as you journey with Him! ~Kim