Memorial Day and a Red, White and Blue Table

 

On Memorial Day weekend, we honor and remember those who died while serving in the U.S. military. The graves at Arlington National Cemetery are decorated with flags for this weekend.

 

The National Cemetery at Mound City, IL, will honor the soldiers buried there with a Memorial Day Service. Below is a picture of a previous service at the cemetery. Flags will also be placed on each soldier's grave. My father is buried at this National Cemetery. This will be a tearful day for me.

In honor of all fallen soldiers, I'm sharing a red, white, and blue table from my archives. 

We love to start our Memorial Day celebrations here in the U.S. by bringing out our patriotic colors of red, white and blue.

Whether it's a backyard barbecue, a picnic at the park, or a trip to the beach, we certainly know how to celebrate freedom.

It's kind of fun peeking into the bowl and seeing the star, I hope it is a surprise to my family as they gather around the table.

I would love to know how you celebrate Memorial Day - Judy.

Linking to the following parties:

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop @ Ridge Haven Homestead

Love Your Creativity Link Party @ Life and Linda on Sunday at 2pm

Sundays on Silverado @ The House on Silverado

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy on Sunday

Happiness is Homemade @ Ducks in A Row on Sunday

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop @ Ducks 'n A Row on Tuesday pm

Wonderful Wednesday @ Oh My Heartsie Girl on Tuesday

Creative Muster Party @ Fluster Buster on Tuesday at 6 pm

Photographing New Zealand @ My Corner of the World on Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday 

Share Your Style @ French Ethereal on Wednesday at 6 pm

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Friendship Friday @ Create With Joy on Thurs pm

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Create, Bake & Grow Together @ Shabby Art Boutique on Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Friendship Friday @ Create With Joy on Thurs pm 

Fabulous Link Party @ Peacock Ridge Farm

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound

Our Patriotic Porch

It's the time of year that we celebrate our traditions. We bring out our red, white, and blue and show that we are proud to be Americans.

I'm displaying a small patriotic quilt that I made for my front porch.  

My begonias are adding to the patriotism with their beautiful red blooms and a small American flag.

The huge macho fern looks fabulous next to the begonias and flag. 

My roses to the right of the front porch, are flourishing with beautiful red flowers. I found a surprise in my roses this week, a nest filled with four blue robin eggs. 

Have you tried "Diamond Frost" euphorbia? This delicate white plant was my very favorite new plant last year so I'm buying it again this year. I have it in with cabaret bright red calibrachoa (Million Bells). The calibrachoa is another favorite. It is a prolific bloomer and produces 1-inch blooms and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. 

My daughter gave me a dark red geranium for Mother's Day and I have just gotten it repotted for the front porch. They are such a classic beauty, I think we all love their green foliage and deep red flowers. 

I'm so thankful that my quilt is finished, and my flowers are blooming. 

Our back deck is also dressed in an Americana bunting and pots filled with patriotic colors.

I would love to hear how you show your patriotism - Judy.

Linking to:

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Love Your Creativity Link Party @ Life and Linda on Sunday at 2pm

Sundays on Silverado @ The House on Silverado

Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop @ Ridge Haven Homestead

Busy Monday @ A Pinch of Joy on Sundays at 5pm

MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Wonderful Wednesday @ Oh My Heartsie Girl on Monday

You're the Star @ God's Growing Garden, Eclectic Red Barn, The Lunch Lady, Lunch As A LEO Wife on Monday

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy on Sunday

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Wonderful Wednesday @ Oh My Heartsie Girl on Monday

All About Home @ Common Ground, Follow The Yellow Brick Home on Monday at 6 pm

Beautifully Home Made @ Across the Blvd.

Wonderful Wednesday @ Ducks in a Row on Tuesday evening

Tuesday Turn About Link Party @ My Wee Abode at 5

Karins Kottage Link Party @ Karins Kottage on Tuesday

Creative Muster Link Party @ Fluster Buster on Tuesday at 7pm

World Bee Day and Beardtongue Flowers

Today, May 20, is World Bee Day! To celebrate the bees, I'm showing you the bees at work in one of my sunny garden spots. 

The bees are busy moving pollen from plant to plant.

Do you know how the bees communicate? They do the "waggle dance."

The pollen is a source of protein the bees use to feed their young. The bees may not even know how much we depend on them. We would be left with no seeds, vegetables and fruits if pollination did not take place. Can you find the bee in this pic? 

The Beardtongue plants in my gardens are just beautiful! Take a look!

The bees love both of these two plants. I have the white and the purple beardtongue plants. There are also red, and pink plants.

The botanical name for beardtongue is penstemon. It is easy to grow and produces spikes of tubular flowers. I don't do one thing to these plants, and they grow and produce these gorgeous blooms.

I would love to hear if you are seeing pollinators in your gardens. 

Linking to:

Farm House Friday @ County Road 407

Friday With Friends @ My Hubbard Home

Saturday Sparks @ Pieced Pastimes on Friday

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Garden Affair @ Jaipur Garden 

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Love Your Creativity Link Party @ Life and Linda on Sunday at 2pm

Sundays on Silverado @ The House on Silverado

Busy Monday @ A Pinch of Joy on Sundays at 5pm

MET Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

All About Home @ Common Ground, Follow The Yellow Brick Home on Monday at 6pm

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

In the Shade Garden

Welcome to my Shade Garden here in Kentucky.

The April rains have certainly benefited the plants in my shade garden. We needed those April showers to bring the May flowers and plant growth.  In the pic below, there are hostas, hardy ferns, and a Spiderwort Plant (the plant with the purple blooms).

The hostas come in many sizes and different shades of green in my garden. 

The heucheras (coral bells) have become a favorite for me in the shade garden. 

Sweet tea is one of my newest heucheras.  

Astilbe plants are gorgeous in shade garden. They are perfect for brightening up a shade garden and have plume-like flowers. I believe this one is the "White Diamond" astilbe. The plumes will last for several weeks. More plumes will open in a few days.

The autumn ferns were added to my shade garden in 2016 when this garden came into existence.  They die back during the winter but return in the spring with bronze color fronds. As the summer progresses the fronds turn green.  

Hardy ferns were added two years in a row. Now new ones pop up each year. I am so careful not to step on the young ferns coming up in the garden. 

You can see my love of shade gardening. Do you like shade gardens?

Here is a short video of part of my shade garden.

Last year, I was able to work in my gardens most of April but this year has been a different story. Due to the rains and cooler temps, I only worked one day  in April in this garden. 

The calendar has flipped to May, and I have just started my gardening work for the season. This week's temps have been in the upper 80's and the humidity high for our area, making it pretty rough for working in the gardens. 

There are so many creeping vines that need to be removed. I'll show you my progress in another post. 

A few new plants were added for some color: 

Coleus

and Purple Columbine.

In this section of the shade garden, you can see a Painted Lady fern (grayish plant) on the left, a heuchera on the right (the darker plant) and smaller hostas used as border plants.

Even the smaller Hosta that were used as border plants around the edge of the shade garden have grown much bigger than I thought.

Hostas are such a popular plant used in shade gardens and landscapes. Because of their popularity, there are so many different hostas. They also vary in size so you might want hostas that grow very large or ones that stay small. 

I would love to hear about your shade gardens.

Linking to:

Met Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

All About Home @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home and Common Ground on Monday

Through My Lens on Monday

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Wonderful Wednesday @ Ducks in a Row on Tuesday evening

My Corner of the World @ Photographing New Zealand on Wednesday

Share Your Style @ French Ethereal on Wednesday at 6 pm

Thankful Thursday @ It's a Small Town Life

Funtastic Link Party @ Two Chicks and A Mom on Thursday 9pm

Little Things Thursday @ Random-osity

Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner

Grace at Home @ The Charm of Home on Thursday 

Fabulous Link Party @ Peacock Ridge Farm, Living Large in a Small House, South House Designs, & Vintage Home Designs on Friday

FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS on Thursday

Floral Bliss on Friday

A Morning Cup of Joe @ The Cottage Market on Friday

Farm House Friday @ County Road 407

Friday With Friends @ My Hubbard Home

Saturday Sparks @ Pieced Pastimes on Friday

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound on Friday

Garden Affair @ Jaipur Garden 

Mosaic Monday @ Letting Go of the Bay Leaf on Sunday

Love Your Creativity Link Party @ Life and Linda on Sunday at 2pm

Sundays on Silverado @ The House on Silverado

Busy Monday @ A Pinch of Joy on Sundays at 5pm