After several years of trying & failing, I’m so excited to FINALLY have a black-eyed susan plant come back for a second year… and have its very first flower in my garden!!! One of my favorite flowers that everyone says is the easiest of plants to grow… but not for me. So many variables, varieties & garden locations… thrilled that I might have FINALLY succeeded!!!

Just noticed this morning that my favorite plant is blooming already!

It’s a crazy-cool plant that I got a few years ago as a cutting from my plant pals in Peoria. They call it Bear’s Breeches… but I think the real name is Acanthus Spinosus. It’s got really cool leaves… but the flower spikes are AMAZING!!! So excited that it has really taken off & grown so much over the years. I love it!!!

I’ve been nurturing this little peony bush for a couple years starting with a little sapling in my garden. So excited that this year it FINALLY bloomed!!! Okay, so it’s only two blooms… but I’ll take it. And hope for more next year!!!

It’s that time for the year… and I’ve got quite a few irises blooming in my front yard. Such a great childhood throwback… especially the traditional iris scent. I just wish the blooms lasted longer. At least we get the cool “sword-like” leaves all summer long!

I’m getting ready to “spring” right into art fair mode… starting this weekend with a fun pop-up in Central Illinois. I’ll be spending the weekend with my very first art fair friends… yes, they were right across the aisle from me many years ago! They were the seasoned veterans, and I was the unknowing newbie. They took me under their wings & we’ve been friends ever since! But I digress… they will be selling many of their own homegrown plants, and I’ll have an assortment of pottery! If you live in Central Illinois, this is the closest show you’ll find me at… so I hope you can stop by!!!

If not, my next three weekends are also booked with art fairs… with Schaumburg, Hinsdale & Sandwich for the Northern Illinois Pottery Tour… chronologically in that order. Mark your calendars!

Thanks to my cousin Kim for bringing the bulbs & for helping with planting all of them last Fall… so excited to see an explosion of color getting ready to burst in my front yard!

Got a mug with a crack?… or a chunk of kiln “goo” in it?
Anything that doesn’t quite work as a functional mug nay more?!

Some creative garden friends of mine have started using their old mugs to grow succulents in them! You could plant them with pebbles in the bottom… or drill a hole through the bottom for drainage with a special drill bit for ceramics. Either way, a live plant can quote literally bring and old mug new life!!! Thanks for showing off your succulent garden Rosene & Gerry!

Rusty metal & mossy cement sculptures… what’s not to like on another gray & gloomy day?!

While cleaning up the “remains” from my Holiday Home Shows… I’m finally taking down shelves… and I’m finding that my neglected orchids have apparently been doing just fine without me! With my dining room window covered with shelves, my plants unfortunately get “wedged” in between the shelves & window and get very little attention for quite awhile! So imagine my surprise today when I found several of my orchid plants sending up new flower spikes already!!! So I’ve watered, cleaned, propped ’em up… and I’m now looking forward to some fresh new orchid blooms coming soon!!!

After cleaning out my garden (in the wet & drippy snow)… my cousin Kim stopped over and we spent the day planting HUNDREDS of Spring bulbs!!! It was a whole lot of work to have my garden look pretty much the same… digging holes, dropping bulbs, filling them back in & covering it all with leaves?! But come next Spring… fingers crossed… we should see a huge floral explosion of color!!! Thanks so much Kim!