Garden Tour

Okay, so I need a little help here.  I'm attempting to green up my thumb this summer.  I need some help identifying some plants that are growing in my garden and some tips on what to do with the rest of them.  Here's what we've got:

This one is in okay shape.  I just wish it had more purple blooms.  Don't you like the milk can it's sitting on?  I do. :)

Our little curbside tree is greening up nicely.  What are these things called?

Here are some of the hostas I transplanted from my sister's farm yesterday.

The hanging basket on the left is blooming and beautiful.  The other one is getting too much sun?  I just drenched it in water, picked off all the dead-heads and I moved it to a shadier spot.  Hopefully that helps?

  Now we venture into the scraggly backyard.  Until last weekend, this was duck territory, so I had to abandon all hope of getting anything done back there.  I like how even the weeds look pretty when a few forget-me-nots get thrown into the mix.

Taking the prize for both the ugliest and prettiest thing in the backyard, here is the clematis that was blooming and tangled in the debris from last year.  I scooped it all up and tied it to the trellis.  I guess it will have to do for this year.

Here's the other clematis.  It hasn't bloomed yet, but it's a lovely rich purple.  I scooped it up and tied it, too.  The hole is the duck den. :)  Dan cleared it all out yesterday.

More hostas that I plunked in amidst the ground cover and some purple "stuff" at the back that I transplanted.  Anybody know what this is called?

See what I mean about prettiest and ugliest plant?

The pretty part of the clematis again.

Weeds?  What is this stuff?  I think the lighter stuff is Bishop's Weed, which we have as ground cover in the front beds.  As for the rest....please help me identify it!

What's this green stuff?  It's growing in a pot in my backyard.  Should I plant it or kill it?

Please identify these purple thingies.

There are some pink thingies beside the purple thingies.  They look similar, but the pink ones are much shorter.

...and the white ones.  Are they the same stuff, too?

Is this thyme?  (Non-edible?  And anyways it's by the sidewalk so everybody's dog has "watered" it...I'd never eat it anyway!)

Is it just me, or is something digging in my front beds?

Is it just me, or does my dinner look delicious?  (While I watered and fixed up the flowers tonight, Dan made dinner.  YUM.)

It's the Little Things...

Remember when you were in elementary school and wished you could invite your whole class to your birthday?  Yep, that's the real reason I became a teacher.  I threw myself a "birthday party" today at recess: everybody got a cupcake and nobody got turned away.

Love this gadget for scooping same-size cupcakes.  It was a hand-me-down, and I'm not sure if it's an icecream scoop, but it's awesome!

I made chocolate and rainbow chip cuppies with fudge frosting, purple frosting, and sprinkles sprinkled everywhere!  Cake decorating isn't my craft (although I'm pretty good at cake eating), and I'm definitely not above baking from a box.  These are just your basic cupcakes, but I think they look rather pretty in their simplest form.

Maybe one day making army-sized batches of cupcakes will get old.  Maybe one day I'll be rolling my eyes at the batches of cupcakes I'm baking for someday school events for my someday kids, but for now (and the past four years--hah!--it's tradition) I'm loving it.  A few minutes with the mixer is worth it.  And you only turn 30 once.  Three decades, baby!


My students made my day extra special.  There were several homemade cards (aren't those just the best?), and a few even suprised me with flowers and jewelry!  Technically my birthday's tomorrow...but that's a PD Day...and I'm not above celebrating for a few days! :)

Apparently yellow roses symbolize admiration. (Aw!)

Garden flowers in an improvised vase.  (They smelled so good!)

Beads from Zimbabwe.