Flowers in February~ Hellebores

I've never been much of a winter gardener. The cold air and wind makes my nose run and my head ache. It is nice however to have a plant or two with something going on when the mood strikes to take a brief walk with the camera. This is the first year that I've had flowers on my Bear Claw Hellebore- Helleborus foetidus. It was planted in 2008~ a swap plant~ and I really enjoyed the foliage in its own right. The large bloom stalk began forming in the fall and these flowers may have been here for a while before I discovered them. This first photo was taken last Saturday...





...and these yesterday.










My one mature Helleborus x hybridus is still in bud.






I found some really cool scripts for my PSPX2 yesterday. I thought this one was pretty cool on the Hens and Chicks.



Our dogs are rather spoiled by being able to do their business indoors on p-p-pads and so they don't spend alot of time outdoors during the week either. I let them out of the back door onto the deck all of the time because Chewy will not go down the steps into the yard and so far Meike too~ knock on wood. Here are a few shots of the duo from yesterday.









My mom lost her best friend to ovarian cancer yesterday. This is in honor of Gail ~ she will be greatly missed.

Her name is Meike

From the beginning we decided that our new baby would have a relatively appropriate name for her breed. Since Pomeranians were bred from the German Spitz we started looking at German names. The internet is a great tool for name searching but in the end we chose a name that was familiar to us. From a very sophomoric movie no less,lol. If you've ever seen Eurotrip you would know why the name Meike(pronounced meekah) was memorable. She still doesn't have her middle name for registration but at least she has a name to learn now. I like to call her Meike Poo(rhymed with Peek-a boo) but I can't get my husband to agree on that officially. I don't know why...










This is her benefactor~ Chewy, shown here as a baby...



and on Friday morning right before I left for work.



They are getting along beautifully. Chewy is a real sport for a nine year old. She wears him out but he doesn't seem to mind.

I've barely taken any pictures since the end of the growing season in November but I couldn't pass this indoor bloom yesterday morning without grabbing the camera. I'm not sure if this is a Christmas cactus or an Easter cactus. It has bloomed in February for 2 years now in a bright indoor location. I don't take it outside any during the growing season since I'm just not into that.



This Jewel orchid is a Plant Swap survivor that is still in the little plastic pot it came home in but healthy nonetheless. Thanks Tom!



I took both of these next pictures for a weekly challenge at .Daily Pics- I just missed the deadline but I enjoyed taking some indoor pictures for a change.



This was done using the Rough Pastels filter in Photoshop( I think. The light was just barely too low for shooting without a flash but I liked this effect in lieu of clarity.



I'm learning digital photo editing by the "stumble upon" method. This particular method of converting to grayscale was new to me~ my first lesson for today:)



It's actually sunny and going to warm up a tad this afternoon so I think I'll put on my Sloggers and check out the garden for a change. I've missed it.

And for a litlle bit of shameless self promotion~ you can check out everything else I've been up to at littlewingdesign

Flashback April 2009

April 16th to be precise. Digital cameras are a great substitute for a garden diary. Since I didn't post a Bloom Day entry for April 09 this can serve as my year to year comparison for 2010.

Coral honeysuckle



Salvia 'May Night'



Japanese maple~ I believe that this is just Acer palmatum 'Atropurpureum'



A prolific noid Bearded Iris



Salvia 'Cherry Chief'



Epimedium



Eastern columbine~ Aquilegia canadensis



Mom's passalong Dianthus



Just a little sunshine to brighten this cold, dreary, WET winter!

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In loving memory~ Pudder 10-04-91 - 01-28-10

A New Member of the Family

On 2.03.10 we came home with a new addition to the family. She doesn't have a name yet but after getting up at 4:50 am with her I might as well call her Boss. At 9 weeks old she is super tiny and all baby.














She was lovingly raised at T/A Kennels- Home of the Tidbit Pups .