Botanic Garden

Yesterday afternoon, James and I took advantage of his afternoon off and visited the Missouri Botanic Garden. We visit it quite a bit (in fact, we've been members for 5 years, so we get in for free), and it is especially beautiful right now with all of the spring blooms. We took lots of pictures...

Isn't this pink beautiful?



















I love the white flowers on this tree.



















Here we are, so happy to have a day off!















The entrance to the vegetable garden.















The cherry trees in the Japanese garden were in full bloom - incredible!















These hyacinths smelled amazing.



















James was especially impressed by this new tulip color.



















Another beautiful cherry tree















The manicured English garden















The blossoms on this tree were so delicate.















One of the tulip beds















James with the daffodils



















I liked how they arranged this lettuce patch.
















One last view of the tulips!

Earthquake!!!

Now that the flooding seems to have ceased, it was time for the Midwest to have a new natural disaster....and we did!! St. Louis experienced an earthquake early last Friday morning of a 5.2 magnitude. It wasn't the first earthquake I've ever been in, but it was the first time that I was ever awake during one. The shockwave hit our house at 4:41 a.m., and it shook our house so much that I sat bolt upright in bed and watched my room shake around me. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on, but when I felt my bed shaking about a foot from side to side, our fireplace grate (which weighs a ton) rattling, and our television jumping around, I figured it out really fast. James, of course, was so tired from a week of 17-hour long workdays that he didn't even flinch...he just slept right through it.

The Lord really protected us, and even though our dishes rattled, we didn't have anything break. Some other people had more trouble, though, with windows cracking and buildings falling apart. The Kingshighway overpass that crosses over Interstate 64 (right beside Barnes Hospital where James works, about 4 blocks from our house) had to be shut down for several hours, since part of the overpass crumbled and they had to clear the debris off the highway.

Here are a couple pictures of what happened to some people near us:

Meghan's Bridal Luncheon

My aunts gave my sister a beautiful Bridal Luncheon before her wedding this weekend. It was at the famous Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, Georgia. The food was great, and it was fun to see everyone!

Meghan and I...














Sarah and Lisa, our lovely sisters-in-law...















Meghan, my grandmother, and the hostesses, Aunt Beth, Aunt Mimi, Aunt Eleanor, and Aunt Anita...(all on my dad's side!)














A picture of the Patton women...
















Claire, one of the bridesmaids, with the gorgeous azaleas...














Meghan and Aunt Crystal, my mom's sister, who came all the way from California!



















One last picture before we left...

Planting Roses

We ordered some roses recently, and some of them came already, so we planted them yesterday. I didn't realize that there was this whole science of planting roses correctly. Here's what we discovered...

First, you have to soak a bareroot rose in lukewarm water for 12-24 hours.



















Then, you dig a wide hole of medium depth that will allow the middle part of the stem to be at ground level.



















Then, you make a little mound of soil in the middle of the hole and place to rose on top, spreading the roots around the mound of soil. Then you fill the hole halfway with soil.



















Then you fill a bucket with water.















Then you pour the water into the hole...














...and let it soak in.















Finally, you fill the hole up the rest of the way with soil and water the rose again.



















Once we planted the roses, sat around the fire pit and enjoyed being outside for a little while. Max had a good time, too. He likes to watch us plant things.




















Here's Max "supervising..."

Flooding

If you've been reading the news today, you'll see on the front page that we're having serious flooding in Eastern Missouri...which, for those of you who have never been here, is exactly where St. Louis is! As far as I know, the river hasn't overflowed the levee here in the 'Lou, and we're pretty well protected, but it has definitely been raining for a LONG time. It's so strange that some parts of the country have been having droughts for the past few years, since we ALWAYS have flooding here in Missouri. Here are some pictures that I found of what's been going on in this part of the state...

This is a highway flooded by the Meramec River, near St. Louis...




























This is normally crossable by a car....

Signs of Spring!

We've had some warmer days this week, and in the evenings, James and I have spent some time clearing out our garden to get it ready for spring. We saw several encouraging signs that spring weather is on the way, even though there's still a good chance that we'll get another snow before things warm up for good. Here are some pictures of what we saw!

Irises that we planted last spring are coming up again beside the raised bed...















The hollyhocks that we planted from seed last year seem to have survived the winter, and we have high hopes that they'll grow! This was such a nice surprise, since they didn't seem to do well last year, and then they were eaten by rabbits, so I'd given up on them.















Our phlox is putting out some new foliage, and we love the way it rambles over the bricks along the path...















Like the hollyhocks, our roses got eaten by rabbits (badly) last summer, so they look like sticks at the moment. James just trimmed them back.














When James was trimming the roses, we noticed something exciting - every inch or so along all of the branches, you could see new sprouts forming! Perhaps we'll have nice roses this summer, after all!















Another picture of the rose sprouts, turned sideways...















I can't remember what this is called, but we planted it last year, and it is coming back strong.















Our heather bushes are such early bloomers that they've already got pink flowers all over them. They have a sweet, delicate smell that I love.















If you look REALLY closely, you'll see one of our tulip buds coming up in this pot!














One of my absolute favorite spring flowers....DAFFODILS! (Or, as the British call them, Narcissus...) I can hardly wait until those buds open, because they're so cheerful, and they smell so good! These are planted between our rose bushes.















Another close-up of the daffodils...

Garden Update

We've planted most of our seeds inside, and things are sprouting nicely for our spring and summer garden! Here are a few pictures:

This is cypress vine, which is supposed to grow to be up to 20 feet tall! We're hoping to get it to grow on the garden's brick wall and on the drain pipes, since it's got pretty flowers.




















This is my dill, which I use when I make bake fish...




















These are the snapdragons...notice that they're getting their second set of leaves now....















This is one of our dahlias - look how tall it's getting!




















These are all going to be beautiful snowball marigolds....




















These are cucumbers (with the rounded leaves) and tomatoes (with the more pointed leaves, in the back...)















A view of the vegetables from above...