Yellow Seas

On our way home from Canada, we made a loop and stopped in La Conner to check Skagit Valley Tulip Festival that runs from April 1st to April 30th. It was early for tulips and irises, but the daffodil fields were in their best.

Click on the picture to enjoy the flowers

Yellow color is not my favorite, but I love this sea of yellow.

It looks better when enlarged

Skagit County is located in the northwest portion of Washington State, USA. between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, B.C. Canada. The majestic Cascade Mountains stand to the east, overlooking a fertile valley boasting a variety of agricultural crops. Running through the valley is the powerful Skagit River flowing westward toward the beautiful San Juan Islands. World famous tulip fields blanket the valley in the spring.Flocks of Canadian geese, snow geese and trumpeter swans can be seen here in the winter. Bald eagles soar overhead year round and great blue herons stand along the shorelines. I like this Skagit County description from http://www.skagitcounty.net/common/asp/default.asp?d=Home&c=General&p=about.htm

Click on the picture to make it larger

Site to visit: http://www.tulipfestival.org/

Houseboats' Gardens. Victoria, Canada.

Canada. Vancouver Island. British Columbia' capital, Victoria.

Just around the corner from Victoria's Inner Harbor,

you will find Fisherman's Wharf.

Click on the picture for a better view

It celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.

If you don't click on the picture, you won't see my cute muzzle!

You can get there by foot or by water. We arrived by water.

Just a few minutes away from downtown, there are floating homes

with their cute little gardens:

Unique...

Picturesque...

Fell in love with this place? There are several homes for sale.

I could spend hours strolling the docks and admiring all the details.

Isn't it something?

Click on me to see all the details!

Funky Fisherman's Wharf is full of life. There is coffee, ice cream, fresh seafood and music:

Did I mention ice cream?

Residents enjoy the beautiful views of the inner harbor from their balconies.

You can get there by water plane, too:

Why am I posting about Canada? We are off for spring break!

To Canada! I love Canada. I love Victoria, we got engaged there.

This time, we go to ski at Whistler. I don't think I'll see any gardens there.

But who knows?!

***Copyright 2009 TatyanaS

My Best Bloom of 2008

Click on the picture to see snow crystals

My reward for the outstanding performance in my garden-'08 goes to

Fuchsia Double Otto.

It's the same plant that was featured in my January post

I love you, Mr. Double Otto!

The picture above was taken in December

(look at the description below - it's far beyond its bloom period).

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. Flower Color: pink, purple
Size: 24-36" tall.
Space 24-36" apart.
Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5
Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.
Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b.

Bird House Extravaganza

A dog can have a fancy outfit, a cat can have a diamond collar, but a bird can live in a castle...

First time I saw them in 2007.

They claim that all the materials are weatherproofed.



Then, I saw them in 2008. More varieties, for every taste.
A bird house, or should I say a palace, for a sailor, a wild-life lover, a wine enthusiast, a cook, a gardener, a dog owner....

...a tea lover, a dragonfly lover... I also saw a golf bird house, baseball bird house...

What's next?

Someone can love or don't love them, but what I admire is a creativity and the ability to reinvent a bicycle, as we say.
To see if the birds like them, I need to buy one for my own garden. They were about $50 in 2007, $65 in 2008.... I'd rather buy one soon!

Oh, well, I always can have this classic one...

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Puppy Gone?

HELP! My blog lost its face! Blotanical doesn't show my little pup anymore.

What happened to my little innocent baby?!

He was just here, welcoming all the gardeners to my blog.

We never left him alone:

If you see him, send him my way, please. You should recognize him right away. You can't miss such ears, can you?!

I believed he was under a good supervision...

Could he be lost in a garden?

Ahhh... I just remembered... Was it a mistake to put him in my Winter Garden Dining post under the name Hot Dog( http://tanyasgarden.blogspot.com/2009/03/winter-garden-dining.html )?....

Stuart, find my puppy, please!!!

Fanciful Fences

Здравствуйте! Вероятно, вы зашли на эту страничку по ссылке с другого сайта. Мои садовые фотографии и тексты на русском языке находятся на блоге Pelageya, русская американка. Конечно, там не только садовое, а и всё другое - жизнь, в общем. Добро пожаловать!
There is a fence for every taste!

These fences go far beyond of the original fence' mission - to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary.

Simple and beautiful:

(The larger the better - click on the pick!)

How appropriate! What other material would you use for a fence in this location!

Without this light bamboo mini-fence the pedestal would look a bit lonely:

Wow! What an imagination! I couldn't pass this masterpiece!

Old-fashioned charm:

I like this birdhouse resting comfortably on a fence:

A bird house for each pole:

And look at this! Wonderful!

I love this post! Thank you Jacque, for reminding me such a great way to use all the rocks we get from our soil!

And how about this?!

What is your favorite?

***Copyright TatyanaS

Secret Life of Beans.

What is going on with beans after we put them into the soil?
We take the beans:

Make a nice bed with a support like this:

Or like this:

Green plants appear and grow:

Then, they bloom:

Then, we have new beans.

But what is going on there, under the ground, in the dark?

This is what is going on:

Click on us, click on us!

Look like aliens, don't they?