Out and about in the yard today.

Winter break was over yesterday and during it I hardly saw the outside. We spent almost everyday busy working on tiling the bathroom shower and I'm extremely happy to say, "We are done!!" It turned out really nice, but it was a lot of work. I'll post a picture of it soon, today I just wanted to focus on my yard. Even though it was misty and gray today it was refreshingly mild and felt so nice just to wander around the yard for a bit.
The front yard is showing lots of promise that there may be a bloom or two for Bloom Day next week.

Hellebores (H. orientalis) keep sending up more flower buds. I love the maroon color these will become.

In the same bed the white Hellebores are also sending up lots of flowers. In this bed there are about 6 large Hellebores. I notice every year that this one has the most flowers and another plant is always much later and has fewer flowers. I think the difference is the sun, the one that gets the most sun is the one with the least flowers.

This Magnolia tree 'Vulcan' caught my eye as I pulled in the driveway today. I caught a glimpse of the green and of course had to come over and check out all the new growth. We just planted it last year and it didn't get a chance to bloom. I hope it has lots of flowers this Spring.

Around the backyard a view down the path shows how gray and wet it is. I did see Bluebells coming up along with more daffodils. More Hellebores down the path have buds on them and the Sarcococca rusicfolia has many little white flower buds that should bloom this month.

One of my very favorite early Spring bloomers is the Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum). The hummingbirds get very territorial over the beautiful pink flowers. There is lots of new growth along the branches of this shrub now. The Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup', another early Spring bloomer also is getting quite a bit of new growth.

Next to the pond the Japanese Blood Grass has aged to a most beautiful rusty orange color, in fact the same color as the underside of the leaves of the Heuchera 'Marmalade' right next to it.

While I was by the pond I decided to clean the pump after the recent Heron visits (yes, it was back again!) really stirred up a lot of silt on the bottom of the pond. The great news is that I noticed that in addition to the 5 or so little fish he left, there were 2 very tiny fish that must have been hiding all this time. I hadn't seen them at all until today. They looked like baby Shubunkin, which are a type of goldfish that are white with a speckling of black and orange spots.
Yesterday Darla from Family and Flowers challenged us to end our post on something we are grateful for. I'm grateful for the time I get to spend in my garden and the feeling of rejuvenation that it gives me.

Get ready to count!

The Great Backyard Bird Count has announced the dates for next year's bird count. It's February 12 - 15, 2010. I've always been a backyard birdwatcher and this was a fun way to make my hobby mean something.

Click on the picture above to learn more.

Black capped Chickadees are always regulars at the feeders here.

The Anna's Hummingbird has been here every day. She just keeps posing for me.

Song sparrow has been a recent visitor.

I'm so happy to see the Red-breasted Nuthatches have been returning. I love watching these birds hop up and down the tree trunks or visit the suet feeders in the winter.

I've also been spotting a Townsend's Warbler again at the bark butter feeder. There is a picture of one on my sidebar that was visiting our garden this time last year. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of one with my new camera soon.

Last year my 11 year old daughter and I participated for the first time in the bird count. Click here to read our counts. She was even more excited about it than I imagined. This is a good time to practice your birdwatching and learning about your local birds. You only have to count the birds you know, so don't be intimidated to try.

My one year Blogiversary!

It's hard to believe it's been one year of blogging already. I started this blog in the winter when I didn't have much going on in my yard and was as usual, daydreaming of warmer days when I could see my garden in bloom. I had wanted a way to keep track of all the projects we had worked on in our yard. My sister Erin, who has a family blog and a cake decorating blog Girl with the Cute Cakes (visit her if you want to see some beautiful cakes), is the one who got me started. My first post was called "Why I Garden". When I reread it I was surprised at how it sounded, probably because at the time I didn't think anyone besides me or my family would ever read it. I hadn't done any "writing" since college. The only writing I had done over many years was charting in my job as a nurse. Charting is mostly short, to the point sentence fragments full of observations and medical results and outcomes. Blogging has helped to improve my writing some I think.

Peony 'Festiva Maxima'

A few days after my first post I found Blotanical while looking for other garden blogs to read. I listed my blog there having no idea what Blotanical was about, just thought it would be a good way to find other bloggers that had pretty garden pictures to look at since I'd pretty much memorized all the garden books and magazines I had. Once I started finding my way around there I couldn't believe all the great blogs I found. Then I started noticing the people were visiting my blog. The first time someone left a comment I was surprised and excited that someone found something interesting in what I had written or shown. Karen of Greenwalks, a fellow Seattle area blogger, was that first person to comment on my posts. I was lucky enough to meet her at one of the SAGBUTT (Seattle Area Garden Bloggers United to Talk) meetings.

Rose 'Abraham Darby' and Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber)

In the last year I've gotten to know people from all over the world through blogging. I've learned how to use the macro setting on my camera (something I didn't know existed on the camera I had), html on the computer and so much about plants that it's mind blowing. Never in a million years would I have thought I would learn so much and meet so many people. Like most bloggers I've had my ups and downs with how I feel about blogging. There were days that I thought I might just stop for different reasons. But, I had fellow bloggers that I "talked" to via email that told me that others often felt the same way and offered encouragement to blog at my pace and in my style. Not only are we putting our garden out for others to see, but we are putting ourselves out there too. For someone like me that can be a hard thing to do. I have to say that it really has been worth it.
When I started I thought I would post every day, then as the year went on I realized I had to cut back on posting. Now my goal is to try to post 3 times a week unless I have time or something I find exciting to share.

Sunflower 'Mammoth'

Thank you to all of you who visit me, leave comments and those of you who have been support to me. Thank you to all of you who've taught me more about gardening in different parts of this country and around the world. Thank you to those of you that have had great plants on your blog which has increased my wish list and my garden beds. Thank you to those of you who I've learned about seed saving, cuttings, heat mats, winter sowing and other new techniques. Thank you to those of you that have taught me more about photography. All of you have made me a much better gardener, although I think I'll always be A Gardener in Progress.

Water Lily 'Charles de Meurville'

Here's to another year and I wonder what else I will learn?