my white hibiscus

Hello, I'm DC

Living in the midwestern heartland. I've got many varied interests, so some of my posts may come flying in scattered bits and pieces from who the !&*~ knows where.

Welcome, maybe you'll find my posts helpful, informative, funny, or just think they're from some whacko lady blowing off steam; who knows??

Just to let you know, I've used many names over the internet; so I hope you don't become confused! The different aliases I can remember are:
Flowergardener, Flower, Godsdaughter, Godsdaughter54, iamGodsdaughter, NaturalHealth, DCinIowa, LittleDebbiesWorld, Grannyof2, GrandmaDebbie, and GardenCreations.

Aren't These Flowers Gorgeous!

I am an AVID flower lover and flower gardener! I've got 2,000 square feet of flower gardens in my back yard. I'm always looking for flowers that others don't have, to make my flower beds unique.

This is a slide show I've compiled of flowers and flower seeds that are out of the ordinary, and are available from Amazon.

Just hover your mouse over the flower photo you like, and the slide show will pause and show you information about that flower! What a cool way to shop!!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

I'm Selling Aero Gardens!


Visitors must be liking the presentation and information on my Squidoo page, because they are purchasing Aero Gardens! I looked at the statistics of my web page, and would like to thank those that have found the page through this blog!

I love the concept myself, being able to grow vegetables or herbs inside without sunshine or dirt, and it must be becoming a real hot indoor garden item, as just yesterday I received an 'unsolicited' email advertising the Aero Garden, what everyone calls 'junk mail'.

I didn't click on the link, which is the whole Aero Garden picture, and I'd advise you don't either. I did look at where the link led to, and it's NOT a straight link to any known (by me) supplier of the Aero Garden, so be very very cautious! Even if it eventually does give you the opportunity to purchase, the creator of the email has grabbed your email address for future spam.

I'll be honest, the link on my Aero Garden page looks weird too, but I'll explain.....It's a commission junction link code, that takes you directly to my affiliate, that is reputable, and is a trusted supplier for Aero Gardens, so please just delete that spam email, and buy your Aero Garden from me!! Psssst....The image in this post is also clickable, leading to my trusted supplier!



Friday, June 6, 2008

Oh MY

There is so many things I've got to get caught up on! I believe the last 5 days we've had 3 of them with tornado watches and warnings! Rivers and creeks, main highways, intercity streets; have all been flooded. The Iowa news is talking about the possibility of the current weather being compared to the flood of '93.

My flowergarden is not faring well in all this high wind and over abundance of rain. I'll not talk about the hail. :(

One thing that is looking absolutely awesome is my rhubarb. When those giant stalks are ready to harvest, I'll get somebody to take a photo of me just holding the leaf. About 4 of them have got to be big enough to cover my whole body in a photo!


Such a fast season. The lilacs lasted 5 days, at best. Everything is maturing fast without giving you the time to enjoy it. See the date of my first strawberry?


I've so many pictures. At least I'm capturing the season on camera!

I just went outside to check my strawberry bed. I had weeded it last week, but hadn't put the netting over it to protect it from the damned robins. (they'll eat you out of house and home!)

God, thank-you for my home; and being able to have the kind of peace and security a woman alone needs. I know you're there, protecting me.

I'm about 20 pounds overweight from the winter (and sitting on my butt in front of this computer), so I slipped off my shorts because they were uncomfortable. I treasure the fact that I can walk out my back door and pick strawberries or just 'hang-out' in my underwear and t-shirt.

Here's the results of my strawberry pickin' in my undies. It's my 3rd time of going thru my small strawberry patch, and I had to thow away just as many as is in this pic.......because of not being able to get out there........and all the rain. There's actually alot of strawberries in the colander, enough to fill 1 quart freezer bag. That's what I'll do with them too! Savin' them and others for when I get to experiment with strawberry/rhubarb wine. Really want to learn how to make wine!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

My Amaryllis Is Blooming!



Isn't he purty?? I have a heck of a time with the leaves, as they are taller/longer than the flower bloom stem. The amaryllis tried leafing out this winter, but the leaves were so long and heavy they would bend, thus cutting off the nutrients and water they needed. I cut all the damaged leaves back, and waited anxiously for new leaves to appear, so I could support them as they grew.

The pot has 3 flower bulbs, but so far only the large middle bulb has bloomed. The other 2 bulbs have produced leaves, but so far no bloom stem. I'll have to set it up a bit more stable for next year. Right now I have 3 thin steel rods for support and am just using the green florist's tape to attach the leaves to the rods.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Where's my flower garden?


Was outside yesterday, trying to get a handle on what I should do first in the backyard. As you all know, I had a really bad storm this past winter. At about 6:30 I was finally able to do the first mowing of the back yard, after this photo. That pile of 'little sticks' was what was left over after 2 pickup loads of tree limbs that fell in the backyard. For reference, the Honeysuckle bush behind and to the left is about 7 1/2 feet tall, so I'd guess my burn pile that completely covers my fire pit must be about 5 1/2 feet tall. Never would have been able to get the job done without my wheelbarrow and handy dandy 'ez grabber'. I can't bend very well, so that grabber is my life saver! My dogs and Grandson think it's a toy, and I'll chase them with it. It's got a handle-squeezer and rubber thingy's on the end, and can keep the grip on something weighing around 2 pounds.

Savin' Babies



Top photo is a Cherry tree, bottom photo I thought was an Apple tree. I went over to Gabe's (my deceased neighbor's) yesterday. I knew that the Cherry tree had split from this winter's storm, and the Apple, and 2 Peach trees didn't fare too well either. What suprised me was the Cherry tree had sprouts, so I proceeded to take cuttings of the babies, and then did the same of the Apple, and 2 different genus of Peach. Right now all the cuttings (6" to 13" long) are in water and it looks like they didn't get shocked. When they've gotten time to stabilize, I'll treat them with a powder to encourage rooting, place them in soil, and tee-pee them with saran wrap. I usually get about 80% success by this method. Edited to add.... After the tree had more time to mature this season I realized the second photo is not of an Apple blossom! I really don't know what it is, as I compared it to a known Apple tree, of which I took pictures that I'll post soon.