~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
{pretty}
The day was glorious, the water sparkling.
{happy}
The daylilies are reminding me that spring is coming, and I have a lot of work to do in the garden! I hope I'm up for it.
There's the big empty bed right in the front of the house that's left after we took out the pond last fall. (Bright sunlight all morning, then shade in the afternoon.) And a big long bed along the south side of the house (bright all day long, half-facing the road, so it should really look more respectable than it does) that is currently home to a whole lot of dead branches, weeds, and one very scraggly rose bush (which does produce gorgeous blooms).
We're in Zone 7b, and most houses around here don't have much in the way of gardens because it's so darn hot and dry in the summer. That observation combined with a realistic assessment of my own abilities means my goals are modest in the landscaping department. I'm hoping for respectable. Keywords: Hardy. Drought resistant.
Bonus points for scorpion-repelling properties.
Any ideas?
{funny}
My beautiful little bald baby has one (count 'em: one.) hair right on top that is, no joke, four inches longer than any other hair on her sweet little head. There were about five long strands when she was born, but only this persistent straggler remains. When she's freshly bathed, it sticks straight up.
This is one of my favorite things about her.
(Being one solitary strand of blonde baby hair, it's proved rather difficult to photograph. In the shot above, it's doubled over — and then up again — in the wind. Below, it escaped focus, but you can see its gallant shorter friends forming her darling little tuft.)
{real}
Behold! I present to you Pippo's first photo taken with my big camera. Get ready, world!
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Tara M says
Have a look at Highcountrygardens.com even if you end up buying locally, they have some great ideas for hot, dry places.
Mary says
Beautiful pictures! The first is incredible, all sparkling and happy.
Don’t worry, the hair will come in. My little ones were “bald” until two. Babies born with lots of hair…didn’t seem fair. 😉
Bridget Green says
That water in the first picture…breathtaking. And the hair. Too cute. We have a little girl who has the craziest curly hair now but when she was a baby it just looked like a giant poof ball.
Rachel~ At the Butterfly Ball says
Your little girl is adorable! My sweet baby girl (a bit younger than yours) is also quite bald. Aren’t bald baby heads the most kissable lovely things around? Pippo must be getting very big, to be taking pictures with Mama’s big camera! Wow, Go Pippo! 🙂
I always enjoy reading your lovely postings on here, along with your mom’s and sister’s. This has become one of my favorite places to stop by.
P.S. I think your daylilies might actually be irises… But they also bloom beautifully. As far as landscaping, if you need a big bush that blooms all summer and attracts lots of butterflies and cool bugs, try a butterfly bush. I live in zone 7b as well and the do great here! They are pretty much carefree once you get them in the ground. Great for busy mamas and great for little boys who love watching bugs!
Rosie says
You know, now that you mention it, and I try again to remember back to what was there when we first arrived last spring… I think they might be irises, too! I’m so impressed that you’d be able to tell by a few inches of green.
I’ll look up butterfly bushes – thank you!
Mrs. B. says
I second the iris guess – the leaves look chunky and are streaked with white.
I’m looking for easy, hardy plants with pretty flowers too, but when I looked up the butterfly bush, I found that it’s on the invasive list is a lot of states!
http://chestercoextbutterfly.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/butterfly-bush-be-careful-what-you-plant/
Leane says
I have a new little granddaughter that has the same hairdo as your sweet one but her long (very long) hair is on the back of her head. Very cute!! Lovely pictures!
Lindsey says
It is comforting to know that there is green beginning to make its appearance somewhere out there! Our three year old has just started taking pictures with the big camera too. The perspective of some of her shots is really quite charming.
Domesticated Combat Boots says
I love baby hair! It reminds me of baby duck fuzz. I can’t believe how big Pippo is getting! The last time I saw him, he was BARELY learning to walk! crazy!
Julie says
I second Butterfly Bushes! I’ve come to the conclusion that though I love flowers but time constraints (due to lots of littles) means non-fussy plants: butterfly bush, daylilies, daisies, coneflowers. Happy planting!
Anita says
Lovely pictures, all of them! I’m in zone 8 in n. Texas, and over here my biggest success has been begonias (many of mine will even come back each spring), then mums, and daisies. Also, I purchased one drought hardy plant at a more expensive nursery, and though I never watered it beyond a handful of times, it lived through three horribly hit summers, just fine. So, look for plants labeled “drought resistant” if you are prone to zealousness in gardening in early summer and complete laziness in watering in late summer. 🙂
Rosie says
Yes, I did eventually learn about the crucial “drought resistant” label in California, where we were technically living in a desert climate! There’s only so much watering a girl can do, you know? I’ll look up begonias – thanks for the tip!
Monique G says
Beautiful pictures. I love the first one of the water! It makes me long for spring and summer.
Rebekka says
If you’re looking for something low-maintenance and presentable for the street side, consider a succulent garden or border. They’re really pretty and tolerate heat well!
Nichole @ Yackity Shmackity says
The first photo with the sun on the water is just breathtaking!
Regarding gardening, something I’ve only recently discovered but have come to love dearly, I would encourage you to go for it, hot and dry or not! We’re in zone 9, with is practically dessert, but one of the most productive regions in the country for fruit and veggies. My first vegetable garden of primarily greens thrived through the winter and is producing abundantly now. It has been such a joy for me and the kids to plant, tend and harvest. I encourage you to try to plant edibles!! There are a few heat tolerant varieties of blueberry and even blackberry bushes. Rosemary is also hard to kill. Squash, melons and cucumbers, while not pretty, do well in heat.
Don’t stress and have fun with it!
Amy Caroline says
Baby heads! Sigh. So soft, so adorable. I love it when their hair sticks straight up. I had one baby that actually had a bit of a mohawk and it was absolutely adorable!
hope says
I love her hair (and I see it in the picture)! My babies often have those little stragglers too. And you can’t bear to cut them seeing as they’ve got nothing else! Good luck with your garden. I wonder if knock out roses would do well there? They flower all summer which is nice and require very little maintenance. So if you could pair them with other things–coneflowers, etc to fill in. Even succulents.
Jeannie says
First things first, your daughter is adorable. Those eyes!
I haven’t done muh gardening but my husband plants things for me because I love plants and flowers but alas I kill everything. 🙂 we are in California and in need of drought resistant plants as well and if I can mention another site: high country gardens. They have tons of water wise plants. Let me mention salvias, ceoanthus( lilacs here in California are super tough), buddleia, penstemon, lavender, nepeta(catmint) those are a few hardy things off the top of my head.
Happy gardening to you!
Heidi says
I grew up down there! My grandma had tons of irises – which is what you’ve got there. I also remember lupine doing really well, and marigolds. Cosmos also are pretty drought tolerant, too. Salvia and Russian sage fill a lot of space and don’t require much water. Have fun! Oh, and cute bald baby, too!
Jeannie says
Oh, I forgot one of favorite border plants, teucrium chamaedrys. Evergreen, with nice flowers that hummingbirds seems to love and no fuss!
McKenna says
Here in Austin, we’ve had the most success with salvia, lantanas and various grasses (ponytail, mexican heathergrass etc). There’s also a very hearty and drought tolerant bush called American beauty berry. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website is also a great resource. I’m not sure about scorpion repellent, but i’ve been told to keep Adolph’s meat tenderizer in the house at all times. I guess if you make it into a paste and apply it to the sting, it takes the pain away instantly. Who knows?
Heather says
I am crazy about gaura–clouds of delicate tiny white or pink flowers. Pairs beautifully with salvia.
David Austin roses take a few years to establish, and (in my admittedly limited experience) produce relatively delicate flowers on delicate stems–but are prolific, and the scent is gorgeous. In CA, I found them to be very hardy.
Leslie says
Hi Rosie,
I’ve enjoyed reading LMLD for a long time! I live in Frisco, Texas and understand the need for drought and heat tolerant plants. I highly recommend the website shadesofgreeninc.com. It will be a great resource for you!! These are some of our favorite(successful) plants that they recommended to us:
1) we have 3 Mexican Feather Grasses surrounded by 5 purple ice plants in a garden next to our front sidewalk. Bordering this garden are 6 small Oklahoma boulders. Lovely and perennial!
2) a grouping of 3 Indian Hawthorne bushes with 5 lantana perennial flowers in front of them on front corner of house.
3) crepe myrtle (dont top it, makes a great small shade tree)with purple liriope grasses planted under it.
Also, we love our vitex tree, autumn sage flowers, four nerve daisies, hardy fall aster and Turks cap.
Best wishes,
Leslie
Sonya says
Ecchineacea (purple coneflower)can do quite well in drought conditions. Go for the native varieties which tend to be hardier. I live in zone 5, so mileage may vary in your climate! I require all my plants to survive with no coddling or attention from me at all.
Sonya
Heidi says
Lavender! I am in snowbound MN, and have no personal experience with droughts (unless houseplants dying of “drought” counts . . . ), but I remember reading a memoir set in France(?) in which dried lavender was used to deter scorpions, and Google-knows-everything confirmed both scorpion-repellant and drought-resistant properties (at least in some varieties?). Besides – it’s lavender!
Rosie says
Lavender deters scorpions?! How did I not know this! I love lavender – even planned my wedding flowers around it. And had great success with it in my dry California garden, so was already planning on planting some more here. But this makes it even better!!
Melissa Diskin says
Lavender and rosemary and other woody herbs might work well for you. I’m in 7b (Atlanta), but planted a garden just a tad too far away from our sole hosepipe on other side of the house. So now I grow herbs and some fun perennials like bee balm (with gorgeous red flowers) that attract butterflies and bees to help pollinate the rest of the garden. Lantana can get big and bushy but is also a good butterfly attractor, so maybe that would work for a no-fuss flower? (Miss Huff is the named one that works best as a perennial, I think.) And I love my butterfly bush!
briana says
They are getting SO BIG! And that hair, I am so glad you got a picture of it.
Kinga says
What a cutie pie!!!!
Jamie says
I second the lavender. Also, a parent sized garden bench and a little wading pool. Charming!
Tamara says
My 3 year old little boy was looking over my shoulder while I read this and he says, “That’s a weally cute baby!” 🙂
Becky says
Love the baby hair!!! Megan’s hair took AGES to grow and is curly so it looks even shorter. I maintain that there is nothing quite so adorable as a bald baby girl. 🙂
For the plants, I swear by perennials. It took me a while to wrap my head around them but they make your life so much easier. I am another supporter of lavender and rosemary as your anchors. You might also look into false wild blue indigo/baptistia but plant it behind something because it will go floppy and sad on you after it’s done being breathtaking. I suggest embracing the cottage/butterfly garden and go for joyful, colorful abundance that will hide the fact that you haven’t managed any actual garden care for 4 months. Beebalm, coneflower, echinacia, tickweed and strawflower are all pretty reliable and attract butterflies. Daisies tend to do better than expect but not the gerberas. You might also consider sunflowers. I have never had any luck growing them (I think birds thwart me) but everyone else has always managed nicely and they are a great project for Pippo.
You might poke around the gardening section of this site: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/component/content/?view=featured
She has lovely photography and stunning gardens while living in Vegas on a tiny budget, raising 7 children.
Deanne says
I live in Oklahoma, too – and I love, love, love my hydrangeas. Not only beautiful when they are in bloom, but interesting in the winter landscape, too. I planted a Rose of Sharon, which is almost impossible to kill – the best thing about it is that hummingbirds love it. I have seen several clustered around the huge pink flowers. You can also get lots of ideas from your county extension office – they will have lots of hints on native plants that do very well. Don’t forget to plant your heirloom tomatoes – your beautiful children will love picking cherry tomatoes and eating them straight from the plant!
Woman of the House says
It looks relatively warm there. I’m jealous! lol Your baby’s hair is so funny. My granddaughter had totally unmanageable hair when she was a baby. Now that she’s 20mo and it’s grown, it looks so much better. lol