Winter Garden Scene

I’ve been really lazy posting on my blog lately. It’s not that I don’t have things to write about but I’m just lazy and I am overwhelmed by all the widgets on WordPress. I consider myself a little more technology savvy than many people I know but I am having the dickens of a time getting the widgets to look decent on my site!!! I wanted the “Previous Posts” to display but somehow it is a complete mess. I fixed some things and then something else went wrong. I looked up on how to fix it but still things went awry. I am overwhelmed, frustrated, and feeling like I-want-to-tear-my-hair-out by it but I don’t have time to do all that right now! With all the plantings and preparations for winterizing plants, it’s low on my priorities list!

Now on with gardening. We’ve had a lot of rain and cold weather here in Southern California in the last several weeks. It was mostly in the mid 40s and doesn’t warm up until 11 a.m. or so. I didn’t have much time to work in the garden until just last weekend. The week-long rain storms made my heavy clay soil much easier to dig. I planted a great deal of daffodils, gladioli, irises, and many other bulbs that I am months behind in planting. However, I am so excited the rainwater and cold weather is going to help those bulbs.

Below are some great and not so great pictures of my garden this past week. The rain left my succulents and white camellia sitting in water for HOURS.

Redwood bonsai turned red or dead. Pretty tree that I adore, I hope it survived the cold, cold winter in a tiny pot. It’s my first year with this one so not sure how this will be.

Pink poinsettias that are the prettiest pinks I’ve ever seen. I will probably be putting this in the ground later on. These pots sold at stores sometimes can be broken out into 3-4 plants. I checked this before I bought it this Christmas. They have several branches that you can split off.

Creepy but beautiful anemone. The pinkish color inside reminds me of blood. I find it interesting but unnerving at the same time.

Kalanchoe laxiflora “Milky Widow’s Tears” has beautiful peach and pink flowers this winter.

Fuchsia flowers blooming in this pot. I really adore these delicate flowers. There were quite a few flowers in this shrub.

This is the strangest flowering of my light pink bougainvillea bush. I noticed these red blooms instead of pink. I’ve never seen that on this plant before. Below, I showed the pink lemonade color that it should have been.

Euphoria Ascot Rainbow is this lovely pink and yellow bush below. I planted this under my Red Baron peach tree this spring and it has now tripled in size.

Behind all this beauty is a wintery leafless garden.

One of my dogs, Lord Waggles is surveying the land with me after the rain.

The other dog, Hunter, looking for slugs and grass to eat.

That’s all of my garden for now! I wish you all a happy new year!

Passion Fruit, Abutilon, Dusty Miller, Gladioluses, and More

Are most people pretty good at typing on their phone keyboard? I’m not. I do most of my blog postings on the WP mobile App. I type with ONE index finger and you can guess how long that takes me! My kids say “why don’t you type with both of your thumbs like you’re supposed…

Lilies, Bearded Irises, Anemones, Epiphyllum, and More

Around this time of the year is when I get a bunch of lilies in bloom. For the next few weeks, I anticipate many flowers to admire. In this post are a few remaining bearded irises in bloom. The lilies here are new in my garden so it’s exciting to see them come out finally!…

Cosmos, Roses,Gladiolus, Hydrangeas, and More

I was planning to upload more photos for my next blog but WP said I used up 95% of space already and wants me to pay more for “upgrade”. I guess I will have to clean up my media library and reduce the size of my files in the next few posts to be able…

Calla Lily Barbie

The third Barbie in the Flowers in Fashion Collection is this Calla Lily Barbie. Last week I showed you my Iris Barbie, which was the fourth in the series. The few weeks prior to that was my Orchid Barbie, which was the second in the series. They are all out of sequence, you say, but they are in the order that I like the most to least.

I do like the unique dress and how it resembles a calla lily. I think on this project Mattel just didn’t bother choosing quality fabric to make her dress. Maybe you can see the white fabric around her head frayed slightly. The green dress material is not shiny but a dull colored fabric similar to ones used to make curtains. Also, whoever packaged this dress put stitches and staples to hold her in place in her box. Well, those stitch marks left holes in several places on her dress. I’m not happy about that.

Another reason this doll is my third favorite is because her hair is really ugly with the bowl-shaped bangs and side ponytail. Uh uh! I grew up with too many cousins having bowl-shaped haircuts to appreciate THIS! I just have to tell you I’m glad my mom never gave me bowl-shaped haircuts, have not seen one picture with that.

One great thing going for this Barbie is that her face is pretty and coquettishly drawn like most Barbie dolls’ faces. I love the eye makeup. The hair and eyes made her look Asian, which I can appreciate since I am Asian myself.

Now below are several views of her dress all around. You can probably see some tiny holes in the back of this dress. This picture below shows the rough curtain material they used to make this dress. I wonder if I got the leftover material? Rough and roughly sewn together!

As you can see this Barbie is not quite as handsome as the previous dolls in the series. However, her eyes and face are quite lovely. Let’s admire that one more time before we go. Oh, I digress, but did anyone notice the pretty Christmas tree in the background of these pictures? I decorated that 2 foot tree myself. It sits on my kitchen island.

Bye now, next time I will share my Rose Barbie. Go out there and enjoy the pre-Holiday weekend!

The Iris Barbie

The fourth Barbie in the Flowers in Fashion Collection is the Iris Barbie.  The first one that I posted was the Orchid Barbie I posted a few weeks ago.  The Collection had four in this order: The Rose, The Orchid, The Calla Lily,  and The Iris.

Her hair was nicely coiffed in a net but I pulled it off and it made her hair a bit unruly and flyaway-ish. I wished I left it alone!

The dress is all satin and taffeta materials. Gorgeous colors.

On the same note, I just found these white reblooming irises in my garden. One of them I accidentally spilled dirt on it but it stands out beautifully in the garden.

That’s all for now. I will be posting about the Calla Lily Barbie next time as it is my next favorite one.