I have been dealing with some medical issue, and almost missed updating you on the beautiful spring flowers all over my garden, and my daughter’s garden.

My apologies… but better late than never.  I am doing well now, thank you.

If Spring has not really sprung in your neck of the woods yet, this should reassure you that it is on its way.

So be patient, and before you know it, you will be admiring the beauty of your own garden as well.

Today I will share few pictures of the spring flowers still blooming in our gardens.

My daughter loves tending to her flower and veggie plants, and here are some pics of her spring flowers.

Nice clusters of Hyacinths, Daffodils and Tulips.

My little granddaughter is amazed by the beauty of these flowers, since she was not thinking of such colorful final results, while helping her mom with bulb planting last Fall.

These are some of the flowers that still are in full bloom in my garden.  Here are Grape Hyacinths and Johhny Jump-Up (Viola Corunta).

Most of my perennial plants have certain sentimental value to me, because they traveled with us from our previous residences, and have been shared with our family and friends, adoring their gardens as well.

Pink Phlox and Star of Bethlehem, as well as a budding Pink Azalea bush.

Periwinkle (Barvinok – in Ukrainian) is a very traditional plant for Ukrainian gardeners, since it is used to weave Wedding Wreaths for Newlyweds, to be used during a Ukrainian Wedding Church Ceremony.

It is also used to decorate the Easter Baskets filled with special and symbolic Ukrainian Easter Sunday brunch foods, before being blessed at the church.

Enjoy these, and stay tuned to more of my future gardening posts.

It’s that time of the year again.

Summer is coming to an end with Labor Day behind us, students gone back to school, days gotten shorter, my vegetable garden slowly closing in as well, but the cooler nights are very favorable for my flower patches.

Today I will share few pictures of my latest blooms, most likely last ones for the season, until they are nipped by the frost.

This my front entryway patch for this year.  These plants finally got a break from the hot summer days, and the cool night are really making them spread out.

The East side flower patch, only partially captured, is my largest one, and full of vibrant colors. This year I planted lots of Zinnias which I grew from seeds sent to me from Europe, by my sister.  We exchange seeds, and the flowers unite us while gardening during the growing season.

Other section of the East side flower patch.  These contain lower growing plants, with smaller flowers.

Chrisentimum, White Asters, Coreopsis, Balsamica, and Purple perennial Asters.

Hot pink Zinnias.

Light pink and orange Zinnias.

Red Zinnias.

These are annual Asters from seeds sent to me by my sister.   You can see the intricate and dainty flowers in the close up pictures at the top of this post.  I really noticed their beauty while taking the close up pictures of these flowers.

This the corner section of my flower patch.  The Purple Aster bush is a perennial plant, and this year I divided it into several smaller plants and spread them around into other sections of my flower garden to even it out.

The Zinnias and the smaller colorful Asters are all annual flowers, but once the flowers dry up, I pick their seeds, and save them for next year’s planting.  This also gives me a chance to color coordinate my flowers, as I label the seeds for each color separately.

The Canna Lily requires a little more work, since the tubers need to be dug up after the first frost, and stored in a dark, cool place over the winter season, to replant again in spring.

I love the Canna Lily for its gorgeous flowers and luscious foliage.

The Zinnia plants are about 4 feet tall, and branch out into bush like plants, but they make  great cutting flowers for bouquets, and they stay pretty fresh for over a week.

This is why I love being outside, working in my garden, tending to my flowers and veggies.

How could anyone not love spending free time surrounded by such beauty of nature.

Gardening is such a relaxing and rewarding hobby.  It gets you out of the house, into fresh air surrounded by the beauty of nature.

Best of all, you are rewarded with fresh, organic veggies throughout the season, and especially at harvest time.

Today, I will share some of the colorful veggies my daughter was growing in her square foot garden patches.

These are green beans, yellow beans, and purple beans.  This is my first time experiencing purple beans.  They did not taste any different than the yellow or green beans, and unfortunately lost lots of its color during cooking.

Here are multi-color carrots.  She planted orange, yellow, white, and red carrots.

After peeling off the thin skin layer, the yellow carrot stayed yellow, white was still white, but the red one turned out to be regular carrot orange….go figure.

There was no difference in taste between the different colors, but they did look very interesting on a serving platter.

Did you hear of chocolate tomatoes?  That is what these are.  They have a slightly brown tone to them on the outside and on the inside.

Because of the tinted coloring, they do not look as appetizing as the regular red or yellow ones.

They do not taste like chocolate, but are sweeter than regular tomatoes, and leave a gentler after taste.

I personally liked them a lot.

Did you experiment with some nontraditional veggies, and would like share your experience.

We all are very anxious to hear about it.

I enjoy vegetable and flower gardening, and my husband takes care of the lawn, which I think it is more of a “man thing”, based on my observation of seeing more men working with their lawn, while more women tending to other gardening projects.  Don’t you agree?

The above pictures are of our lawn in May (0n the left, as you probably guessed it), and to the right is the current issue with this lawn in August, after being scorched by the hot summer sun.

We are lucky to only have few spots of burnt out grass throughout our lawn, but nonetheless, these need to be restored to its original appearance.

If you are facing the same issue with your lawn, and are looking for ways to remedy it, I found a perfect article on this very subject, which is very interesting and helpful.

“Doing  Spot Repair To Drought Damaged Lawn” - by Mike McGroarty, who is a fountain of knowledge on all gardening subjects.

Also, if you are planning to reseed your lawn, or start a new one, check out his article on, “How to Plant Grass Seeds”, where you find many suggestions on the type of grass seeds to use, and the best way to plant grass.

Good Luck with your lawn refurbishing project!

Please share your tips and suggestions, so the thousands of readers of Suburbangrandma.com will benefit from your input, and love you for it.

Thank you.

Very often (maybe too often) I am adding new plants to my existing flower garden, and create flower patches.  Some of the new plants are just new trials, but other ones are very sentimental and special.

Most of my perennial plants have been traveling with our family from state to state, as we moved several times over the years (such is life in the US).

I also have plants gifted to me by other family members and friends.

This year I added a patch (pictured here) with a mixture or perennial and new annual flower plants, which I grew from seeds from Europe, sent to me by my sister.

This patch is very special to me, since every time I am out gardening, I think of my sister and my mom.

The round clump of the yellow flowering bush (Coreopsis) is from my mom, who is no longer with us, hence part of this special flower patch.

Now I will share a closer view of  my new additions.

This plant is also from my sister, but is growing in a different flower patch, close to my patio, and next to other very special plants.

The name of this  plant is Matthiola (Bicornis), or Maciejka.  It is a very delicate plant, with equally delicate flowers with very strong fragrance.   The dainty flowers open up fully in the evening, and extend its sweet fragrance all around them, especially on cooler evening, or when watered.

I remember this plant from my mom’s flower garden, and how much she loved its sweet fragrance.  Here again, it’s a bitter-sweet memory…but that’s life.

Here is another plant I grew from my sister’s seeds.  An annual plant called Balsamina – Touch-Me-Not (Niecierpek). It is part of the Impatient family, so it prefers a cooler location.  Mine grew to about 24 inches in height, and it formed full and strong bush like plants.

What is very interesting about this Balsamina plant, is the way the flowers are tucked away in-between its numerous branches.  Its blooms are pink, red, and purple, which created a colorful arrangement in the garden.

I just noticed that I planted these next to the Coreopsis from my mom.  How sweet is that….this makes us all closely connected through nature.

The Zinnia Dalia plants are popular here in the US as well, but I grew these from my sister’s seeds, so they are very special to me.  They come in mixture of colors: orange, pink, red, white and yellow.  They add lots of color to my garden, and are very suitable for cut flowers for indoor arrangements (but I prefer enjoying my flowers in the garden rather than in the vase).

These are new flower beds created by me last fall.  My husband helped with trimming off the lower branches of the Douglasfir trees, which began to invade a good portion of our yard.  We were going to cut them down all together, but then decided to save them, and just trim the largest bottom branches, which worked out very well.

The trees  still provide the wind protection, and privacy, plus create a new space for additional flower beds (still work in progress…) along the side of our back yard.

This is my largest flower patch on the East side of the house.  It stretches all along the back side of the back porch and the patio.  I love working with this one, because there is so much room for different plants, in addition to the Azalea bushes and evergreens, which fill out the landscaping whole year round.

Now you understand why gardening is so relaxing for me.  It lets me enjoy the beauty of nature, reminisce about the past, and connect with my family.

If you have any sentimental plants in your garden, I would love to hear about it.  Please share your stories.