Mushrooms

Today I was happily weeding in my front yard when I saw these cute mushrooms.  I don't think they would normally have caught my eye except for their golden color.  All day I have been looking for something gold to submit to Jillsy Girl's Color My World Challenge and these little beauties were perfect.

Below is a close up of part of that mushroom family.  And I love how that little pine cone was just perfectly positioned there as if it wanted to be shaded under the mushroom umbrella too.

Blue flower

I noticed these incredible flowers in my backyard but I don't know what they are.  I love the way the buds are pink before they bloom.  I took these photos April 6th so they are a fairly early bloomer.  If anyone out there knows what they are please let me know! (To look at them closer click on the image.)

(It also just so happens that Jillsy Girl's Color My World Challenge is now accepting blue.)

Bunny Platter

A couple weeks ago my dad and I went shopping at Pottery Barn and I spotted this super cute bunny platter.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but they are holding up an egg-shaped platter.  You can't get much cuter than egg-shaped servingware at Easter and just look at those bunnies!  Thanks to my dad this cute platter came home with me that day and now greets me every time I walk in the house.  

Pale Pink Blossoms

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.

-Buddha's Little Instruction Book by Jack Kornfield

Plants for Bees

Last week George and I went to see a movie called Queen of the Sun.  The movie is about the recent population decline of bees.  Many bees around the world have been suffering from colony collapse disorder and scientists are struggling to understand the causes.  Some suggest a combination of factors might be causing the collapse of many colonies including mites, disease (often spread by commercial bees), pesticides, and habitat loss due to large monocultures.

You might ask, "But how does this affect me?"  Did you know that 4 of 10 bites of food you eat were pollinated by bees?  It does not bode well for us if the bees die.  As Einstein put it, "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live....No more bees, no more pollination, ...no more men!"

I almost didn't want to see the movie because sometimes I feel overwhelmed by these kinds of movies.  I have a tendency to want to bury my head in the sand and hope that it goes away.  But the movie had a message of hope and I highly suggest you see it if you get the chance.

"But what can we do to help?"  you might be thinking.  Well, if you are interesting in bee-keeping I encourage you to look into it.  There are many resources available for those interested in raising both honeybees and native bees.  For those of us who aren't quite ready for that I suggest planting plants in your yard that are good nectar or pollen sources for bees.  I came up with the list below as a starter (the list is not exhaustive!).  This list includes plants that are good for bees and native to Ohio (except for Mahonia which is native to the northwest). 

Native Ohio Plants Beneficial to Bees

American Basswood - Tilia americana

American Elderberry - Sambucus canadensis

Beard-tongue - Penstemon

Beebalm - Monarda

Black Huckleberry - Gaylussacia baccata

Black Locust - Robinia pseudoacacia

Black-eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta

Bladdernut - Staphylea trifolia

Blazing Star - Liatris

Blue Wild Indigo - Baptisia australis

Butterfly Weed - Asclepias

Crabapple - Malus

Cup Plant - Silphium

Giant Hyssop - Agastache

Goldenrod - Solidago

Honeylocust -  Gleditsia tracantus

Ironweed - Veronia altissima

Joe-pye weed - Eupatorium

Lobelia - Lobelia

Lupine - Lupine perennis

Milkweed - Asclepias

New England Aster - Aster novae-angliae

New Jersey Tea - Ceanothus americanus

Obedient Plant - Physostegia

Oregon grape (native to northwest) - Mahonia aquifolium

Purple coneflower - Echinacea

Rattlesnake Master - Eryngium

Redbud - Cercis canadensis

Rhododendron - Rhododendron

Sage - Salvia lyrata

Spiderwort - Trandescantia

Steeplebush - Spiraea tomentosa

Stonecrop - Sedum

Sunflower - Helianthus

Tulip Tree - Liriodendron tulipifera

Willow - Salix

If you don't live in Ohio I suggest googling native plants to your area.  The following websites are great resources:

Northern Nectar Sources for Honeybees

Upper Midwest Plants for Native Bees

Attracting Beneficial Insects with Native Flowering Plants

Attracting More Bees and Pollinators to Your Garden

Native Landscaping for Birds, Bees, Butterflies and Other Wildlife

Ohio Native Plants

Native Ohio Plants

Wildflowers Native to Ohio

Selecting Plants for Pollinators

The Xerxes Society: Red List of Bees

Grape Hyacinth

One of my favorite spring bulbs is grape hyacinth.  Technically speaking they are not a hyacinth but are in the genus Muscari.  I love to make mini flower arrangements of these and my tiny daffodils.  The yellow and purple looks great together.  I also love the way the flower turns white and flairs out at the bottom of each "grape."  You can't get much cuter than that! 

Submitted to Jillsy Girl's Color My World Board.

Spring Blossoms

I walk almost every day and I always see things that I want to return and photograph but almost never do.  But these pale pink beauties actually made me return.  I took quite a few I want to share but I decided I will sprinkle them here and there throughout the month.  You can click on the images to see them larger.

For those interested, the font is Legendaria and you can see more of it here.

Octopus Fabric Design

I came up with the above sketch for a fabric competition at Spoonflower called Project Selvage.  The competition called for a baby boy fabric and I ended up entering the design below.  Only the top 75 designs were able to compete and I didn't make it to the voting round, but you should check out the wonderful designs that did here. 

The design below was called "Suckers" and was my second favorite option.

Lenten Rose

Another sure sign of spring is Lenten Rose.  The flowers on these are beautiful but you don't often get a good look at them because their heads hang down.  I had to mush my head agains the ground to take the photo above.

I also love the variation in color.  In my yard they vary from dark pinky purple to rose to white.  They are actually hellebores (not roses) and there is a very nice description of them over on the Birds and Blooms blog.

Again, I have to credit Jillsy girl's blog for getting me out there to take some photos.  The above photo was inspired by Jill's April Challenge - Color My World.