Apple Blossoms and Bargain Posies

Two years ago, in my first blog post, I expressed excitement over our very first apple blossoms, and, although we only harvested a handful of apples that year, we were over-joyed that our trees finally produced apples. This year the branches of our apples trees were covered in masses of delicate, highly aromatic, pink and white blossoms.  We were delighted with the abundance of flowers, but were a bit concerned by the fact that neither Hubby nor I had seen any bees on the property (we simply must move forward with our dream of getting bee hives).  All those blossoms and nothing to pollinate them...until one afternoon, when I was walking past the trees to my garden, I heard the beautiful buzzing sound of bees hard at work.  After that, we also noticed the hummingbirds flitting among the branches, tasting of the lovely apple blossom nectar. We do hope that all those blossoms develop into many, many apples.

If you came to visit me right now, you would find our porch full of flowers, both annuals and perennials, waiting to be planted in various flower gardens around the yard.  Little #3 and I went flower shopping last weekend and fell upon some amazing deals.  You know how I love finding a bargain.
We found two hanging pots of petunias marked down to $3.00 each, 75% off their original price because of broken pots. No problem!  We purchased them both, and I am simply going to re-pot them, or find a spot in one of the flower gardens for these lovely posies.

We also found six packs of yellow pansies for $.45 each, so we piled ten packs into our cart, but when we got to the check-out we found out that they were only $.25 each.  We grabbed four more packs.  Front Forty Farm is going to be swimming in a sea of yellow this summer!  We also picked up a few perennials that had been marked way down...an azalea bush for $3.50, six hyacinths for $.50 each, creeping phlox and a few others.  Little #3 and I felt like children in a candy store as we piled the bargain plants into our cart.  (Our excitment was a bit dampened when we arrived home to find that Hubby and the older boys had tramped through poison ivy while checking out a potential swimming spot at the river, but that is another story for another day).

These colorful posies have been calling to me to plant them, but the vegetable garden has taken priority the past few weeks. Only a few vegetables remain that need planting, so I am going to reward myself this weekend with a bit of flower gardening.  After a few days of cold, rainy weather, sun is predicted for the end of the week, and I am very excited to plant my bargain posies.