blooming and growing

Last year, Joe planted all the leftover Easter lilies from the church in our backyard. I was very curious to see how this project of his would go. They were pretty for some time. After a while they turned brown and completely died and withered. As in nothing there at all. This spring, I was simply blown away when all of a sudden they started shooting up from the ground.

This picture was taken April 10. They were growing so fast, we were wondering if there was any way that they would bloom by Easter Sunday.

They did not. Four weeks later, on May 9th, they looked like this:

They were a few weeks late, but it was worth the wait. Today they look like this:

There is something so clean and pure about the lily. It's too bad we can't have them in the house. My allergies just can't take it.

A few other fun things growing in our yard.

Joe bought and planted flowers for me at Easter.

The first fruits making their debut on our 4th anniversary lemon tree.

Hmmmm. We love rosemary.

Our beloved fig tree is growing big - about 3' now, but won't bear fruit for a while. We've nurtured this little guy since Joe's mom brought him to us as a sapling from our big tree at the house we own in Savannah. Joe has made a lot of fig preserves in the 5 1/2 years we've been together. He set aside enough jars to last us over 2 years after we moved. More than the preserves, I miss picking and eating the fresh figs.

We also have basil. Last year we had two plants that grew pretty big. We left them alone through the winter and somehow, after all the freezing nights, a month ago Joe noticed a small sprout of basil at the base of the otherwise dead plant. He re-potted it and now, in just a couple weeks, we have a thriving basil plant. Yay for pesto!

Unfortunately we will not have fresh produce this year as we are moving next month. We will seriously miss our tomatoes. Joe will have to make his tomato pie with the store-bought variety.

So that's that. Not exactly a gardener's dream, but it's fine for us. For now. We are looking forward to planting a garden at our new house in Sandersville.