Garden Bloggers Bloom Day May 2026

 On this last Garden Bloggers Bloom Day May post (because Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who has hosted this meme for many years, is retiring GBBD at the end of this year) I have many blooms to show you in my zone 6a garden in the Southern Tier of New York.

Our weather has been so up and down. This week we had days in the 50's F (12.7 C) and by Monday, it will be in the 90's F (32.2 C).  Then, by the end of next week, it will cool down again. This was after having a warmer (and wetter) April than we normally do.

I looked at my flower photos from May of 2025 and it appears we are slightly behind May of 2025, after all that up and down. 

The daffodils are fading away.

These are the last good ones.

The Japanese tree peony buds are getting ready to open.  

Euphorbia has been blooming for a while. 

A fuchsia tower, my Mother's Day gift.  Thank you, son! (Smart son; he brings me a different hanging basket each year).

Lily of the Valley.

One of the two pansy baskets I made up this year.

In the front, my iris are starting to bud up.

Now to the shady back yard. 

My trillium, This variety does not have flowers that open; they don't need to as they are pollinated by ants.

Primrose is almost finished.

I think this is brunneria Jack Frost.  I didn't capture many of the lovely small blue flowers because I was concentrating on the foliage.

I call this my lemon and lime brunneria.  I also have brunneria with "regular" green leaves.

In the back, it looks like my bleeding heart didn't survive the winter and my purple lilacs are on strike this year.  My white Lilacs are still blooming but are so high up I decided I had enough flowers already.  So I will end this here.

May is such a wonderful time.  Hoping that if you have a garden, it is doing well.  

Now, why not visit some of the other flower gardeners posting their links at Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and check out what's blooming for them?

April 9 Sunset #SkywatchFriday

First, a thank you to everyone who commented on my Wednesday blogging problem.   Comments fuel my blog, and I thank everyone who verified on Thursday that they were able to comment.

Now, it's time to watch the sky. 

This April 9 is a sunset that I would’ve missed had I not glanced out the window at  just the right time.  I'm been remiss in looking for sunsets recently.

So I wanted to capture this sunset. 

I went running outside just in time to catch these images.

For this last photo I decided to zoom in a little.

 

P.S. if you like flowers, I'll be posting later today for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. 

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday. 

Trying to Figure Out Why

I may have a blogging problem. 

Wednesday and today, I have had problems on my blog.  My Wednesday post (which I am not linking to here) posted but the title of the post is not a live link i.e. if I was to send you a link it does not link to the individual blog post.  Also, you can not comment on it.  I can't, and at least two of my readers weren't able to.

So I am trying again today with this test post, although I am going to try without the picture in the blog post, just in case that photo was part of the problem.  My Wednesday post was about a bird's nest on my front porch light.  

Over the years, our front porch light has attracted various birds, who have built nests.  When we first purchased our house, house finches nested there successfully several times.

But more recently, the nests have failed.  Or they were decoys, which some birds do build.

A couple of years ago a Carolina wren built a decoy nest on the light fixture.   

This year (above), it was the turn of an Eastern phoebe.  We saw the bird a number of times.  Perhaps this was a decoy nest, too - Eastern phoebes, many times, will build multiple nests but only use one of them.

Our porch light nest was never used. 

We've had American robins successfully nest on our back porch, but not this year.

Maybe next year, we will get the approval of birds for a true nest.

So, let's see if this post goes through.  If it doesn't, I'd sure like to know a possible solution that is simple for a non-tech person like me to implement.

I'd appreciate comments, if only to let me know that you were able to comment.  If you can't comment, could you comment on my Monday music post and tell me you couldn't comment on today's post?  I thank you for your time.

Thank you! 

The Failed Nest #WordlessWednesday

Over the years, our front porch light has attracted various birds, who have built nests.  When we first purchased our house, house finches nested there successfully several times.

But more recently, nothing. 

A couple of years ago a Carolina wren built a decoy nest on the light fixture.  

This year (above), it was the turn of an Eastern phoebe.  We saw the bird a number of times.  Perhaps this was a decoy nest, too - Eastern phoebes, many times, will build multiple nests but only use one of them.

Never used. 

We've had American robins successfully nest on our back porch, but not this year.

Maybe next year, we will get the approval of birds for a true nest.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday. 

Horses and Ponies #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?  We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie, and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.  

Why not join us? 

Our optional theme for this week is:  "May 11th Kentucky Derby has long been hosted this month since 1875. This event has a long history of traditions. Use some of the traditions or gallop with the ponies in your own direction sharing your song inspired picks this week."

There are quite a number of songs mentioning horses or ponies.  Many times the horses/ponies symbolize freedom or connection.  Other times, they are songs about....horses.  There are a lot of playlists online for the Kentucky Derby but I decided to go my own way. I grew up in New York City and, while I never got into horses, my best friend did. (Yes, there are ways to learn to ride a horse in New York City.)

Rolling Stones - Wild Horses, recorded in 1969 and released in 1971.

From 1975, Wildfire, Michael Martin Murphey, a song about a girl and her horse, based on a legend about a ghost horse told to Murphey by his grandfather, combined with a dream Murphey had once.

The older I get, the more I get into the great songwriter and singer Willie Nelson.   Ride Me Back Home is a song from 2019 about rescuing horses.

One Trick Pony, a 1980 hit for Paul Simon.

Couldn't resist this; the theme song from a childhood TV show.

Finally, My Old Kentucky Home is traditionally sung by the crowd each year before the Kentucky Derby.  This was recorded in 2024 at the 150th Kentucky Derby.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me. 

Plant Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Plant shadows are a sneaky way to blog about my plants.

 This may be brunneria Diane's Gold. 

Brunneria.  I love their early blue flowers but they were caught in a frost in April, and are just now blooming again.  I wish their blooming season was longer.  We have three varieties, the green the gold and a variegated one. (You can see one of the leaves in the phto below on the right).

In a shady spot, I have trillium has a flower that doesn't open completely.  It has been slowly spreading. I bought it years ago at a plant show in Ithaca, New York.

The day before yesterday, the sun came out for a while.  That's a good thing, because my mail order plants from Select Seeds came on Thursday and they need to recover from transit stress.  They also need to be hardened off, which I am in the process of doing.

This is my second year ordering plants from Select Seeds.  Last year, I put I in a small order of annual varieties I can't get locally and was pleased by the quality.  I didn't lose any to shipping shock, either, a far cry from the last time (2015?) I tried to mail order plants.  That time it was from a well known plant retailer and my experience was way different.  So I finally tried again, this time with Select Seeds, and I am now a repeat customer.  (Not being paid for this plug, either).

Mail ordering plants are expensive but it's also a big convenience for me.  For example, scented geraniums and fancy geraniums are hard to find here. 

So here are my plants, along with two basils and a rosemary (rosemary has to be grown as an annual where I live) I got the other day at a big box store. Three geraniums, two cuphea, two fuchsia, a salvia destined for a hanging basket, and a lavender plant, all perfect for containers. 

Maybe next week (we may get a frost Tuesday) I'll be able to buy sunpatiens, million bells and a patio tomato. 

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.

A Spring Sky Variety Pack #SkywatchFriday

Today, some skies from the last couple of weeks, mixed in with views of spring. 

Baby redbud, several years old, in a local park.  Our redbuds are finishing up now.

Yesterday, sky framed by a building.

This past week, rain ahead.

From Sunday, sky and white lilac.

Finally, from Sunday, sky before a rainstorm.

So far, we've had one of the wettest springs since our area started to keep weather records 73 years ago. 

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.  

20,134 and Counting #WordlessWednesday

The other day, I wondered if I had reached 20,i000 photos on my phone.  I hadn't when April started.

Well, last night, I looked and I have (drum roll):  20,134 photos.  

Yes, I'm a photo hoarder and I am not ashamed.

Yes, I delete photos every once in a while but, in general, my photos are precious to me.  Each holds a memory.

Like this primrose, for example, from May 2.  This was given to me by my late mother in law and reminds me of the Mother's Days (coming this Sunday in the United States) we used to travel some three hours to plant flowers in her yard for the summer and take her out to dinner.  Now, we need some of that help.

I don't think this pansy is too impressed, though. 

Doesn't it seem like the pansy is frowning at me?  

What, I wonder, did I do to make it give me that face?

Was it because I didn't feature her in the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge?

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday