Tag Archives: spring

How to Split Perrenials

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Hello Everyone! Now is a good time to get in the gardens and split some perennials. I took this picture of the flowers on my friends Magnolia tree. It is simply gorgeous. Don’t you just love spring when everything is beginning to look green and spring flowers are everywhere. It is a very beautiful world we live in!

We decided to move some Lilly’s they tend to multiple quite quickly. First we got the area we are transplanting them in prepped so the little guys won’t be out of the environment too long.

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We have a huge are of day Lilly that we are going to thin out. First of all you are going to need a Garden pitch fork, Shovel and gloves (see pictures below)

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Isn’t my girlfriends garden beautiful?!

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Pitch fork! Using 2 of them back to back is the best way to split the roots without breaking them. 

Yep this is me playing in the dirt!

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First you want to shove your fork in underneath the plant and try to loosen the clump from all sides then you want to gently pop it out of the ground.

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Once it is out of the ground, you can either pull it gently apart or use the forks to separate them into 2 or 3 individual plants. For Hosta’s that don’t separate as easily I use a spade shove and just cut them in half or thirds. It is actually healthy for the plant because then they don’t get deceased or root bound and die.

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Lilly’s do not require a very deep hole, dig a nice deep hole so you have some nice loose dirt in the bottom for the roots to take. 

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Place your plant in the hole and start covering it with dirt. If it is really hot you may want to water it at the base to help it along.

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Voila! you are all set!  Of course they won’t be the only things we add in here. These lilies get pretty tall and will provide a beautiful back drop for the lower plants we will be adding in the front. As you are transplanting keep in mind the amount of sun the need. Splitting perennials is best done in the spring before the plant flowers and fall after the plant flowers (if they flower). For fun, I will try to update you in a future article just to show you how beautiful this area will be by the time we get it all planted and mulched. Speaking of much, it is a pretty in expensive way to keep the weeds down as well as keeping moisture in over the plant. It looks great too! 

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I also wanted to share this beautiful plant with you it is a Crown plant she had in her garden and I was amazed with the color and how large the flower is and how tall it stands. I have never seen one before so it was exciting to learn about something new. It looks like something from the tropics. I find it really cool that it is a perennial that can reside here in Michigan. 

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Hope you guys enjoy the weather and have fun in the garden. God blessed us with all these beautiful flowers, try to take time out to enjoy. If you have the opportunity this summer take a garden tour. You will be amazed and what you can learn by just participating. I used to volunteer for the Libraries annual garden tour and really help me get started on my own gardens. 

Have a great week! Happy Mothers Day to all the gals out there!

Girl Friday

Mischele Makhlouf

Spring Fever ~ mischele

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spring fever

Lessons from Lazarus

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Normally I would cover one of the more important aspects of our chapter of the week, to do a more in-depth study of that particular subject. But as I read through it, one particular story brought tears to my eyes and I thought that I would just share that with you, for it pretty much says it all.  Here is that excerpt from the book “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” Chapter 8- Lessons from Lazarus by Joanna Weaver:

 

            “Philip wasn’t like the other children at church. Though he was a pleasant happy boy, he struggled with things that came easily to other kids.  He looked different, too, and everyone knew it was because he had Down syndrome. His Sunday school teacher worked hard to get the third grade class to play together, but Philips disability made it difficult for him to fit in.

            Easter was just around the corner, and the teacher had a wonderful idea for his class. He gathered the big plastic eggs that pantyhose used to come in and gave one to each child.  Then, together, they went outside into a beautiful spring day.

            “I want each of you to find something that reminds you of Easter – of new life,” the teacher explained. “Put it in the egg and when we get inside we’ll share what we found.”

            The search was glorious.  It was confusing. It was wild. The boys and girls ran all over the church grounds gathering their symbols until finally, breathlessly, the eight-year-olds were ready to return inside.

            They put their eggs on the table, then one by one the teacher began to open them.  The children stood around the table watching.

            He opened one, and there was a flower.  Everybody ohhed and aahed.

            He opened another and found a butterfly. “Beautiful,” all the girls said.

            He opened another and out fell a rock.  The kids laughed. “A rock?” But the boy who’d found it said, I knew you would all get flowers and leaves and stuff, so I go a rock cause I wanted to be different.  That’s new life to me.”  The kids laughed again.

            But when the teacher opened the next egg, the group fell silent. There’s nothing there!” said one child. “That’s stupid,” said another. “Somebody didn’t do it right.”

            Just then the teacher felt a tug on his shirt and turned to see Philip standing beside him. “It’s mine,” Philip said. “It’s mine.”

            The children said, “You don’t ever do things right, Philip. There’s nothing there!”             “I DID SO,” Philip said. “I did do it right. It’s empty. The tomb is empty!”

            There was another silence. A very deep, unlike-eight-year-olds kind of silence. And at that moment a miracle happened.  Philip became a part of that third-grade Sunday school class. They took him in.  He was set free from the tomb of his different ness.  From then on, Philip was their friend.

            Three months later, Philip died. His family had known since the time he was born that he wouldn’t live out a full life span. An infection that most children would have quickly shrugged off took the life out of his body.

            The day of the funeral, the church was filled with people mourning Philips death. But it was the sight of nine third graders walking down the aisle with their Sunday school teacher that brought tears to most eyes. 

            The children didn’t bring flowers. Instead, they marched right up to the altar, and placed on it an empty egg – an empty, old, discarded pantyhose egg.”

 

What an unbelievable illustration for us! God’s promise of new life.  Within the sadness of this story, we need to see the beauty, the beauty of Jesus’ gift of eternal life.

 

Enough said!

Trust in God’s promises!

Lisa