In the gardens

It has been such a great weekend. We went all out for our St. Patrick's Day dinner yesterday...corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes, homemade rolls, Irish Soda Bread made by me for the very first time (recipe courtesy of Danielle Bean--delicious!), and shamrock sugar cookies with frosting and green sprinkles. We were in the kitchen all day long! The kids and I did some cute crafts, we decorated the dining room and kitchen, and I kept meaning to take some pictures, but somehow...I never did. Oh, well, wait! I did take one of the "rainbow and pot of gold" craft the kids and I did. The rest of the day was spent just having a great time! I love St. Patrick's Day. It's become a family favorite in the past few years and every year it just gets better.

Today was beautiful, a little breezy but a perfect day for exploring the gardens. I am so excited by how well the vegetable garden is doing! It's been just a week, but we're already seeing the first of our seedlings boldly emerging from the ground! I think they're so cute right now...here are some of the chard and sunflowers, respectively:

Darren also did a little more planting today: tomatoes, okra, eggplant, snow peas, basil, and garlic!

And we're finding all sorts of lovely little surprises in our flower bed these days. This is one of my favorites, which we suspect must have been included in the perennial wildflower seed mixture Darren scattered last fall. I think it is simply beautiful:

The dianthus is starting to bloom now, too, and I think the deep crimson of this one is just so pretty:And I love, love, love creeping phlox that borders the outer edge of our garden:Out in the native garden, more of Darren's cacti are in bloom. Here are just a few:

I am just so in love with gardening right now that I may very well decide to post weekly updates! In the meantime, you can see what else is blooming around here by checking out Darren's blog.

Happy gardening, friends!