On March 9th I started a new Instagram account featuring photos of meals I’ve prepared and food enjoyed during my travels. With our world in crisis this account has connected me with chefs and foodies around the globe – and right now we can all use more connections. You can find me on Instagram at laurasprettyfood
On a recent trip to Nevada, my sister and I took a three day/two night girl’s trip which included a day spent in Death Valley. The weather was perfection with the sun adding warmth, color, light and shadows. It was a magical place and a dream to photograph. The photos below are my favorites.
This week in the garden I was thrilled to find that three of my four hydrangeas are blooming. While it may not seem like a big deal to some getting them to bloom at all has been a challenge. I’ve added black-eyed susans to my 2019 garden while my morning glories and sweet peas continue coming up everywhere. Snapdragons from years past have re-seeded in between bricks on my patio and are thriving.
Using my PlantSnap app, I learned that what looked like zucchini (which seemed odd since I didn’t plant zucchini) is actually gourds. It seems seeds from old gourds, tossed behind my grill four or five years ago have decided to grow…..go figure!
A week of extremely hot weather including several soaking rainstorms sent my garden into overdrive. Multiple varieties of lilies, my first hydrangea and black-eyed Susan blossoms and every variety of hostas sent up their blooms. This gallery represents a stroll through my garden today.
The word is out, butterflies are welcome in my garden…pass it on. 
At last my first Morning Glories of 2019 have appeared. In years past Morning Glories overtook my herb garden and naturally dropped thousands of their seeds. This summer as a pre-emptive maneuver I carefully pulled up the little ones as they started emerging and relocated them in other flower beds. A surprise was that a number of last year’s seeds dropped into neighboring pots and are coming up as “volunteers”. An unplanned siege by a maniacal woodchuck has limited the number surviving close to the ground as apparently they are delicious…don’t get me started.
I’ve also included other favorite photos from around the garden – moss roses, clematis and my pink lilies are adding to the beauty this week.
The garden continues to evolve, flowers on the way in….and on the way out.
After a week of sun and hot temps, my garden transitioned again as Zinnias, Lillies, Snapdragons and Hostas have burst into full bloom. Even between the bricks in my lower patio determined flowers are emerging, including the Snapdragon below.
After seemingly endless rain we’ve had two gorgeous, sunny days and my garden is responding with enthusiasm.
This week even more beautiful iris in bloom.
