Fertlilizer Friday and Birthday Fun!

It's Fertilizer Friday! Please join me and our host Tootsie over at Tootsie Time to see what's blooming on a mid-summer's day.


I found this bright aqua umbrella stand at Home Goods. I loved the color so much that I knew I needed to find a way to display it on our back deck. A few holes poked through the bottom and it became a colorful planter with petunias and coleus spilling over the top.



Look the sun is blooming with a cheerful smile as it blesses the garden with loving sunlight.


Here's a shade container I put together. I'm not sure what the purple annual with tiny white flowers is on the right side of the container, but I love it.


Here's a closer look at that purple shade annual. If anyone knows what this is, please tell me because I want to make sure I get next year.


The container flanking my front door is doing really well. The coleus is gorgeous - wish the picture could do it justice.


Surprise, surprise! A sweet pink lily. I didn't plant it - it's a volunteer the birds must have sowed. The first surprise was finding it. The second surprise is that the lily beetles haven't found it yet. Most of us up can't grow Asiatic lilies because of the evil lily beetle.


A purple coneflower. A common cottage flower I never grow tired of.


Here's some feathery lavender up against our side fence next to the veggie garden. I planted it last year and this is the first year it bloomed.


The liatris is just starting to pop in my front island bed. See it on the left side and bottom of the picture below.


A closer look at the fun spikes.


Two bees keeping busy gathering nectar.


Look it's Ellie's birthday! Poor thing looks so scared to have her picture taken in front of a flaming cake. Can't say I blame her. Don't worry - we didn't give her any of the chocolate frosting on the cake - but she did get a nice little slice of the moist vanilla cake with pudding inside.


We are celebrating Ellie's 3 year anniversary with us. 3 years ago we rescued her from a shelter in Tennessee. There's a rescue group in New England that works with several rescue groups in the south to bring homeless animals up north. The shelter that Ellie was rescued from was awful (I don't think you can even call it a shelter). Sad thing is this loving little pup was slated to be put to be put down just 24 hours from the time she was rescued. The wonderful volunteers from Miss Linda's Dogs for Adoption in Decatur, Tennessee are the kind souls that rescued her from that terrible place. Miss Linda herself, a true angel, fostered her until I was able to bring her home with us. We think Ellie was a year old when we adopted her, but the vet was unsure since she was so small and frail. She's doubled her weight now and is probably one of the world's most spoiled pets.

Ellie's giving me a look... She's probably thinking... "Take my picture so I can rip open these presents! I smell a beef rawhide!"



Finally... getting to the good stuff!



What else did Ellie do on her birthday? Well she played ball of course and stopped to smell the flowers! A perfect doggie celebration.