I have more Spring garden pics to share with you today. We've had such a nice Spring and the blooms are abundant.
We planted this azalea bush back in late September and I'm so happy to see it blooming!
My potted flowers are loving our warm spring temps...
The Indian Hawthorne bushes are blooming like crazy right now.
We fertilized the grass after I took this pic and now it's so much greener. (I was tempted to retake the pic to show you, but refrained) The fertilizer says it takes 3 days to green up your grass, and they weren't kidding. We're already back to mowing once a week.
I know this Jasmine vine only blooms for a few weeks each year, but it's so worth it to me!
Here's a closer look and it smells divine!
A few white blooms are starting to appear on the bridal wreath bushes too.
If you look closely in bottom of the pic above, you will see our Chinese Fringe (aka Loropetalum, Razzleberry) bush starting to get those pretty pink blooms. We have lots of those in our yard and they bloom a couple of times a year. The leaves turn purple in the winter and are green in the summer.
You can see the blue Plumbago and the purple Lantana gearing up for their prime bloom season. That blue Plumbago is another one that's looked like that since last summer. It never stopped blooming all winter long and it will be loaded with blooms again this summer.
I also have a little laundry tip for you. I mentioned the other day that I got all those new shirts on sale when my mom and I went shopping. Well, most of them say to wash on gentle and tumble dry on low heat. I don't know why, but all my married life, I've been washing everything on the normal cycle, vs. gentle. I've also been drying everything on medium heat vs. low.
I was complaining to my mom about how much trouble it was going to be to separate my new things from the rest of our laundry so I could wash them on gentle and dry them on low.
This was when she simply stated "Why don't you just start washing EVERYTHING on gentle and drying EVERYTHING on low?" She said it certainly wouldn't hurt and it would be better for the clothes anyway. She said she's been doing this for years.
WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT 25 YEARS AGO???
How much easier would that be to wash ALL of our laundry on the same gentle cycle and dry it all on low? I still have some things I hang up to dry, but most everything else can go in the dryer.
I get so set in my routines sometimes that I don't even think outside the box.
So, that's what I do now and you know what? Since the gentle cycle doesn't take as long to wash a load, I'm finished with my laundry a little faster and that's a good thing. :)
So, do y'all have any other laundry related tips for me? Do you use the gentle cycle? Do you use low heat to dry your clothes? Do share!
~Lisa
So, do y'all have any other laundry related tips for me? Do you use the gentle cycle? Do you use low heat to dry your clothes? Do share!
~Lisa
I can totally get stuck on doing something one way without ever rethinking. It's good to have someone give a little suggestion sometimes. Have you ever stopped to realize you are storing something in the wrong place in your house but never considered moving it? That's me.
ReplyDeleteYour garden and yard always make me smile and Pin. :)
Lisa your yard is so gorgeous! Love seeing all your pretty flowers! I usually use the "quick wash" because its so much faster! I prefer to air dry what i can and i dry towels etc. on hot because they dry quicker. I am pld fashioned and adore clothelines and i also LOVE TO IRON and cant find many folks who share that trait!! Ha ha ha lol
ReplyDeleteOld fashioned not pld!! Lol
ReplyDeleteI love how nice it's looking at your place. I like all the potted plants. Blessings for a great new week. xoxo, Susie
ReplyDeleteYour yard is beautiful. We might get frost again tonight. Go figure, it was 80 last week. We can never plant anything until after April 15 here, as you just never know. I wash most everything on normal, but dry everything but towels and sheets on low. I haven't noticed much difference in clothes saying delicate when washed on normal. Some I hang dry, others go in on low.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I rarely change the way I wash clothes either! I might wash something in cold water v/s hot but that's about it. Ha Ha. That's good to know about your gentle cycle doing a good job. I love your yard! It's so pretty and well manicured. You're way ahead of us! We haven't really started mowing ours yet either. It's time to start now but my husband is waiting to get his mower out of the shop.
ReplyDeleteYour yard is so gorgeous!!! I can't believe how many blooms you have already too. Our yard is just now turning green and only part of the trees are starting to bloom. I wash all my clothes the same and never gave it much thought. Now I'll be looking at all the tags.
ReplyDelete~Des
Your yard is fabulous...and I am feeling as green as your lawn. We had snow yesterday!!! It's all melted away today, but I still don't have anything blooming like you do!! And I am a gentle cycle, low girl, myself. I have shrunk or ruined too many of my teens clothes that I finally just decided to do it all that way!! Live and learn!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is blooming beautifully! I love all the different colors and plants/flowers; everything is so pretty! I've been itching to go to Home Depot and getting a few more plants and/or flowers to plant.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great laundry tip :) I've always used the low heat setting and love it! What I usually do is wash two loads at a time but dry them together to save on energy. Our dryer is really big so I can actually fit 3 loads in there to dry but since I've been adapting the new '1(or 2) load a day' rule I haven't done that in a while.
Have a lovely day!!
First, your yard is just lovely. It is so much fun to see thing green, blooming and growing. We have at least a foot of snow coming in the next 24 hours. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteI use normal wash and wear and my dryer had an automated setting that 'picks' for me based on weight of clothing...and has a cool down cycle at the end. I can only do high heat by punching that in manually.
Since John has been ill all his clothes have to be washed in boiling (or as hot as I can get) water and then rewashed. I have to handle them with rubber gloves-also his bedding. I will be glad when this phase is behind us because it is lots of work.
For years I have used Dreft on all my whites and people have commented on how WHITE my whites are- sheets/undershirts/etc. (well the people that see them like my kids, etc). lol It is expensive but it goes on sale and then I stock up. Love the smell of it, too. It is made to remove baby food stains so it really washes things clean.
Hope you have a great Easter week- xo Diana
Beautiful garden pics, Lisa! Spring has definitely arrived in our area, hasn't it? What a great laundry tip! I really miss our non-HE appliances - when I could truly set my own water level and cover the clothes completely with water. Even with a super large load setting, the clothes are only partially covered. I know that's the intent and design, but that doesn't mean I have to LIKE it! LOL!
ReplyDeleteLisa, your garden and flowers look so pretty. Great laundry tip! Like you, I always use the normal cycle. :) Have a great evening. Maria
ReplyDeleteI've always used the gentle cycle and most often, cold water to wash my clothes. I partially dry them and then hang to finish. I can't stand my tops, tees, blouses, etc. to be completely dried in the dryer. It shrinks them as well as the heat is not good. I wash my towels, all white, in the hottest water available and use bleach! :) Decorative towels are washed in cold water. All the sheets I have now are easy care and I use warm water and a very short cycle for them...they dry in about 20 min. TMI, right?? :)
ReplyDeleteMy former d-i-l drove me crazy with the laundry...she just put everything in together...towels, jeans, nice baby or children's clothes, whatever. I don't think she ever used a laundry soap or bleach on whites! She always remarked about what a positive difference it was when I did their laundry. Lol
Your plants and flowers are beautiful!! I do have to say that most anything grows in the Houston area. My dad & step-mother always had beautiful yards and gardens.
xo
Pat
Your yard and all of your blooming shrubbery is just beautiful, Lisa! Jasmine is a shrub we want to plant somewhere in our backyard....we love the smell.
ReplyDeleteTowels and sheets are the only things I wash in hot water, but I dry them on medium heat. Most everything else gets washed on warm or cold (which is borderline hot during the summer months) and dried on medium.....most outer-wear gets only a short time in the dryer and then hung up to finish drying. That usually means I might need to iron most of them, but I really don't mind ironing as long as I do it every week and don't let it stack up!
Happy Easter to you and your family!
Warm hugs,
Carol