If you are looking for the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop then you have found it.
I love gardening and planting things in pots that bloom and growing tomatoes are two of my favorite things.
So is taking photos of blooms as you can see from the following pictures.
I live in the country in a almond orchard. The blooms are amazing. Here’s some photos taken early in March.
I have two sets of advice for gardening. If you have problems with your back or hands, don’t let it stop you from gardening. You can always plant your garden in pots. Flowers do amazing in pots, so do tomatoes and a lot of other veggies.
The second piece of advice is if you have a heirloom verity tomato you want to save or another one that you favor, there is a easy way to save the seed. Squeeze out some of the seed out on a napkin, smear it out flat and allow it to dry, then store in a zip lock (or similar) bag or a jar. When you’re ready to plant, tear off the seed and plant it into a peat pot or small pot. Water and watch it grow.
I also mention flowers in one of my books, Matrix Crystal Hunters.
Team Alpha Three’s spaceship is out of power after fighting a wormhole, and parked on the primitive world of Zenevieva. With half the team sick from radiation poisoning, the team commander entrust geologist, Maya Gladstone, to find enough matrix crystals to power up their spacecraft, so they can go home to Earth.
Vach Namaste of the powerful Clan Namaste, a native of the planet, has desire the lovely Maya since she stepped off the spaceship on that astonishing day a year ago. He’s hounded her every step since. As Hymeneal Night approaches, he makes plans to take her as his bride… willing or not.
Garden excerpt:
They walked through another gate which led to an orchard. “What do you think of Vach?”
Maya smiled. “That’s a loaded question.”
“Is it?” The old woman looked at her.
“Yes. He’s persistent, stubborn, smart-mouthed and arrogant.”
“Yet you say all that with a smile on your face,” the old woman said, giving Maya a shrewd look.
“Yeah, well, he can be awfully charming too.” Maya gave a little laugh.
The old woman chuckled. “Yes, my grandson does have a way about him.”
“Yes, he does.” She looked at the older woman. “About the matrix crystals—”
“Let me ask you a question instead.” Grandmother pointed out a field filled with huge, bright red blossoms. “These are treacle flowers. We collect the nectar, then allow it to dry so we can use it as a sweetener. You enjoyed that in your tea today.”
Maya admired the flowers. “I’ve heard of treacle flowers before.”
“Have you heard of the treacle flower’s pollinator?”
She shook her head. “Uh, no, I haven’t.”
“There’s a type of lizard that pollinates the flowers. They lick up the nectar, but they receive spots of pollen right here.” She touched the middle of Maya’s forehead. “If we allow the lizards to pollinate the flowers, they’ll lap up all the nectar and we’ll have none. But if we ring off the field with sulfur crystals, they don’t come near the flowers and we get the nectar.”
Maya looked for the ditch and sulfur crystals, and soon spotted them. “How do you pollinate the flowers then?”
“We don’t. We use the seeds from another field that we allowed to be pollinated.”
Maya frowned. “How is this connected to the matrix crystals?”
“I’ll think about it.” The canny old woman turned to enter the house.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Matrix Crystal Hunters is available:
US Kindle
***About Janice Seagraves’s contest***
The winner will received a amethyst pendant valued at no more than ($5.00) five dollars. Or if the winner lives outside of the US or Canada, they will receive a similar amount in their countries currency as a gift certificate to Amazon. The winner will be notified by email at the end of the blog hop, April 18th. If the winner doesn’t respond in (3) three days, a new winner will be picked. Only contestants that are eighteen (18) can participate.
***To enter the contest, leave a comment on what you love about the spring and gardening with your email addy***
***Void were prohibited by law***
***About the blog hop contest***
Visitors will have 10 days to enter each
individual author contests. To win, visitors must hit each and every
author on the hop. Grand prize is an ereader of their choice (up to $200
value) with second prize a $25 gift card to the ebook retailer of their
choice.
To be eligible for the grand prize, the winner must have left an email (via
rafflecopter or the comment section) on an author’s site that can be
verified for notification by April 17th.
Everything from books to swag, promotional products and more! The grand prize is an ereader of your choice (up to $200 value). A second prize of $25 gift card ~ winner’s choice which ebook retailer gift card, available to INTL residents (VOID where prohibited by law).
Authors will note US or INTL for their giveaway eligibility. Where US or INTL is not specifically noted, US eligibility will apply. The grand prize is available for US entrants only. Winners will be announced on the landing page, BloominThyme.
What do I do when it’s all over?
By April 19th we will post the grand prize winners on the main page and the landing page. Individual authors will announce and contact the winners of their author-specific giveaways. You will be required to claim your prize according to each giveaway’s terms and conditions.
Questions??
Please feel free to contact me! dianne@diannevenetta.com
“Giveaway ends April 17th at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Legal Residents (18 years of age or older) of the US only. Prizes cannot be shipped to PO Boxes. Winner will be selected by Rafflecotper.com and be notified by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that Dianne Venetta, host of the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop, is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsors, in most cases, are shipping their items to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you in obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor, please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you. The product provided for the review was free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.” VOID where prohibited by law.
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I love spring because of it is light early in the morning and the birds are singing! I’m not much of a gardener, however I do enjoy cutting back dead twigs! marielaval@virginmedia.com
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Hi Marie,
Dead twigs and old spent blooms do need to be cut off.
Good job. 🙂
Janice~
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Enjoyed reading your pot on flowers.
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Thank you, Rose. 🙂
Janice~
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I’m not good with plants. I leave that up to my hubby. He’s amazing. The backyard always looks so beautiful and I love the smells!
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Hi Melissa,
Some people do have a green thumb.
Janice~
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Try planting with that napkin. Really! Just cut or tear three seeds from the rest and plant the paper with the seeds. I often sprinkle cellophane tape with lettuce seeds because they are so small and difficult to handle. Then I just plant the tape. When planting heirloom tomatoes, always plant them in different dirt every year!
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Hi E.,
That a good tip too. Thank you for sharing.
Janice~
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I love spring time and spending more time out in my garden. This year im planting tulips. Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
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Hi Melissa,
No problem. I love spending time in my yard too. 🙂
Janice~
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Hey, Janice! I love spring because, in Seattle, we start to get some sunshine again. It stays pretty much in the 50s – low 60s, and you really can’t beat walking around in that weather with a nice breeze. It just perks you up to see the sun out again! Summer gets to be a little too hot for me, but spring (and autumn) are just perfect 🙂 Addy is _____@____.___.___, replace the blanks with smiles, alumni, cmu, edu. I hate spambots, and this works nicely 🙂
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Hi Notsuch,
Sounds nice. Our spring is brief then we get the dry heat, 80-100+.
Janice~
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*shudders* Dry heat’s not as bad, at least. I went back east one summer and about died. It was hotter than Seattle gets, and I forgot just how nasty the humidity makes me feel.
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Hi Notsuch,
Not much in the way of humidity during our long hot summers, but hot is still hot. I hope the summers are cool where you live.
Janice~
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I love seeing the grass greening up and the leaves coming out on the trees. Everything seems so fresh and clean.
skpetal at hotmail dot com
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Hi Jean,
That’s so true and The lovely green is every where. 🙂
Janice~
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I love seeing the bulbs you planted long ago finally bloom, it was worth the wait
fencingromein at hotmail dot com
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Hi Fencing,
Especially if you planted in the fall and waited all winter to see your bursts of color once they opened in the spring. 🙂
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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I love the green buds on the trees…it’s promising that spring is finally on it’s way! Gardening gives me a sense of accomplishment…when it works right! LOL
Barrie
books4me67 at ymail dot com
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Hi Barrie,
Yes, and it wasn’t that long ago for me that I was looking for the buds on trees.
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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like the flowers
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
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Hi BN,
Flowers are prettier in the spring. 🙂 Love the blooming.
Janice~
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I love the trees budding out, the cool-warm temperatures, the patter of rain, the scent of overturned soil, finding worms in the garden beds, the absence of mosquitoes, weeding and planting in the breezy sunshine, and so much more. Thank you for sharing your photographs. I can almost smell the jasmine on your garden arch. So lovely.
casey 4 4 6 at hot mail dot com
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Hi Kimberly,
Oh, those are the best things about spring time.
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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I love spring because it means I can start my vegetable gardening again. (I grow cucumbers, tomatoes, peas and lettuce in grow boxes on my porch).
cchant86 @ yahoo.com
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Hi Catherine,
Sound wonderful. Tomatoes are the easiest for me to grow and my husband just loves them.
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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I love planting my garden I love the pretty colors of the flowers and how relaxing it is :). This year I have set up an area where my kids and hubby are not permitted, they always seem to stomp on my flowers!!!
savannahm1987@gmail.com
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I love spring. All the new plants and how everything is new is awesome. I don’t have a garden now because i live in apartments. but i do have some herbs that i grow.
rbarckhaus (At) gmail (dot) com
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Hi Rhianona,
Good for you keeping up the gardening. Some herbs do wonderfully in pots.
Have a happy spring. 🙂
Janice~
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Hi Savannah,
I’ve put up a fence (before I started to plant in pots) to keep kids, dogs and lawnmowers out. It worked. Good luck and plant lots of pretty flowers.
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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I love reading on the beach!
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth(at)bookattict(dot)com
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Hi BookAttic,
Oh, who doesn’t? 😉
Janice~
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I love taking my dog to the dog park in spring. eendrizzi79 at gmail dot com
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Hi Mdotdrizzi,
Sounds like a fun day for both you and your dog. 🙂
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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Yeah. We always have a great time! Thanks!
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Im not much of a gardener. I kill anything i touch. I love to look at flowers though! I through wild flower seeds out in my yard and occasionally try and plant something, but they dont always grow. But its fun trying! Thank you!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
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HI Shadow,
Aw, wild flowers are still gardening.
Have a happy spring.
Janice~
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