woman in pink floral loungewear standing next to large blooming artichoke plant - Diana Elizabeth blog based in Phoenix a home and garden lifestyle blog

Artichoke in Bloom

Quiet mornings in the garden are my favorite, at least until the Arizona summer heat arrives. I love seeing what has bloomed over night. Today, it was the artichoke!

woman in pink floral loungewear standing next to large blooming artichoke plant - Diana Elizabeth blog based in Phoenix a home and garden lifestyle blog

Floral jumpsuit: Rachel Parcell (top/bottom) wearing size small (can size down) I like to wear loungewear loose / Slides: Badgley Mischka (similar)

S
pring has just officially arrived yet it feels like it will have come and gone in the blink of an eye here in Phoenix. I’ve been living my best outdoor life since February, since I said I was going to be focusing on a different part of my life, and enjoying the life right before my eyes. Spring was the perfect time to encourage me to do it!

I have had friends over for lunch and dinner, hosting quality time, undistracted, making memories, having wonderful conversations and feeling like life is at its fullest right now. I try to structure my days working Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays and keeping Wednesdays and Fridays for running errands and meeting with friends for as long as I want guilt free. Of course perks to being my own boss is I can break theses rules too and award myself extra time off!

There are some work projects and I take them when appropriate (and honestly if easy and seems like a good fit), though at time it seems difficult to turn down opportunity but there’s only so much time for me to do anything around here if I want to balance home and garden life with home projects! I’ve been taking photos on my tripod, videos too! Whatever gets the job done.

floral pink jumpsuit Rachel Parcell loungewear
floral pink jumpsuit Rachel Parcell loungewear

So I thought about the oleander color I picked when we first moved in – it’s red. I guess you can technically call it a deep pink magenta color. I thought with the colors available like white, light pink or this “red” would I really do it again? And I have to say, I really do like color. I have my color palette preference but I notice if you don’t have colorful flowers, then that’s why photos can look flat, and again, everyone has their own preference but boy do I love me some color! And I think if you aren’t sure if you like color, just figure out a palette. That’s still color, maybe you just don’t like some colors together because they actually don’t go together so I wouldn’t blame you if you felt that way.

This was a freshly bloomed artichoke. The center grew larger as the day went on. It amazes me how quickly plants grow, it’s magical. God sure has created so much beauty around us for us to take in and enjoy.

I can’t wait for the bees to discover this and start dancing in the middle of it like they are drunk! I love bees so much – and still so odd I have yet to get stung but I am hoping to go through life without ever finding out what that feels like because I am a baby!

artichoke in first day of bloom stage

The desire to make our home feel like I’m coastal or the English countryside is still a work in progress but the English roses certainly help around here! This is the Teasing Georgia by David Austin roses. They are supposed to be yellow but to me they have always been more of an apricot color. This is the first year out of the three years that I have seen it fully bloom like this, large blooms and happy. She’s matured and happy on our north facing wall (the front of our home). I was worried she would never bloom because they say if there’s no sun things don’t bloom but I haven’t found that to be entirely true.

I will eventually need to add more wires to wrap around the house because she’s growing so quickly! Sometime I stand outside a few steps away from my house and look at it and take it in. I hope to continue to be a good steward of what God has given me and hope that in heaven I’ll be a gardener!

David Austin roses teasing Georgia on Brick wallDavid Austin roses teasing Georgia on Brick wall

Well, time to order some pizza for dinner! I hope you have a beautiful day!

floral pink jumpsuit Rachel Parcell loungewear

Diana Elizabeth can live in loungewear, changes into pajamas at night and sometimes does three outfit changes. Day outfit, loungewear for evening and then changes into jammies before bed. She swears her body knows when it’s time to be alert, lounge and watch Netflix, and then go to bed – the fabric textures tell her and it’s a real thing!

Diana Elizabeth is an author, photographer, and obsessive thrift shopper. You can typically find her in the garden wrist deep in dirt, at a local estate sale or planning her next creative themed party. She continues to blog weekly.

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