Day Full of Day Lillies

Today was supposed to be day two of yard work marathon. Hub said he wanted to sleep in and truthfully, he deserved it. Today marks him being home 1 week from his 'round the world work trip. I obliged his desire as I too love to sleep in. But all that sleeping meant much less yard work. We finally got outside about 11 or 1130.

Immediately, I went to work on my mint garden. After standing there during mid day, I realized the area I had slated for my mint garden did not receive enough light. So I changed plans. It has been on the back burner of my mind to break apart my plethora of day lillies and transplant them. So the area that was supposed to be minty freshness now became full of day lillies.

Transplanting these little babies involved me digging out the weeds/patchy grass, turning over the dirt, walking behind the garage to the compost pile and loading up a 5 gallon bucket, then spreading the compost over the dirt and then re turning over the dirt. I then walked across the driveway and dug out some day lillies, split them with my hands then re planted them in the compost mixture. After replanting an entire section, hub would hand me a bag of freshly ground sticks from our property to add on top as mulch. This entire operation took until about 5pm and yielded me an entire section of yard in which I can leave to Mother Nature. However, the area I was trying to clear out for my mint garden, still contains over 3/4 of the day lillies. It seems in splitting them, they go far..... REALLY FAR!

Hub spent the time adding the screens back to our windows, which is a God sent as the last few nights I've been eaten alive in my own home. The other night, I killed a mosquito and when hub saw it he asked if it was real. I'm not even going into the smart ass comments that came out of my mouth with that question.... but lets just say, "YEAH! IT WAS REAL!"

After screens he used our chipper, lovingly called "the beast", to chop up a pile of sticks and leaves we had set aside since fall. Those became the mulch around the new day lillies. I love recycling!

Hub then decided to move our gas grill to the "other side" of the drive way. He cleared out the weeds, recycled some rocks we had on hand and built a little patio for the grill to sit on. He is quite excited about it's new location. I think it looks good, but am not as excited. Our other option is on a deck that has yet to be built. Looks like this will have to do for now.

Tomorrow, we have more plans in store. We also are not sleeping in and are hoping for an earlier start. There are talks of a trip to the garden center, again. Those people at Best Feeds are beginning to know us by name. I still am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Stay tuned!

The First of Three LONG Days!

Tonight was the first link in our Memorial Day Marathon (MDM). My daughter had her last day performance at school. That ate up our morning. The afternoon we spent running around doing menial tasks that needed to be done, but had NOTHING to do with our MDM. About 7ish we caught our stride and began the weekend from hell.

For Mother's Day this year, we bought my mom a cedar raised bed garden. She has MS but loves to garden. My husband found a raised bed square foot garden on legs. It is the perfect height for people in wheel chairs. Although she isn't in one yet, she uses her walker that has a seat to do most things. Gardening is no exception. This evening, hub and I built her garden bed and she asked us to Tung Oil it as she wishes for it not to naturally grey. It looks GREAT!

I also was able to plant my three tiered planter. OK, so one errand we ran today was to the garden center for the flowers for my planter. I opted this year for a wide variety of colors..... orange, yellow and red are my main colors, however, I mixed in some purple, white and a few pinks. Sounds strange, but I really like how they came together.

I had a few extra plants left, so I dug out the cowboy boots I found last year at the good will. They were half priced and I had to have them. Last February, hub and I went to New Mexico for a vacation.... just the two of us. I fell in love with the southwestern look. When I came home, I went searching for some cowboy boots to serve as planters. Lo and behold I FOUND THEM!!! I planted ornamental peppers in them last year, but this year I added some vibrant flowers. The juxtaposition of the color against the grey boot is GORGEOUS!

Before the sun fully setted, I managed to pull weeds from an area of my yard that I don't think I've EVER touched in the 3 years we have lived here. In that area I sprinkled some wild flower seeds as well as planted a few rows of sunflowers. I hope they sprout and grow! I also was able to get some carrots into my garden. More, much more, to do in the next few days! Stay tuned!

HERBS!

This year I have decided to plant a true herb garden. Each year, I toy with this idea and each year, I end up tucking a few herbs in with my veggies. However, this year, I've made the switch. I made a "real" herb garden.

Out in the front of my house is a patch of garden that holds some ornamental grasses and then whatever I choose to put in there. Spring time usually sprouts a few crocus, lots of daffodils and now some tulips in that area. Last year, I learned my lesson as I planted my hot peppers around the ornamental grasses. Within the first few weeks of summer, the ornamental grasses had taken over. Luckily I was able to still harvest some peppers, but they were delayed in producing. Not a bad thing overall, just an observation.

This week, I dug up two of the grasses that flanked either side of this area and replanted them all together on one side. This left a vast area for planting all of my herbs. I excitedly went to the garden center and bought some new herbs I'd never had before, like Anise Hyssop, Cat Mint, Cat Nip and a dwarf Curry Plant, and some old favorites like Cilantro, Parsley, etc. I sprouted a few favorites like Dill and three different types of Basil. Although, the Basil is currently in the back in the garden and will be moved up once it grows a bit. I also had my Oregano plant survive winter and resprout. It is huge and GORGEOUS! It too is in the back with the veggies, however, I will be moving it out to the front. I can't wait! FINALLY!!! My own herb garden!

My Woodland Garden

A few years ago, if you go back that far in this blog, you'll see I pulled out a significant section of ivy and a few rhododendrons to make a patio with a "cutting garden". After all the work and planting, I found out when the trees grew in, it was truly a woodland garden. It gets barely any sun and when sitting on the patio you really do feel like you are in a woodland retreat. The cutting garden is on the back burner until further notice.

Since realizing that nothing grows in that area that isn't a "shade" plant, I have been combing the catalogues for shade flowers. I want my gardens like my life, colorful. I've come across several varieties of plants that I have fallen in love with that also bloom. One of those plants being Columbines. The two toned flower with unique shape is just captivating! Columbines make me smile everytime I look at them. I am on the hunt for some more in different colors!

This year in my woodland garden, I've decided to add some ferns. I love the ferns unique folliage and am excited that it is a perennial. The man at the garden center with the adorable chocolate lab suggested a particular fern that grows to 6 feet high. I put that in the back corner of the woodland garden for a spectacular show! I also purchased two other types of ferns, one of which I am a bit nervous. I had my kids with me and so between me yelling at them to stop climbing under and over the tables of plants, I failed to read the labels. One fern that I bought "spreads". I hope this one doesn't become another ivy.

There have also been a few plants that have come back year after year. I don't know what they are called, but they're cool and I'll take them! My hope is to make this a perennial garden where I have to do just a little work in it. You know, let Mother Nature take credit for the gorgeousness. AHHHH! Just what I like, a lot of beauty for a little work!

Gearing Up For The Marathon!

Every year over Memorial Day, hubby and I spend the entire weekend doing house projects. Now I know everyone does house projects over Memorial Day but ours are always extremely colorful. It starts out with us having a goal. And then we bicker and fight until the last moments of the weekend. Usually the bickering happens because we are two different types of people. He is the "if I am not using it now, it goes" type of person and I am the "I have an idea that includes that so let's put it away until I get to it" type of person. Both personality types have their pros and cons, however each time this weekend rolls around, I get both excited to get stuff accomplished and anxious at the amount of fighting that will occur.

This week, I've decided to spend a good amount of time in my yard, which needs some major work. I'm moving plants around, planting my garden, hitting the garden center where I spend too much money, etc. I feel like I am gearing up for the marathon. The marathon of back breaking work that results in a nice looking yard..... at least for a week or so.

I've got a lot planned, as usual, for this yard. I guess we'll see what we have time for and what gets put on the back burner for yet another few weeks or in all likely hood, next year.

Happy Gardening!

IRISES!!!!!!

Back in college, my sorority's flower was "the lovely purple iris". This meant squat to me as I could have cared less back then about gardening. However, about 5 years ago, my hubby and I helped my mom move from my childhood home into a smaller ranch home. We spent countless hours at her house throwing away and going through over 25 years worth of stuff so she could downsize. Nothing I wouldn't do again for her..... she's my mom and I love her. But she thought differently. She wanted to "repay" me for helping her. So she bought me some irises to plant in my yard.



I was living in a different house than I am now at that time. I bought a small tree and by small I mean maybe 3 foot high and then put the irises around that tree. When the bulbs sent up their fan like leaves they were higher than the tree. My husband thought this was hysterical and also it made him mad that we bought such a little tree. "What do you expect for $20", I asked him.



When we moved from that home into our current home three years ago, I dug up the irises and brought them here. I finally got them into the ground about 6 months later. Since then they have sent up the leaves every year but never a bloom. NEVER! So imagine my surprise when I came home from two weeks away to find every single bulb blooming several flowers at the same time! I almost died! I couldn't stop screaming and sniffing the blooms! THEY ARE GORGEOUS!



Suddenly, I feel very connected to these flowers. Every time I look at them I think of my college

days, which were some of the best times of my life. I think of my mom, who gave them to me. I think of how far I've come in gardening. I like irises. No better yet, I LOVE IRISES!

The Helicopters Have Sprouted!

Every year I love the sight of the "helicopters" falling to the ground in masses. By helicopters I mean the lovely maple tree seeds. We used to call them helicopters when I was a kid. Anyway, they make an awesome showing as the wind blows and they fall by the hundreds, maybe even thousands.

The problem lies several weeks later when I spend at least a week pulling the new sproutlets out of the ground. Part of me feels very murderous as I am pulling new life from the ground and killing it. However, I do not want a forest of maples growing in my house. Afterall, the ground literally looks as if it has been taken over by a maple ground cover. Seriously, Mother Nature is abundant and these little suckers prove that theory!

I spent today pulling maples out of the garden beds and then planting in what I really wanted in them, which was veggies and herbs. I still have many more maples to pull..... but at least I got it started!