Just About Ready!

I’m so very excited about the jump start I have on spring this year. I don’t ever remember having the garden cleaned up and ready to go so soon. There are still a few minor things that need to be done, but nothing of any major significance. It is such a relief to have all the hard stuff out of the way so I have nothing to do but enjoy planting next year.

It never ceases to amaze me how empty the garden looks in the winter time. The vast majority of the plants I have die back to the ground in the winter. Last year, being by myself and just having back surgery I had help cleaning everything up. He came back about midsummer for a visit and even he couldn’t believe how different everything looked.

I took the ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis down from this arbor this year. It was just becoming way too much vine for it. I have two very healthy vines that I’ll be removing and passing along to a friend. I was thinking about maybe planting black eyed susan vines on it. They come in so many different colors now a day. It’s not written in stone but that’s the idea I’m kicking around at the moment.

The Crepe Myrtles are starting to get some good size on them too. I’m going to be highlighting them with spotlights. I went yesterday and starting pricing the items I need to put the lights in the garden. I thought I would go ahead and buy the transformer and put down the wires this winter and I can always add lights all along. It’s going to be an expensive project so I thought I would reduce my eating out and purchase a couple of lights a pay period until I get everything like I want it.

Meanwhile, the camellia my grandmother rooted before she died has more blooms than I’ve ever seen on it before. I’m really starting to appreciate camellias in the garden. The pretty flowers in the winter time and the evergreen leaves have been a real treat for me this year. I need more evergreen shrubs in the garden and Camellias might be the way to go. My only concern is they grow so slow, it’ll take years for them to get any size on them. Just a thought…

Hope this finds you all well and happy.

Jamie Has Been On the Roof Again

Well, Jamie has been playing monkey again, this time he’s up on the roof with the camera. He always waits until I’m napping or no where around to do this stuff because he knows I can’t stand it. I’m glad he got these pictures though because I can get a good look at the garden without crawling up there myself.






As I ponder these pictures I’m making changes in my mind.




You can’t tell from these pictures but that back fence is planted with Spirea, Variegated Privet and Japanese Magnolias. In a couple of years those houses will no longer be visible from the garden.




Hmmmmm… Philip's irises are in these quarter round beds. Looking at these pictures and thinking something is missing. I can’t plant daylilies because one day these beds will be shade, but now the sun is too bright for shade plants… what to do…




Oh yea, there’s definitely too much grass here. We’ll be digging that up soon, I’m certain of that. I see a nice little spot for a bed.




Sooner or later this will be a tiny courtyard of sorts. It’s still just a concept at this point, but it will happen one day.