toni's Blog at GardenStew.com

Cabin among the Cedar trees

toni — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:59:55 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:59 pm (GMT 0)

You have already seen pictures of the Norwegian Capital of Texas that we visited last Tues on our vacation and seen the garden junque we found on our trip, now this is where we stayed for Tuesday evening thru Thurs morning.
It is a Bed and Breakfast but they have 5 cabins, four of which are off in the 'woods'. Two of those are on secluded roads and very private, we had one of those.

The road to the B-n-B ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

Secluded road to our cabin ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

View from part of the road ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )[/

Front of cabin ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

View from front porch ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

View from the back door, across the hot tub ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

More of the back yard ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

View from the bathroom window ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

Young Jackrabbit came to have tea with me Wed morning ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )

A small 'possum came to visit me while I was having my morning tea too but he ran away as soon as I raised the camera. The jackrabbit came back Wed afternoon and let us watch her eat a small tree.
Wednesday night we saw a Doe and her Fawn walking thru the woods to their den for the night. There is supposed to be a Fox out there but we never saw him.

We are hoping to go back during the late Autumn or early Winter to enjoy the hot tub in the cold and then sit by a roaring fire in the living room to warm up and wonder what ever possessed us to get into the hot tub on such a cold day.

Screeeeech, slam on the brakes and back-up a few months

toni — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:23:25 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:23 pm (GMT 0)

Last fall, I believe it was, before I found my fence panels I devised a front yard plan that wouldn't need them and would still close off the yard. Then I found the fence panels and that plan changed because it just didn't work with the panels.
But part of the original plan is being added back in.....a raised Rose bed. The other part of that plan was using shrubs with year round interest as a living wall, but that part is changing but I have some plants that will planted between a couple more of the fence panels to close the gap.

We are going to build it between two fence panels along the front sidewalk and hopefully in a trapezoid shape or possibly a parallelogram ....depends on which one I can talk my live-in carpenter into making for me. I have three rose bushes that need more sun than they are getting now that I can move from their pots into the bed and hopefully pick up another one if needed to fill the shape of the bed.
This fall I am going to scatter wildflower seeds over it so they will grow up in early spring and bloom before the roses even start to leaf out.

Oh, wow, I just remembered that the fenced in herb bed is another idea from last year that I thought I would have to forego when we couldn't find the fence panels. An 8ft x 8ft square, one panel will be made into a gate. Shelves along the in side of two of the panels, stopping 2ft from the end opposite the gate. There will be planted two Comfrey plants and an Apothecary's Rose. The shelves will hold pots of herbs for cooking, salves, lotions, and for making candle and soap scents. I might want a couple of shorter shelves on the outside of one of the panels too.

Something else I have wanted for a long time is a Medicine Wheel type of garden bed. I have a 9ft circle marked off and will divide it into 4 sections. Each section will be planted with plants that bloom in the color for that section...i.e. North- White, East - Yellow, South - Red and West- Blue. The plants will also represent the four seasons, there will be plants symbolizing the birthmonths of Randy and I, our kids and grandkids (the birthmonth garden I tried out back was a resounding failure because of the trees growing and spreading too much shade) And some of the plants will be chosen for their meaning in the language of flowers.
I already have some of the flowers in the backyard, some I have been buying when I find them and some I have started from seed. A few will have to be ordered and planted this fall....i.e. Red Lilies,to bloom next spring.

I will need to use Randy's compass to get the sections positioned correctly, but first I have a lot of grass/weed digging up to do. I need to find an inexpensive source for smallish stones to use around the outer edge and something natural and flat to create the 4 sections that I can walk on for reaching the center and weeding. I would like to make a Peace Pole for the very center, I think that will be an over the winter project.

From one angle the front yard looks way too big for me to handle, then I start fitting in all these bed ideas and it starts looking sorta small. But I think in a year or two I am going to be really happy with it all..exhausted but happy..I hope

I am hoping that these ideas come out better than the ..'make the backyard into a vegie garden' idea ..I bit off more than I could do in one season on that one but I will still be working on it. Also, the planting of the H*** strip between the street and sidewalk isn't coming out as planned either...but it is also one to continue working on.

And yes there will be pictures as things are done. I think we will be putting up the fence panels for the herb bed some evening this week. And I will start digging out the circle bed in the morning.

The plants in the Medicine Wheel type garden are.....

North - White
Moonflower vine
White Mum - cheerfulness
dwarf Holly - Winter/Dec (oldest grandson)
Dusty Miller- respected Grandmother
Water Lily - healing and July (Randy and youngest grandson)

South - Red
mini Red Rose - Love and June (oldest daughter)
Cockscomb - humor
Red Lilies - faery favorite and April (me)
Red Morning Glory - peace/happiness and Sept (son-in-law)
Red Sunflowers - Summer

West - Blue/Black/Purple
Lavender - healing
Blue Morning Glory - greeting the day
Lamb's Ear - healing
Blue Pansies - Spring

East - Yellow
Black-eyed Susan - fairness
Lemon Balm - health
Yellow mini Rose - joy/happiness and June (youngest daughter)
dwarf Sunflowers - Autumn

I also found some really neat quotes to paint onto plaques for each section too.

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are" -- Alfred Austin
"Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are" --Gretel Ehrlich
"Who bends a knee where violets grow a hundred secret things will know" --Rachel Field
"We can talk," said the Tiger Lily "when there's anybody worth talking to" --Lewis Carroll

Gardening at the end of April

toni — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:18:11 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:18 am (GMT 0)

Woooohoooo, got my fence panels ordered today. They won't totally enclose the front yard but with the help of vines will give us some privacy out there.
6 will go along the front sidewalk and with the Cross Vine cuttings I have been rooting, they will be covered pretty quickly. One will go along the sidewalk on the side where the Canna bed is. The Canna will be the privacy shield there.
One will go along the driveway, joining the end of the row of 6 at the sidewalk. I want to fill that corner with Hollyhocks, Iris and Lilies. I have plenty of Glad and Iris but will have to wait until next year for the Hollyhocks to bloom.
One will be up near the front porch to give privacy to the entry way and one will be between the Rosemary bush and the trash and recycle barrels to block that view from the street.
I am so excited and this is one of those garden dreams that you have perfectly pictured in your mind and are almost afraid you will never be able to make come true.

I have started pulling up the grass/weeds in the strip between the sidewalk and the curb. Had to stop last week after some creature bit my arm three times causing some swelling, redness and a painful itch. I sort of hate to admit it but we picked up some bug killing spray that will be used on that area before I can finish pulling and planting it. I just don't want to get those bites again.
I have so much Salvia guaranitica (Black and Blue Salvia) that is taking over the back yard I am pretty sure that will be the main plant in that strip. It should take over that area in no time and be confined between the sidewalk and curb. Of course I will have to put in some edging on the property line so Dana next door doesn't have to fight it next year.

Between the heat and bad bug bites last week and the several days of rain this week, it will be next week before I can get much more done in the yard. But considering the drought we are barely coming out of, there is no way under the sun that I will be complaining about rain anytime soon.

Yet another plan for a front yard garden

toni — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:34:04 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:34 pm (GMT 0)

Why, oh why, can't I shut off the garden planning portion of my mind? It gets me into more trouble, keeps me too busy, sore of muscle and at the same time is the major source of frustration in my life cause I can't do it all.

The bed I started last spring will be added to over the next couple of weeks, lots of plants to move from the back yard still. The Cannas need to be planted and the rain board installed. Then it will be time to watch it fill in as the weather warms up and add a small fence on the further side just to define the area.

The new shade garden is where it will stay for a while too. I can add potted shade plants over the season as I find them but it will be next year, at least, before anything will be planted in the ground.

Now that we are getting some much needed rain, the black clay will be workable sometime next week and moving the Buddleia, Sages, etc. can begin. And we can get the Texas Lilac Vitex and Viburnum Dentatum in the ground to act as 'mail carrier blockers'. The fencing comes next month.

So last night I was looking thru yet another plant catalog that had come in that days mail, this time from High Country Gardens which specializes in Xericape plants and the flash of inspiration that struck me was so bright it hurt my eyes and will eventually hurt my knees, hands and back too.

There is an area out front that never feels the touch of water from the garden hose, it gets wet only when it rains, it is a royal pain in the tushie to mow and edge and is generally ignored in landscape/gardening plans by one and all.....ours does happen to contain two really large Crepe Myrtle trees - one on either end, planted by the previous owner many years ago. That strip of land is the one between the sidewalk and the curb, it is 6.5 feet x roughly 32 feet between the trees.

I was finding so, so many possibilities in that catalog for that strip of forgotten land and quietly moaning about how much it was going to cost to get this done the way I was picturing it in my head.
Then I was struck by yet another blinding flash of inspiration, dang don't those things hurt when you are not used to getting two in one evening.

I have many of the recommended Xeriscape plants in my back yard already and they are looking for a new home out front.
I have an.....
Achillea - Yarrow 'Paprika',
Black and Blue Salvia,
Artemesia -'Powis Castle',
4 Caryopteris clandonensis 'Longwood Blue', Solidago canadensis,
Moonbeam Coreopsis,
some quickly spreading Oenothera speciosus 'Rosea' (Pink Evening Primrose) that would love to be turned loose in the area
and several Crocosmia - 'Emily McKenzie' bulbs that are not doing well where I planted them last year
I have already bought several pots of Creeping Phlox 'Emerald Blue' to plant on the edge between one of the trees and our driveway.

So my time next week is appropriated for the work but this week while it is too wet to be out there I really need to figure out where each plant will go....or I could just clear a spot and bring a plant from the back and repeat until the space is filled. Hopefully there will be another flash of inspiration during the planning phase because I suck at planning things out.

Owha taygoo Siam

toni — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:50:06 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:50 pm (GMT 0)

Say that several times, faster each time. Ever play that on your little brother when you were a kid? I did and loved every minute of it but then I was somewhat of a mean older sister. I am a little ditzy this afternoon from being out in the yard

It doesn't matter when I start working on the garden, I am always getting a later start than I should have.
I started doing some things out back in January between cold snaps not realizing that those cold snaps would end in early Feb and early summer would arrive the very next day.

I am mainly working on a new Canna bed out front. Our front yard slopes down to the street which means when I water or when/if it rains, a lot of water simply runs down into the street/ into the storm drain and doesn't hang around to soak into the ground. So I am making a small 'rain garden' where the Canna will be planted. You can do a google search for Rain Garden to get an idea of what I am aiming for. It will be just a small one to begin with, eventually I would love to have it run the full width of the front yard.

I have decided that the first area to be planted out front will be a butterfly garden.
I have one Butterfly bush and plant on getting two more. I have white Liatris to move to it, Zinnia and Cosmos seeds to start. Then go shopping (oh don't you just hate to have to go shopping for plants) for Lantana, Penta, Parsley, Joe Pye Weed, Milkweed, Hyssop, Tall Verbena, Flowering Tobacco and Globe Amaranth.
After getting that bed started then I will have a better idea of where the plants from out back can go.

Also, I have been creating a shade garden under the pecan tree on the north side of the house. When we bought the house the previous owner had planted Hedera helix - the dreaded English Ivy there and let it grow all over the side of the house.
After a few years of pulling and thinking bad thoughts about the one who planted it, I think I have gotten it gone. We are still working on getting it out of the trees before they get strangled by it and that process is working pretty well.

For the shade bed we installed some above ground edging last month and I have been dumping all the pots of old soil and compost on top of a layer of dead leaves. The soil I am digging up to make the rain garden is going there too. I won't be able to actually plant 'in' the soil for a couple of years but plant stands and pots will eventually hold Impatiens, Spiderwort, Cast Iron plant and any other full shade plants I can find. I am going to cut the bottoms out of a few pots and use them for some Persian Shield along the wall. I also have two large containers I have been growing Peppermint and Chocolate Mint in for a couple of years, they need more shade than where they are now so they are going to get dumped out there too. The more bed they cover, the better. Oh, I also have some seeds for Blackberry and Trout Lilies that like shade.

In clearing off the dead leaves I have found all sorts of greenery coming back. These are all out back waiting to be moved to the front yard, oh have mercy, those areas are not even begun yet.
Fall Asters
Obedient Plant
Guara
Blue and Black Salvia
Pineapple Sage

These are greening up in the front bed I started last spring. I added some Hollyhocks to the area this morning.
Fennel, planted last fall but died back shortly after evidently the roots were fine.
Daisys
Mystic Spires Salvia
Red Valerian that I thought had died last summer
Texas Rock Rose
Hydrangea of unknow variety or color, unlabeled on sale table last fall.

And of course many that stayed green thru the winter. Some will be moved but most will stay out back.
Rosemary - one out back that is too large to move and one out front
White Autumn Sage
Lipstick Sage
Malva Zebrina
Lemon Balm
Iris
Penstemon - Husker Red
White Skullcap
Sweet William
Scabiousa Butterfly Blue

Still green in the front bed ...
Scabious - Black Knight
Missouri Evening Primrose, which will soon become a very nice ground cover whether I intended it to or not it would appear.

I have some pictures to get ready and will post them to the forum later today.

All these plans probably sound pretty extensive and may not happen this year since we appear to be in for a very hot and dry spring, summer and fall.
Remind me someday to fill you in on the vegie garden I have planned for the back yard.

Whatever pops into my head

toni — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:51:26 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:51 am (GMT 0)

We had a loverly day consisting of several hours of steady rain today, totalled almost 2 inches. We needed to have been having this kind of day more often since early May.
Now we are looking at Hurricane Ike this weekend, this one just might come on north after it hits land between Corpus Christi and Galveston and be over us by Sunday. Since it appears we will be on the 'dirty side' we might get lots of rain and some tornadoes. We'll see.

Amanda is in her third week of the new job and is doing very well. She has had such a hard time finding someone to hire her since she graduated from high school three years ago. I am so relieved, plus she is taking a computer course at the local community college in how to use Flash for animated videos...I think, but then my eyes usually glaze over when she or Randy begin talking about computer in any way.

Since our soil is no longer concrete after today's rain I am hoping to get out back to pull up the Iris bulbs by the back door and put them in some pots, clear out the area in front of the window we used to leave open for Rambo to come in and out of and open those two areas up for an herb garden. Later this fall I plan to move the Cannas from the bed they have called home for the last 5 years and make that whole area an herb bed. The Canna's will become part of the rain garden out front next spring.

I finally found a source for picket fencing, Home Depot has a gothic style picket fencing that is available by special order. I have done all sorts of google searches for picket fence and come up with nothing. We were walking into a Home Depot other than the one we normally go to, last weekend to find a small window AC unit for Randy's office and there on a display outside the door were the exact panels I have been longing for. I want three panels down the property line on the north side of the yard and at least 5 more for along the front and up the property line on the south side of the yard. Now I need to find an relatively inexpensive survey company to verify our property line so neither of the neighbors has anything to complain about before we can put the fencing up. I am soooooo excited about finally finding the fencing.

We picked up Rambo' ashes recently. I had wondered if we would get a baggie that contained a bit of him, bit of a Doberman, a little bit of a Poodle and maybe bits of a couple of cats....but I was afraid of what the answer would be if I had asked at the Vet's office. What we got was a nice condolence letter from the director of the crematorium, a certification that the remains in the box were indeed Rambo's and no one elses, a copy of the poem The Rainbow Bridge, a candle in a votive holder and a very nice cedar box with a brass plate on top with the name Rambo engraved on it that hold his ashes. Amanda came in a few days later and took the box into her room.
I still hear him barking outside sometimes and black shadowy spots on the floor make me step sideways to keep from 'stepping on him' but we are getting used to him not being here, still hurts but it doesn't hurt as much. Hard to believe that last Saturday was one month.

More thoughts on the new Front Garden

toni — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:21:58 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:21 pm (GMT 0)

Some are definitely going to be put into place and some are just thoughts for now that I want to keep track of, they might change as the transition takes place.

All bulbs will be in pots and scattered around the garden. They are gorgeous in clumps in the garden but leave unplantable areas when they die back. Being in pots they will add color all over the garden, when they die back the pots will be hidden by the other plants or the pots will be moved to the back yard to a 'holding area' until next blooming season. The main problem will be digging them all up, the Glads and Iris have been in the ground for so many years that there will be dozens of bulbs I will probably miss. Oh, well.
I have started accumulating pots of all sorts for them at thrift stores.

A BACK yard full of what appears to be empty barren ground when perennials are dormant for the winter is okay, very few people will actually see it anyway. But a Front yard left barren like that is just not going to be understood by any one who passes by, especially the city environmental health inspectors who do not garden and wouldn't have the foggiest idea of what it going on out there.

So I have been studying up on what plants I need to have out there for year round green and to screen off the majority of the garden from passersby. I bought the Abelia last weekend to use for the hedge, will add Texas Sage and/or it's cultivar Silverado Sage and a Winter Bush Honeysuckle, the Viburnum I found on the sale table and the Firecracker bush I bought a while ago and the Texas Lilac that is still in it's pot a year after I bought it.
Possibly a red-twig Dogwood if they will do well down here and a Forsythia which I know will.
And the part still viewable will have some evergreen perennials...Germander both upright and creeping, Lamb's Ear, Dusty Miller and Red Yucca will add year round color.

There is a section at the south corner of the house where we have been fighting poison ivy for years and after having my first run-in with that 5 years ago and having arms and legs that looked like something from a Steven King movie, I will not be doing any gardening there. I got Randy to put edgeing and mulch on part of it and next spring I think I will fill that area up with large pots planted with native, drought tolerant grasses.

The north side of the house, along the wall that used to be the garage, there are two really large and very productive Pecan trees. As a result it is total shade and so far nothing but the English Ivy planted by the previous owner has been growing...oh and bunches of squirrel planted pecan trees too. I need to pull out more of the ivy that has crept back in. I have been putting grass and weeds into large brown paper lawn waste bags that are normally picked up by the city for composting. But I have been keeping some bags of the grass I pulled up to make the other bed out there, letting the stuff die and start composting in the bags....this winter I am going to spread all of that over the shaded area, top it off with lots of soil and bags of already composted material.
I had originally been trying to find all sorts of shade plants for that area, but the really common ones just won't work out there. So I think I will fill it with Toad Lilies and Lirope spicata. Lots of green with pretty blooms late summer thru fall.

I want a long narrow raised Rose bed along the front sidewalk. I want to sow wildflower seeds in the bed too...Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush in particular. They will grow and bloom in March/April well before the roses bloom.
I think having the rose bed raised about 10-12 inches will give a good backdrop for a berm to create a rain garden along the front too.

If I get the rose bed, then I won't need nearly as many hedge type plants, what I have already might suffice. Like I said these are ideas I have been mulling over and wanted to put them in the blog so I can think about them some more and revise them as needed. I have written down all these thoughts on slips of paper....have any of you seen stray pieces of paper laying around anywhere???

Changing Fred into Fred-jables

toni — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:14:55 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:14 am (GMT 0)

Just thinking out loud for a few minutes on an idea that came to mind last night, or I should say really early this morning.

What if I transplant most of the plants from the backyard to the front yard over the fall and winter and turn the backyard into a vegie garden? I have gotten so interested in having our own fresh vegies from looking at the harvest pictures of Sjoerd and EJ. I have always wanted to grow potatoes, I have grown Okra and Blackeyed Peas successfully, tried corn and squash and failed....tried growing them in a summer that became one of the hottest and driest on record...but want to try again. There are a few other vegies I would like to try. And watching our grocery bill get higher and higher and the quality of the produce diminishing...especially when there have been quite a few problems with Salmonella outbreaks because of the poor hygiene practices of the pickers, growers and processors.

Some plants will have to stay out back, specifically the rose bushes, hibiscus plants and the Fig tree. But everything else can be moved while it is dormant or just breaking leaf in early spring. I may have to wait until early spring on some so I can find them ;)

The process can not even begin until Fall and hopefully at that time we will get rain to make the soil workable. So I have plenty of time before then to work out a garden design plan .....but then I have never been very good at planning things out so I will probably wind up just digging holes and sticking the plants in....but I do want to put some paths in before planting this time.

It's just something I am thinking about, probably wouldn't involve the whole backyard but the center portion where the main garden is at least. There are a lot of plants but I think I can do it.

Guess I am officially old now

toni — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:01:27 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:01 pm (GMT 0)

My Grandmother had blue hair, from my earliest years of childhood I can only remember her having blue hair. In a perverse way I thought it was pretty cool to be the only kid in my grade whose Grandmother had blue hair....and who had been divorced. Considering the times (I started school in 1952) being divorced was not something talked about in polite company but being not quite the 'polite' child my mother would have preferred I did talk about it.

Back to the blue hair.....my grandmother started going gray at the age of 18 and by the time I was born when she was 36, she was totally gray. The popular way to treat gray hair in those days was to brighten it with laundry bluing.....why not, it was used to brighten white clothes. I am not sure that there were any official instructions for that use, my grandmother must have figured that if a little was good then a lot was better.....it turned her gray hair a pale blue.

When I was a young woman I vowed that I would never dye my hair when it started going gray. I certainly didn't plan on bluing my hair, that was cool on my grandmother but not gonna happen on me.

As I got older the gray coming in was a mousy color and with my dark hair it looked terrible so I gave in and started dyeing it. To make a long story short, over time I developed an alergy to the coloring used in the hair dye. I stopped using it and let my hair grow so I could get all the colored part cut off. I got my hair cut really short last week and realized that the gray is looking pretty good so I think I will keep it. Besides now I don't have to prove I am eligible for the senior citizen discount when I buy something or we go out to eat....like the cashier couldn't see the wrinkles before? sheesh.

But even with the gray hair, wrinkles, a 42 year old daughter, senior discounts, senior sized portions at restaurants and aches and pains that were not there a few years ago being old hadn't really sunk in.

Then today reality hit.....I received my first Social Security Benefit payment.

But what the heck, I've got extra money and am going plant shopping.

Whining, this past week and weekend plans

toni — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:50:58 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 4:50 pm (GMT 0)

It is another scorcher today
It was a scorcher yesterday
It will be a scorcher again tomorrow.
And this evening we go to our nieces high school graduation ceremony which will be held outside in the football stadium. My luck we will be sitting where we can see the setting sun in all it's glory.....boy won't I be happy about that. But Amanda did buy me a purple and white parasol at the A-kon last weekend, that should help some.
Okay, now I have my summer heat whining done for the weekend.

Yesterday morning I finally got more plants in the new bed out front.
The two Mystic Spires Salvia, two Scabiosa atropurpurea - 'Black Knight'
two Coreopsis and a Maximillian Sunflower. Of course the wind was fierce all afternoon and thru the night, but it looks like they rode it out with no problems.

The three Sweet Violets are in their hanging baskets waiting for Randy to get the hooks installed.

In potting up the new herbs the other day I found one that I had forgotten to include in the previous blog entry. I have two upright Myrtle plants. No info from the grower other than the name but it appears they will grow into large shrubs. That is a good thing since I want to use a variety of large shrubs to 'fence' off our front yard. I have a Texas Lilac and the two Myrtles, now to get a Rose of Sharon, a couple of Butterfly bushes, a Weigela. I would love to have a Burning Bush too.

I fenced in the massive and very prolific white shrub rose out front. It always looks so unkempt, now it has a woven wicker type short fence around it to help define it's place. That corner of the fence on the right side of the picture looks crooked because it is, the new entrance to the front garden will eventually be between that fence and where the white trellis is along the front.

Also started putting in a bed along the front of the house. Randy sprayed the area with soil sterilizer last fall so I just covered it with mulch. The trellis will have a Clematis and some painted birdhouse gourds hanging from it after this weekend.
There will be another trellis/clematis combo in front of the window too.
The pots will hold Coreopsis, Mexican Mint Marigold and Goldenrod.

This bed will extend down to the other end of the house but that is way too close to where we killed poison ivy a couple of years ago and considering what that stuff does to me, I am not going near it. That also is on Randy's to-do list for this weekend.

I wonder if Randy coming up with things to do away from home on the weekends lately has anything to do with the to-do list I have on the front of the refrigerator? Ya think?

To Garden and Sweat or Stay Inside with the AC on Stun

toni — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:38:32 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:38 pm (GMT 0)

I worked in the front yard for a couple of hours Friday morning. It had been 8 days since I had been able to get anything done out there, it has been longer since I worked out back and I know the weeds are loving my absence but their turn is coming tomorrow morning.

Friday afternoon, it was only 92 degrees and that was the coolest it had been here in over a week, we took a drive to the other side of Dallas to one of my favorite garden nurseries. They have more different herbs than any place I know of and even tho the herb bed isn't ready yet, I can grow the herbs in pots until it is.
So with sweat running down the back of my legs I wandered thru the covered plant area digging thru the packed tables looking for the ones I wanted and eventually came home with.......
Borage
Comfrey
Lemon Verbena
Lime Balm - I have Lemon Balm trying to take over the back yard already.
Aloe
Hyssop
Anise Hyssop
Wormwood
Patchouli
German Chamomile
St. John's Wort

Also picked up a Eucalyptus citriodora, according to the growers tag it is supposed to be 3 to 10 feet tall. I can't find any info on one remaining that short or info on growing them down here, but it came from an Herb farm just the other side of Dallas so I hope they do know what they are talking about.

A Bat-faced Cuphea, never had one before and just couldn't resist that cute face. It is considered an annual this far north so I will keep it in a large pot and move it into the bloom house this winter.

A scented Geranium with no ID tag and 'Mr. Personality' working there was no help at all. I swear there are just some people who should not be allowed to work with the public!

The last two Milkweed plants they had. I got some milkweed seed from the Monarch Watch group a couple of years ago but since they don't guarantee there to be actual seeds in the envelope, I bought 5 envelopes....no plants ever came up. We were on the migration path for the Monarchs coming up from Mexico this spring and usually see several in the fall, the Milkweed should give them some food for their journey this year.

There are still some herbs I need to look for, should have just bought seeds to begin with and I would already have the plants.

Now I have the plants....I just have to find the fence panels I want.

Early this morning we went to Lowes for mulch, organic potting soil and some edging. Another project for the front yard. One of these days the heat will be too much even early in the morning, the mosquitos are already too much to be out in the early evening. COME ON FALL!!!!!!!

Fred from on high - Updated

toni — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:03:17 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 1:03 am (GMT 0)

I did a count of the plants I have in the back yard. There are 100+ varities with many of them being in multiplies, like the Canna, Snapdragons, Iris, etc. that brings the total up to almost 300 out there.
Now you know why I am working on getting the front garden made, I am literally out of room out back. :)

Randy got up on the roof for updated pictures of Fred this afternoon. He had taken pictures of the same areas just almost exactly two years ago, for comparison you can check out the others here.
http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/e285-47-fred-in-pictures-from-on-high.html

The cucumber trellis is bare so far, I just hope I didn't wait too long to get the seedlings in the ground, the Fig tree that has gotten huge, my pots of Okra and Blackeyed Peas along the mulch path and the birthmonth garden in the upper left.

A little to the right, assorted plants and the covered patio.

Just a tad more to the right to catch the arbor that is oh so slowly being covered by a Carolina Jessamine.

Still going to the right, now you can see the so far hidden area under the really large Hackberry tree I have changed my mind a couple of time about what I am going to do with that area, it still just sits there.
Also the picket fence with the Iris in front and all sorts of cuties hanging from it.

Don't look at the mess, sorta rearranging the bloom house and some things haven't been relocated yet.

This one is from a little further up the roof and over a tad. You can see the back fence with the fence panel trellis and the Canna bed at the corner of the house.

New plans for the front yard

toni — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:25:53 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:25 am (GMT 0)

Now I am getting excited about creating a garden in the front yard. For a couple of years I have felt the pressing need for doing something out there since all my efforts have been put into the backyard and the front yard has been looking really neglected.

But nothing I have come up with has really sparked my desire....until this last week. Ideas have been boiling up in my mind, plans have been creating an overflowing froth like you get when the pot of potatoes is on a burner that is too high and the water and startchy foam flows over onto the stove top. Oh, geez, it's almost midnight and now I am getting hungry.

I have been going over all the plants in the backyard that need to be divided and the seedlings that need a place to call their own and have realized that I probably don't need to buy new plants this year. I have mentioned this to Randy too and like I told him, if you remind me I said that I will deny it.

The front of our house faces West, that means hot Texas summer sun from about 11a.m. until sundown. So my plans are.....

on the north side of the driveway I have already planted some free Canna Tropicana that I received last August, there are two Oak saplings I received free from the local squirrels hiding a winter meal and forgetting where they put it and a Rosemary plant that outgrew it's pot last fall.
In that area I will be transplanting, 3 Mexican Mint Marigolds, 3 Coreopsis, at least 3 of the Blue and Black Salvia that are trying to 'rule the world' from my backyard, some Lemon Balm that is the co-world ruler want to be, 2 Cardoon that are ready to leave their pots, a Maximillan Sunflower, the 2 Mystic Spires I bought at the grocery store and interspersed among them will be at least a dozen Gladiola bulbs.

The spot for the new mailbox I picked up for free will hold a red Morning Glory vine and loads of Zinnias.

In the main front yard,in addition to the shrub roses, two Hawthornes bushes, two squirrel planted Pecan tree saplings will also be ......
In front of the porch I want a 6 foot rectangular trellis with a potted Clematis (one named Celtic Skies that I ordered from Michigan Bulb) and loads of Zinnia to keep it's roots shaded. On the trellis hiding in the vine will be three birdhouse gourds that I made a couple of years ago.

I want to make a raised bed, size yet to be determined, that will hold a few rose bushes. In the fall I will scatter bunches of wildflower seeds in the raised bed, those will grow and bloom before the Roses next spring and look wonderful.

Have you ever seen the movie "Practical Magic"? It is one of my favorites, in fact the herb cabinet the Aunts have is what inspired the shelves Randy built me last month. Anyway, they have a fenced in herb garden that I love!!!! So, since I want to grow some herbs for teas and whatever, we are going to fence in, maybe an 8foot square area for the herbs using some picket fence panels and a gate.

I have a Texas Lilac Vitex that will be planted on the south side of the front yard. And I want at least one Snowball Viburnum too. I am planning on closing off the front yard from street view with the use of flowering shrubs.

Randy sprayed a soil sterilizer on the ground along the front foundation of the house to kill the old shrubs, St.Augustine grass and a patch of poison ivy. I will not be able to plant there until next year but I can put some planters along there for this year.

Tomorrow I start digging up, dividing and potting up the plants in the back yard that will be moved and
I will be taking pictures of the areas before and after the plantings. Oh, boy, I really hope this all turns out like the picture in my mind....otherwise I am going to be very ticked off. :)

Repotting seedlings and finding lost seeds

toni — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:35:53 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:35 pm (GMT 0)

Yes, the lost seeds have been found. They hadn't run away together, nor had Pixies been playing games. It was just a simple matter of my starting to do one thing, getting sidetracked and then forgetting to finish the thing I started. Please, someone tell me that they have done the same thing, I don't want to feel I am alone with this affliction.

I found the Cucumber and Moonflower Vine seeds along with the Roman Camomile and Alysum seeds that I had not yet noticed were missing, two jar lids to be used as watering trays under pots and a couple of styrofoam meat trays kept for the same purpose, all sitting on Randy's saw table in the back room. I was heading out to the bloom house with them last weekend when Randy was building my new shelves, he needed me to help and I just never got back to my original plan.

Yesterday I did get some seedlings repotted, some are still too small and some are more than I need. The excess seedlings will be repotted next month and once I determine I have no need for them I will contact a lady at the community garden in the next town to see if they can use them.

Cucumbers, Hyacinth Bean Vines, Red Bean vines, Grampa Ott Morning Glory. I decided that most of the Zinnias I had started would be put directly into a large planter out back when they are big enough.

I bought some Bleeding Heart and Astilbe roots a couple of weeks ago, got those in pots. I have been told that neither one will do well here but that bit of info came from the same Master Gardener who couldn't ID some of the plants in his own yard at the lecture he gave, so I think I will try them and find out for myself...thank you very much.

Also received two boxes of plants I ordered and got them potted. Maximillian Sunflowers, Red Valerian and 4 mini Roses - Green Ice, Lavender Lace, Hearts Afire and Stars and Stripes.....in other words, pale green, lavender, bright red and red/white stripe.
When they and the pot of mini Roses Randy gave me for Valentines are ready they will be planted in the rustic wood doll bed I bought at a thrift store a while back to make a 'bed of roses'.

I have a large galvanized tub that I filled with Crocosmia-Emily McKenzie bulbs, hopefully I will have a mass of red/yellow/orange blooms in a few weeks.

I found that my Spiderwort had two 'plantlets' growing next to it, so I got one transplanted to it's own pot. The other one will be moved today.

Musings from todays gardening with a muttering thrown in

toni — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:50:39 -0400

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:50 pm (GMT 0)

I got some Hollyhocks in the ground this morning, don't know how good the quality is they were a bag of 7 from Home Depot. The two Double Red's I planted last fall stayed green thru the winter, even during the light snowfall and ice we had earlier this month. Now they are starting to put some height on.

I got some Canna-Princess Di planted too. They are short ones about 30 inches tall and a peach cream color. I have them in the first bed with the big birdbath so I can see them from the door while doing laundry. I noticed that the White Coneflowers I planted last fall have broken the surface.
The Black Magic Lilies and the Monte Negro Lilies are both on their way skyward, really looking forward to seeing those bloom. Two of the 4 Black Iris are coming up and in that bed are some Glads coming up that I really don't remember planting there.
All of the Blue and Purple Bearded Iris are getting tall too. It shouldn't be too much longer until I can start my day by inhaling their 'popsicle' fragrance and remembering good times from my childhood.

I took all the Tulip bulbs out of their pots and even tho there were only 5 blooms out of 52 bulbs, the bulbs themselves have been busy multiplying like crazy. I have them in a bucket and plan on covering them with soil, labeling the bucket and sticking them in the really shaded area under the Hackberry tree for the summer. If they survive then I will replant them in late fall. In their stead I planted Bachelor Buttons (cornflower) in one pot, Marigolds in one, transplanted some purple and red Zinnias to one, planted Calendula seeds in another. The last of the pots is a decorative planter with no drainage and very shallow, so I am going get another Water Lily and add it to my water garden.

Put three Blanket Flowers in the ground.

Only three of the cucumber seeds I planted have come up, I need 5-7 to produce enough cukes for the pickles I need to make. Went looking for the packet of cucumber seeds to plant more and cannot find it anywhere. It should be in the box with all the other seeds packets but it isn't. Okay, I have to buy more cucumber seeds. Also was looking for the Moonflower Vine seeds, the weather is warming up nicely so it is time to get them started.....they are nowhere to be found.
Either I have pixies playing tricks on me like DevonPete or the Cukes and Moonflowers have run off together. Wanna bet that both packets will show up less than a week after I buy more??

Tomorrow will be 'repotting day' all the seedlings are ready for the next size pot. Some will have to stay potted while I work on the front yard.

Oh, yeah, the front yard. Guess I will start cleaning out some area for moving Lemon Balm, Mint Marigold and a couple of small Malva Zebrina that have come up in the wrong place and several Coreopsis that I dug up last fall.

The Seige of the Alamo - a little Texas history

toni — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:08:47 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:08 pm (GMT 0)

Day 1 - Tuesday, February 23, 1836, General Santa Anna's army of over 4000 men arrive in San Antonio to quell another uprising of settlers who want freedom from the oppression of the Mexican government. By the time they arrived, many families had left the town, Colonel William B Travis and his garrison of men had moved into the Alamo.
Santa Anna's moved into the plaza of San Antonio and hoisted a blood-red flag of no-quarter from the church tower.

Day 2 - Co-commander James Bowie, who had been ill for weeks with pneumonia and TB, turned over his responsibilities to Colonel Travis. The bombardment of the Alamo begins.

Day 3 - Two more batteries of General Santa Anna's army are in place and join the bombardment of the fortress. Colonel Travis sends out another plea to Sam Houston for help. A cold norther moves thru that night.

Day 4 - Mexican gunners are firing steadily. To conserve ammunition the defenders have not begun firing back altho Davey Crockett and some men are busy with their rifles and they rarely miss what they aim at.

Day 5 - Mexican troops attempt to cut off the water supply to the Alamo. Travis sends Lt James Bonham to Colonel Fannin in Gonzales with another plea for help.

Day 6 - The cold norther has abated but replaced by cold drizzle. Cannonading continues and the constant harassment tactics are having their intended affect on the Texans. Another attempt to cut off the water supply to the Alamo is made. Davy Crockett with his fiddle and Scotsman John McGregor with his bagpipes stage musical duels to cheer up the men.

Day 7 - The mexican troops are digging trenches and throwing up earthworks closer to the Alamo.

Day 8 - 32 volunteers arrive at the Alamo from Gonzales. There are rumors among the men that Fannin is on his way with hundreds of men but those are just rumors.

Day 9 - Wednesday, March 2, the weary men in the Alamo are unaware that Texas Independence has been declared at the temporary capital of Washington-on-the-Brazos.

Day 10 - Mexican battalions arrive to reinforce the army. Bonham returns with news that Fannin is not coming. Travis sends a rider to Washington-on-the-Brazos with another plea for help and also several personal messages from the men to their families.

Day 11 - Enemy entrenchments now completely circle the Alamo and the Mexican battery begins firing shots into the walls. Plans for storming the Alamo are being made.

Day 12 - Mexican battery to north moves closer, defenders are dodging cannon balls that come crashing thru the wall. Travis assembles the men, tells them there is no hope of help and their choices are surrender, try to escape or stay and fight.
Only one man chooses to escape and no one considers surrender. Santa Anna makes plans to attack the next morning.

Day 13 - Sunday, March 6, 1836.
Between 1 and 4 a.m. the Mexican troops move into position, surrounding the Alamo.
At 5 a.m. Santa Anna gives the signal to attack.
Four columns advance on the Alamo, twice repulsed by the Texans.
The north wall is breeched and the Mexicans pour into the plaza of the Alamo - desperate, intense fighting with heavy Mexican casualties.
At 6:30 a.m. the fighting is over......The Alamo has fallen.

All 189 defenders were killed but they took out an estimated 600 Mexican soldiers before they died.

The defenders came from all over the world. Some had come to settle this wilderness from other states or foreign countries, some had heard of the uprising and left their families back home, just to get in on the fighting.

Randy's 4th-great Uncle, Eliel Melton, had come to settle in Texas from Georgia, when the uprising began he signed over all his properties to his brother, Ethan, went to the Alamo and died there.

Texas trivia

Beginning in 1519 Texas has been under the flag of 6 nations.
Spain 1519-1685 and again 1690-1821
France 1685 - 1690
Mexico 1821-1836
The Republic of Texas 1836-1845
The Confederacy 1861-1865
The USA 1845-1861 and again 1865 to Present

Texas is the only state that was an independent nation before joining the U.S.
Our state flag is the only state flag that can fly at the same height as the US flag when they are flown on serarate poles.

Now if even half of them sprout I will be happy

toni — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:12:03 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:12 pm (GMT 0)

Yesterday was a warm one, 81 degrees for a high. But that wasn't reached until around 4pm and by then I was exhausted, happy and back in the house relaxing.

The day began here of course, I always peruse the Stew when I first get up...that and a cup of coffee wake me up and start my day right.
Randy and I went to breakfast and then to Home Depot. He was looking for something to seal the back window of his pickup truck, a minor item compared to what my mission there involved.....seeds and bulbs. Those are the nectar of life, the things for which gardeners live, the gold at the end of the rainbow...okay, I might be pushing the envelope with that last metaphor but I think you get my point.

I came home with Zinnia's in three different shades of purple, MoonFlower, Poppy-Lady Bird, Cosmos in shades of pink and white. I might have mentioned at some point that I do not like pink in any form but I think the garden needs it for variety.
And cucumber seeds for pickle making of course.
I also bought two packages of 'roots' ... 7 assorted Hollyhocks and 5 assorted Astilbe.

When we got home I changed into gardening clothes, picked thru the assorted packages of seeds that I have from last year and end of year sales last fall and started planting. The bloom house is now home to a couple of hundred potential plants.
Added to the seeds I bought yesterday, I also planted...
Red and Apricot colored Zinnia
Two other color combos of Cosmos
Scarlet Flame Zinnia
Grampa Ott and Scarlett O'Hara Morning Glory
Black Gem Cornflower
Black Knight Sweet Scabious
Butterfly Asclepias-Bright Wings
Sublime Dark Blue Larkspur
White Sage
Calendula Marigolds
Pear Tomatoes in yellow and red

Last summer I had such fun watching the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly chow down on the two Fennel plants and then watching all those butterflies flitting around the yard that I decided more Fennel plants were in order this year so last fall I bought three Sweet Fennel and two Bronze Fennel plants and kept them in the warm bloom house.
I transplanted them to larger pots and now have 6 of the Sweet Fennel and 4 Bronze Fennel, those things multiply like rabbits! Not a problem tho, I will plant some out back and some out front and really have butterflies all over the place.

The Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum) are blooming, at least some of them are, the others have been blooming in early summer. As sometimes happens I don't 'put two and two together' as quickly as some people and it just dawned on me that maybe I have two different kinds, Spring Snowflakes and Summer Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum)...well that's cool. I have wondered why they bloomed at different times, they weren't labeled differently when I bought them.

The tulips are coming up nicely, squirrels are eating some of the leaves so a few of them will look a little weird when the get larger. At least they aren't digging up the bulbs.

Some of the Daffs are coming up, but way fewer than half of what I had last year. And the newest additions I planted last fall have not shown themselves yet. Durn, I planted 36 bulbs last fall, I would like to see at least a couple of them show up this spring.

Cinnamon-- A Christmas story of two loaves

toni — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:48:25 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 4:48 pm (GMT 0)

Many years ago I became an avid homemade bread maker and took over the cinnamon bread for Christmas morning breakfast tradition that my Mom had started when I was a child....slaving over the dozen or so loaves from proofing the yeast to baking. And a new generation of family members began to expect this tradition every year. Two and a half years ago my oven died and as of yet I have found no really compelling reason to replace it, besides it makes great storage space in my small kitchen.

This year I finally remembered that when Mom had found frozen loaves of unbaked bread in the grocery store freezer section, she had started using those instead of making the dough from scratch....if it was good enough for Mom it was good enough for me.

I put the loaves in the fridge to thaw....didn't take as long as I expected. When we returned home from the movie on Monday the rising dough had filled the bag and had to be cut out. Got two loaves all done and on to rise. They were small loaves so I thought I would try baking them in my toaster oven instead of taking them to Lisa's unbaked the next morning.
Did you know that bread dough will burst into flames when it touches the heating element in an oven??? Well, I didn't.

After they cooled, I cut off the burned sections and covered them with aluminum foil ....then forgot to refrigerate them to prevent further rising.
Christmas morning I found......do you remember the episode of the I Love Lucy show where she takes this 6 foot long, 2 foot high loaf of bread out of the oven?.... that is what I thought of when I turned on the kitchen light yesterday morning.
They were huge and flopping over the sides of the small loaf pans....a picture of Jabba the Hut flashed before my minds eye, not a pretty sight.
I pulled the loaves from the small pans, but them in larger ones....we baked them when we got to Lisa's.
They had collapsed into the pans and looked terrible and I explained why that was.

But they were both gushing over how good it tasted and how nice it was to have my homemade cinnamon bread again, I just didn't have the heart to tell them the rest of the story.

To Sew or Not To Sew

toni — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:27:45 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:27 pm (GMT 0)

That is no longer the question. I started sewing when I was 10, Mom showed me how to thread the old White brand sewing machine that had been her Mother's and off I went. She sewed clothes for herself and me and I had watched her often enough to know what else to do. The machine had a knee lever instead of a foot pedal so I didn't have to be able to reach the floor.
I laid my doll down on a piece of grey pre-pleated fabric that she had left over from making me a shirt, with a pencil drew around the doll to make a pattern for a skirt and blouse and soon my doll and I had matching outfits of grey pleated skirts with white blouses. And I was hooked on sewing, my doll had more clothes than I did before long.

From the 7th grade thru 12th grade I took Home Ec classes each year...half a year learning to sew and half the year learning furniture styles and cooking. Don't ask why we had to learn furniture styles, it was the late 1950's that is just what girls were supposed to learn. I only remember learning to make two things in 6 years of cooking classes .....mayonnaise and chicken aspic. Now ask me how many times I have made either item in the 43 years since I graduated from high school, besides the aspic was vile.
But during the sewing half of the year I not only made the required class project, usually a skirt and blouse or a dress, I also made 4 or 5 home projects. When each was complete I would wear it to school for the teacher to grade.

I also sewed my finger...not once but twice!! Once in the first year of sewing class, I pushed too hard while guiding the fabric under the presser foot, it slipped on top of the foot and the needle went in and out of my finger right next to the fingernail and literally stitched me to my project. Teacher cut the thread and sent me to the school nurse who called my Mom who took me to get a tetnus shot.

Second time I was sewing at home, got distracted for a split second and this time the needle went thru my fingernail, thru the bone and curved like a fish hook on the other side when it came out and hit the feed dogs. Daddy had to dismantle the machine and take me to the hospital emergency room where the doctor pulled it out. THAT one really hurt.

Over the last 51 years I have made clothes for me and my daughters, vests and shirts for Randy, various curtains, throw pillow covers, Halloween costumes, three formal Prom dresses for Lisa and the wedding dress for her first wedding. In 1986 I started making quilts.
I have had various sewing machines over the years, usually second hand ones but I was never without a sewing machine more than a couple of weeks since I had so much sewing to do. My latest and last sewing machine was a really nice, brand new Elna 6003 bought about 10 years, I spent thousands of hours sewing with it until I lost all interest in sewing about 5 years ago at which point it was packed away in it's carrying case to sit under my craft table until a couple of days ago when I put an ad for it on Craigslist.
Last night a lady and her husband came by to check it out, she fell in love with it and it became her Christmas present from her husband.

It was sort of a bittersweet moment when they carried Elna to their car. I knew she would have a good and useful life once again, the kind of life she was made for but at the same time I was kind of sad to see her go. Elna and I had some great times together and made some beautiful items.
So today starts the first time in my life, especially since I started sewing 51 years ago, that I am without a sewing machine on purpose and have no desire to have another one and boy does that feel strange.

I know FRED is under there somewhere

toni — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:54:21 -0500

Author: toni
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:54 pm (GMT 0)

The cold spell we had starting Friday night brought three nights of below freezing temps and winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour.
The freeze took down most of the perennials and all of the annuals. Time to do the cutting back so they don't look quite so sad and pull up the annuals.
The Snapdragons are still blooming, there is one lonely Blackeyed Susan struggling to hang on and the Sedum Autumn Joy is really beginning to bloom.
Surprisingly the Common Sage, the Curry plants and the third generation this year of some annuals that reseeded in the large planter came thru just fine.
One of the Lavenders is mostly dead but there is new growth down at ground level.

The Cyclamen, Fennel plants and two as yet unidentified plants spent the cold weekend in my newly lighted and warm bloom house.

The high winds laid bare the pecan and hackberry trees, so FRED is under a good layer of leaves. Some are now in the compost barrel, I can rake up more as needed.

It seems wintery weather is over for now, the days will be warming up into the 50's and 60's for at least the next two weeks. After christmas I think I will work off the stress of holiday shopping and preparations by cutting things down and digging some things up. I have two suffering Hawthorne bushes to move to a sunnier location too.

I haven't been out in the garden much for the last two weeks, now after puttering around out there this morning I have this stressed out feeling of already being two months behind. Arrrrggghhhh, isn't gardening supposed to be relaxing, rejuvenating, invigorating. I really liked living under the delusion that everything was as it should be out there and it could get along without me for a few weeks.
I need snow, about a foot of snow all over everything....a foot of snow that will hang around at least a month and a few hot toddies, I liked my delusion and wish to visit it again. The snow is difinitely right out, but I have the ingredients needed for a nice hot toddy or two or three :)

Oh, have mercy, I haven't even started on plans for the front yard yet. So now I am 3 months behind already.....I have got to get those toddies made.