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Pianolady
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Recent Entries to this Blog Another Haircut!
Posted: 27 May 2015
Website has a new home.
Posted: 19 May 2015
Megabucks!
Posted: 17 May 2015
Rush R40 Concert
Posted: 11 May 2015
Beautiful Ruffles
Posted: 08 May 2015

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Pianolady's Gardens




My Wildflowers Online Search

Category: Online Resources | Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:26 pm

I discovered a new-to-me site today searching for the name of my yellow poppy-like flowers that are apparently invasive (but mine are located where I don't mind that trait). Turns out they are Celandine (yellow poppy).

If you have a wildflower, you can search through photo i.d. categories by color at http://www.MyWildflowers.com. Very handy little website!

This blog entry has been viewed 705 times


Cleaning Up

Category: Pianolady's Gardens | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:08 pm

I think every muscle hurts from digging trees, pulling trees, pulling weeds, digging out unwanted plants and vines. But, the area where the new retaining wall is going is now cleared so they can get to it. The wild trees everywhere are gone (except the ones I undoubtedly missed), and the honeysuckle vine blocking my back stairs is also gone! Yay! I hacked and whacked until that thing was out of there, now all I have to do is figure out how to get the rebar that was supporting it out of the ground (aka honey do list).

The honeysuckle used to block the entrance to these stairs.


Another "before" pic of the retaining wall disaster.


My cleaned up shade garden, it still looks busy, hard to get a good pic in the dappled shade.


Vegetable garden looks pretty good, we got 2.5" of rain last night that we sorely needed. I'm experimenting having the peas grow on the hog panel arch with wire.


Corn is being nibbled on by a critter, not sure how much I'll actually get this year.


Only 2 squash plants came up, guess I'll have to be happy with that. Tomatoes in the background.


Tomatoes and peppers always do well.


Beans are looking good this year, now that it's fenced.





This blog entry has been viewed 582 times


I'm Finally Done!

Category: Pianolady's Gardens | Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:16 pm



Done pitting cherries that is. I've never had a year like this, a month full of picking and pitting cherries, bumper crop! I have two trees, one that blooms two weeks later than the other so they don't all ripen at the same time.

This year I got 36 pounds of pitted cherries, enough for 18 pies! I gave away another 12 pounds, and left a tree full of cherries because I just don't see the need to buy a taller ladder to pick them. My Norpro Deluxe stoner is still working fine, much to my amazement for such an inexpensive gadget. Going to buy another one for backup next year though, I've been using this one for 5 years now.

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Deluxe-Cherry-Stoner-Pitter/dp/B00005EBH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1245517373&sr=8-1

This blog entry has been viewed 383 times


June 7 Walk Around

Category: Pianolady's Gardens | Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:17 am

If you ever need to hide your water well, lavender certainly does the trick!




If you need very good solar lights, these are great! Newegg.com sells them for $14.99 for a set of 6 often with free shipping. Better quality than I've found in the big box stores too. Wait until they go on sale!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882021178












I've always liked the foilage of meadow rue.


Potatoes & beans looking good, thanks to the anti-rabbit fence.




Last edited: Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:19 am

This blog entry has been viewed 523 times


Progress on Home Restoration

Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:33 am

I'm past calling it a remodel and on to calling it a restoration! Now we have a storage pod in our driveway the next month to store the contents in our garage while they fix the foundation of the garage. Our neighbors are going to love us! Actually, they'll be happy we're fixing the place up. The storage pod is an expensive thing, sure hope I can get my contractor out here to fix the garage before I have to pay for another month.

Got some "before" pics of the house before the pod arrived. And I rigged up an "after" pic of what the house may look like after all the work is done.

South Side of House
Yes, this is how it's been for two years. Luckily trees hide it from the public view for the most part.


Back Side with Deck Removed


We're keeping the concrete steps behind the garage, they're actually in pretty good condition. We've been working on removing the rest though.


Back Side of Garage


North Side of Garage
This side of the garage is literally hanging from the rafters. The concrete they put along the garage actually trapped water against the garage causing all kind of damage, and there used to be termites in this area. In fact, there are no footings in the garage, they just put down a slab and built a garage on it. It's a miracle it's not fallen down (mainly because we built a wall in the center to support it). You don't want to push on this wall, lol.






If you've made it this far....here's my big experiment. It's my "guess" on how the house will look when it's done. We'll still need to replace the driveway, but that will just have to wait.




This blog entry has been viewed 383 times


Wright Plus Tour 2012

Category: Architecture & FLW | Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:56 pm

It will be impossible to post all the photos from our June 2/3 trip to Chicago. If you're interested in seeing the photos of all the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture we visited over the weekend, head on over to my FLW blog and have a look at all the June entries. There's a bunch!

http://flwarchitecture.blogspot.com/

This was the Balch House in Oak Park. This was my favorite private residence on the tour.



This blog entry has been viewed 423 times


A Visit to Chicago...and an idea I must copy!

Category: Botanical Gardens | Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:50 pm

Every time we go on a trip, we try to get to the local botanical garden. This is a dangerous thing, as my idea list grows, as does hubby's to-do list!

I have a bare concrete wall about 6' high on the south side of the house that I must copy this idea.






There were many wood structures we liked, but these clay pipe inserts were very nice. I'll have to copy that idea at some point also.


If you want to see all the photos I uploaded (which were only a small sampling), go to the link below.

http://s898.photobucket.com/albums/ac183/007Pianolady/Chicago%20Botanical%20Garden%202012/

Last edited: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:50 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 430 times




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