One of my Favorite Gardens

Grace's backyard is one of my favorite places. Her yard is so beautiful. She has been working in her garden for over 30 years and the result is a Garden of Eden. To be honest, who wouldn't love living in this garden. It is amazing!!! Grace will tell you she is sick, if the sun is shining she feels the need to be out in it. I must admit, I kind of understand the feeling. I haven't been too much of a gardener this year, but I am already getting excited to plan my garden for next year.

Her pool is a clear favorite with many friends and neighbors. Doesn't this look so great! We had a great time swimming and relaxing in the sun. It is always nice to catch the last few summer rays.

I love all of the flower beds that border the yard. This particular border is next to the pool.

This shade border is located over by the trampoline and playhouse. I love the hosta's and the snapdragons.


This is the back gate that leads to the pool. This fountain is a great little addition to this corner of the yard. I sat by it for a very long time enjoying the sound of the water and watching the boys play in the pool.

Grace just barely took down the fence to allow access into this part of her garden. It used to be a very large vegetable garden. In the last year or so, she has planted and developed this section of her garden.

This is the view from the farthest corner of the garden. I love the flagstone paths and all of the colorful flowers. It was fun to walk through this part of the garden with Grace. I could ask her what all of the flowers are and she could tell me what they are and what types of growing characteristics are. It was so fun to talk to someone who has a love for gardening also.
This is a better picture of the fountain that sits in the corner of this part of Grace's garden. Isn't it so cool.

To get to her newest garden addition, you have to walk through her fire pit area. I would love to have a little fire pit in our yard. That sounds like my favorite way to camp. (Enjoy the fire, and sleep in my nice comfy bed.)

This is a view of (part) of the grassy open area and the kids zone. I think it is a dream zone for kids.

I just love the logs that you climb to get into the playhouse. What a fun idea! Just on the other side of this is the trampoline. The kids like to jump off of the playhouse deck on to the trampoline. I think my little boy spent a good majority of his time in this area. I would love to have a special garden and wonderland like this.

Maybe I will. . .



In another 30 years.






I'd better get started.

The Loss of Shade

A few weeks ago we lost a limb on our weeping willow tree during a wind storm. A good portion of one of the main limbs cracked and fell on to the fence that borders our yard. The break took over half of the main limb of the tree. We considered trying to save the tree until we realized that once the damaged limb was removed the remaining portion of the tree would lean unsafely towards the house. With nothing left to balance it out, there was a good chance of it falling and damaging the house. So, we decided it was most wise to take it out.
While the man from the tree service was here, we had him take a look at the rest of out trees. A few of the larger trees in the back yard had damaged limbs that we needed removed also. After taking a good look at all of the trees it was made known to us that many of them were planted incorrectly. The tree guy was very informative and explained what the concerns were and why these mistakes were of great concern. See how the tree in this picture has 3 trunks. We found out that you shouldn't large trees with multiple trunks. Because this tree has 3 trunks instead of a single trunk with branches that grow off of it, it posed a great threat to rotting out and falling on our house. Once the tree was examined we found it in our best interest to remove the tree before it got larger and more costly to remove. The man from the tree service estimated that within 2-5 years that particular tree would rot out and fall. While we were at it, we decided to have one more tree removed that was planted in a similar fashion. The third tree we had removed was also planted too close to another tree and our patio on top of having multiple trunks. The unfortunate part is that a simple trimming when the trees were first planted would have spared them.
Here is what the west side of the backyard looks like now. In this area the weeping willow, and the smaller maple tree was removed. It really opens up the space. On a positive note, now that the willow tree is gone it opens up many possibilities for our backyard. We are considering a nice vegetable garden with raised beds, a trellis with grape vines, fruit trees and possibly a fire pit. (Sorry I got these last pictures posted in reverse order. I realize it is anti-climactic to have the "after" pictures posted before the "before" pictures.)
This is the east side of the back yard. It is also a little bare without the huge cottonwood tree. I think that we have decided to fill the space with a nice swing set. Believe it or not, this space is actually about 15 feet deep and 20 feet wide. It will be a great space for a kids play area, and we won't even have to weed whip or mow around it.
I found it fascinating to watch the guys from the tree service work. It was apparent that they knew exactly what they were doing. I enjoyed watching them analyze where they should make there cuts so that the tree fell exactly where planned. Not to mention they cleaned all of the tree mess up beautifully when they were done. If you live in the area and are in need of a good tree guy, give me a call. These guys were great to work with.
It was amazing to watch this guy climb the tree with one hand (aided by the spikes on his shoes,) and with the other he wielded a chain saw. At was so cool to watch him climb and cut off smaller limbs simultaneously. My little boy decided that it was so cool that he wants to be a tree guy when he grows up too. As a side note, Look how high he is up there. He must be standing 12 or more feet in the air. (My fence is six feet tall.)
Now for the before pictures. Here is the view of the east side of the yard, complete with what is left of the willow and the maple tree. At first I thought it would be sad to loose three trees, but in all honesty now that they are down it is a refreshing change. We still have plenty of shade and now we have more options and more usable space in the backyard. It will be fun to plan and create a new haven in the backyard.

Front Flower Beds Planted and Ready

I have been meaning to upload a few pictures of my front flower bed for weeks now.  The annuals and perennials are already starting to fill in.  I thought it might be fun to document the growth progression of this flower bed throughout the summer.  In this first photo, most of this front section of the flower bed that borders the sidewalk is filled with annuals.  (With the exception of some English Daisies.)  Annuals seen here are:  Dahlberg Daisies, atleast 2 kinds of Zinnias, annual Salvia in red and lavender, Peppermint Vinca, purple Petunias, blue Lobelia, Osteospermum and a few Hens and Chicks.
This corner is filled more with perennials than annuals.  The perennials are set back with just a few annuals planted in front for constant summer color.  The perennials planted here are: Limerock Ruby Coreopsis, Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower, Sea Pink Armeria, Yellow Coreopsis, Sedum, Phlox, Candytuft, and one more that I can't remember.  (We'll have to see what it is when the blooms appear.)  These perennials are off set with: a Red Geranium, Peppermint Vinca, Blue Lobelia, Petunias, and a few Snapdragons.
This is the other corner of the flower bed that contains mostly perennials.  Pictured here are:   a Russian Sage (yet to be planted), Pink Oriental Poppies (hopefully they will bloom next year), Shasta Daisies, Indian Blanket Flower, Salvia, Hollyhocks, Autumn Joy Sedum, and Yarrow.  The annuals in front of the perennials are more of the same seen in other photos, with the exception of the Dianthus planted by the Indian Blanket Flower and Russian Sage.

Look at how well my bushes are doing!  I am so glad that none of them suffered too badly from transplant shock.  This area of the flower bed is planted with annuals to help give us summer long color.  In this area, we have Pink double flowering Zinnias, Sweet William, Dahlberg Daisies, Blue Lobelia, White Geraniums, Yellow single petaled Zinnias, Sweet Potato Vine, Purple leaved Snapdragons and I've tucked a Lupine in the back by the faucet.  It will be fun to see how these plants fill in and bloom throughout the summer.  If I planned things as well as I hope, there should be something of interest all summer long and into the fall.  So far, things seem to be progressing well.  I am a bit worried about the annual Salvia and some of the Sweet William.  I think I have a bug that is enjoying them a little too much.  We'll have to see what we can to about that.
I realize this is not a picture of my front flower bed.  However, we did decide to get a small start on our vegetable garden area.  Jeremy built me this two tiered, raised garden bed for our veggies.  We let the boys pick out what we planted this year.  So, we have a pumpkin plant in the top tier,  and in the front they chose a cucumber, tomato and two pepper plants (one red, one green.)  It is always fun to watch things grow.  This small veggie bed makes me excited for the rest of the garden ideas we have for this side of the yard.  I'll have to post our complete plans for this side of the house.  It is our next big yard project.  Hopefully we can tackle it a bit at a time throughout the summer.

Checking things off of the to do list. . .

The last month or so we have spent trying to cross off the endless list of gardening jobs.  The recent rain storms made it difficult to get everything done, but we have made great progress.  These pictures are a few weeks old, but you can see our progress.

We were able to get the cement "lifted."  They showed up one saturday morning and were able to get our cement pad lifted by the time the rain storm rolled in by the afternoon.  Concrete lifting is a great alternative to removing and re-pouring cement pads that have settled or fallen away from the house.  The cement company used a jack to lift up our cement pad, and then filled the void underneath the pad with a concrete and dirt mixture to keep the cement from settling again.  I don't know if  the difference is obvious in these pictures, but the bottom step of the right side of the stairs was 2-3 inches taller than the left side of the same stair because of the way our cement pad settled.  They did a wonderful job raising the pad and leveling out the pad so that our stair is even all the way across.  It might seem like a subtle difference, but it is very nice not to trip up the first few stairs. 

We also installed a few pavers to create a walkway through our flower bed.  Our flower beds in our last house were laid out very similarly (to curve around the stairs and main walkway,) except for the fact that we did not include a shortcut through our flower bed at the last house.  We are hoping these pavers will keep my kids/pets/myself from walking through my flowers.
We also added these pavers to the flower bed where the driveway and front walk meet.  We felt like the sidewalk opening felt a little too enclosed, and these pavers allow a little overflow for the sidewalk traffic.  Eventually, there will be plants growing in the spaces between the pavers.
Here is a little sample of the results that come from removing the junipers.  It doesn't look like much right now, but when the bushes get all of their leaves, and the flowers are in bloom the difference with be striking.    We planted two Golden Privet bushes underneath the main window, and transplanted a willowy looking bush from the backyard.  These will help to fill out the flower bed in the next few weeks (as they get their leaves,) and will definitely add depth and interest as the new bushes mature over the next few years.

  As a side note, did you notice how green the lawn has gotten.  There are two things I can attribute it to.  First of all, we have a new fertilizer we are trying out this year and second, we have had a pretty wet spring.  We had a few neighbors tell us about the benefits of getting a load of dirt from the waste treatment facility to use as fertilizer.  From what I understand the dirt is the by product left after wasted has been through a series of chemical treatments from the water and sewer system.  (I realize that this sounds terribly gross, it also has many nicknames to go with it.  My favorites are "human poop dirt,"  "MANure," and "man soil" just to name a few.)  We have used a similar product in the past to top dress our flower beds (this product has bark chips mixed with it) and have liked the results we have seen.  This is the first time we have heard about using the product (minus the bark chips) as lawn fertilizer.  Supposedly you sprinkle one application of the product over the lawn in spring and let it grow.  We have heard that the results are so great that you typically end up mowing 2 times a week throughout the summer so, well see how we like it.  So far it gotten really green, and we have already had to mow twice, so things are looking pretty good.  I'll have to post more recent pictures of the whole project later this week.

Front Yard Plans

While I am anxiously awaiting nice spring weather, I have put together my plan for my front flower beds.  A few weeks ago I measured the size and approximate shape of my front flower bed so that I could get a good idea of the actual planting space that will have once my flower beds have been prepared.  I also made a list of plants that I would like to plant and marked their approximate placement, as well as the placement for a few other garden elements like stepping stones.  This helps me to know how much plant or garden material that I need to purchase.  (I realize that in this picture I have over planned how many perennials will fit into the flower bed, but it is just so darn hard to choose. . .)

Here is the lists I made of plants I would like to plant in my front yard this spring.  I have divided the list between perennials (plants that come back every year,) and annuals (plants that only survive one growing season.)

Perennials

Late Spring/Early Summer Bloomers

   Candytuft

   Sea Pink Armeria

   Pink Oriental Poppies

   

Summer Bloomers

   Russian Sage*

   Salvia*

   Indian Blanket Flower*

   Pink Threadleaf Coreopsis*

   Foxglove

   Yellow Tickseed Coreopsis*

   Hollyhocks

   

Late Summer/Fall Bloomers

   Purple Asters

   Autumn Joy Sedum

   Canna Lillies

   

*These perennials are extremely long bloomers.  Many bloom continuously through the summer and fall as long as you keep the spent blooms dead-headed.

Annuals

Zinnias

Lobelia

Petunias

Sweet William

Dianthus (Cheddar Pinks)

Petunias

Dahlberg Daisies

Geraniums

Painted Daisies (Osteospermum)

Sweet Potato Vine (the dark purple kind)

Notice:  I have already admitted to being a huge garden geek, hence the title of this blog.  I know this is pretty geeky, but what else can you do in the beginning of April while it is STILL snowing outside.

The next list I made is a list of things we need to accomplish to prepare the flower beds for spring planting.  This list is pretty extensive this year because we are ripping out most of the existing landscaping.  (Junipers.  Yuck!)  However, next year this list will be half as long.  

Front Yard Preparation List

-Remove final juniper bushes

-Clean old bark out of the flower bed and remove old landscape fabric

-Dig up remaining juniper roots

-Fix sprinklers in the flower bed

-Have cement walkway repaired and raised

-Build up beds with new dirt

-Amend beds 

-Transplant "willowy" bush from backyard

-Place stepping stones

-Purchase plants

-PLANT, PLANT, PLANT!!!

-Dress flower beds with bark mulch

-Sit back, relax, and ENJOY!  (finally. . .)

Like I said, I am a little anxious to get going.  We have a lot to do to get things ready in the next few weeks.  All in all, it is a few saturdays of hard work but it is all worth it in the end.  (At least it is for me.  We'll see how my husband feels in a month or two.)

Spring Clean Up, Phase 1

Our spring clean up is a little more extensive this year than usual because we have big plans for re-designing our front flower beds.  My dear sweet husband has been toiling in the front yard on my behalf, pulling out our least favorite things, JUNIPER BUSHES.  (Pregnancy and yard demolition don't really seem to mix very well.)  Don't get me wrong, junipers have redeeming qualities, but there are other things we would rather have in our front yard.  Boxwoods or Euonymus bushes are nice, and who can resist a few perennials and annuals flowers to brighten up the front yard.  I'll have to post my ultimate planting plan for the front yard in the next few weeks.  I can't wait until it gets a bit warmer so I can finally implement the plans I have been dreaming about.
Good-bye ugly, pokey bushes!  It has taken us a few weeks to get the demolition underway, due to the unnaturally snowy spring we are having.  I think we have tried to get bits and pieces of our spring clean-up done over the last three weeks.  We haven't had much time between our busy schedule and all of the windy and stormy weather we have been having.  We still have two more juniper bushes to remove before we can bring in dirt to build up the flower beds and get the soil amended for planting.  
This stack is of all of our yard debris from trimming our trees.  Our yard has a total of 13 trees.  Of which, 11 are fairly mature.  It took quite a while to trim give all of the trees a little spring trim.  Some of the trees got an extensive trimming because they hadn't been attended to in quite a few years.  We are also discovering that our weeping willow and cork-screw willow are messy trees.  They seem to drop small whip like branches every time the wind blows.  I guess this is the price we pay for the enjoyment of such beautiful trees.  In the end our pile of  debris was about 4 feet high.  I thought it looked like our own personal beaver dam.  Needless to say, between trimming trees and removing bushes, we took more than one trip to the dump.    
Ah, the joys of dog ownership.  We love our dog, but we love him just a little less when we are out scooping poop.  My husband and sons make a great poop scooping team.  I think we have finally gotten all of the little messes picked up from the winter.  (We weren't very diligent poop scoopers while it was cold and awful.)

Although it seems like the yard clean-up chores will never be done, I take hope in the fact that the warm weather is just around the corner.  This year is definitely the most intense because it is our first spring in this house.  I know that subsequent springs will be better.  (Not to mention, I don't plan to be pregnant again next spring.)  My husband has been a great help and support doing all of the back breaking labor and enduring my constant moaning about getting it all done in time to plant.  In years past I typically plant my annuals by the last week or so of April.  I know that it is earlier than the typical Mother's Day mark but, being the garden geek that I am, I like to get a jump on things.  Next, I plan on complaining about my flowers not growing fast enough until about July.  Just a heads up. . .

The Hope of Spring

One of my favorite things  to do this time of year is to check out all the new little plants growing at my local garden center.  It gives me hope that it really is going to get warm and nice sometime in the near future.  It's also nice to walk through the greenhouses.  It is so nice to breath in some fresh air.  Especially before it gets hot and muggy in the greenhouses.You can always enjoy the next thing blooming in the greenhouse.  Hopefully, you were able to plant a few pansies last fall.  They will be blooming soon outside too, along with crocuses, tulips and daffodils.  What a great way to start the growing season.  It isn't too late to plant pansies, but you get the best "bang for your buck" if you plant them in the fall.  Pansies like the cool weather.  They typically don't last through the hot summer months unless you live in/or plant them in a pretty mild and cool climate/spot.
Another of my favorite greenhouses (my favorite nursery has multiple greenhouses) houses all of the more tropical plants, and house plants.  It is so nice to walk through the greenhouses and see row after row of beautiful green plants.  It really does get me excited to start gardening.  It is also a great inspiration as I start dreaming and planning what I would like to plant in my garden beds this year.  Now, if it would only get warm enough to start.  I guess my trip to the nursery will have to be good enough for now.

Tree Trimming

Well, I realize most people would not be dying to start gardening in late winter.  I however, cannot wait to get my hands dirty!  It is a good thing that February and March are excellent months to trim your trees.  I spent a few hours last week preparing our trees for spring.  It was great to spend some time out in the sunshine even if it is still a bit cold.  Here are a few tips on trimming trees.  Remember, I am not an expert.  This is basic info I have gained through reading a few books and watching a great episode on 'This Old House' about tree trimming and care.  This is the link to that episode about pruning fruit trees, but similar rules apply to regular trees.  (You may need to copy this link into your browser.)

  http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137732994/bclid1137752292/bctid1138096819

Tree Trimming Tips

1.  Trim your trees during late winter, before spring buds start to appear.  This minimizes shock to the tree, and helps the tree to distribute it's growing energy to the fruit, and leaves.

2.  Trim branches that rub against each other.  The rubbing will damage the bark and create 'open sores' that can collect bugs and other things that can damage the tree.

3.  Open up the center of the tree by trimming away smaller branches.  This promotes good circulation for the tree.

4.  DO NOT cut a limb in the middle of the branch.  Make your cuts at the 'joints' of the branches.

5.  DO NOT trim more that 1/3 of the tree away each year.

I know many people don't trim their trees on a yearly basis.  My trees don't always need a full overhaul every winter.  However, I have noticed that a little trimming, (even if I just trim away a few of the smaller interior branches to improve air circulation,)  that my trees do better, and grow bigger and more full each year.  Besides, it gives me something to do while I am dreaming about all of the flowers I want to plant when it gets warmer.  Ah, spring!  Happy trimming!!!