Hi friends! Greg and I spent the entire day yesterday outside and it felt great. He did a quick diy project for me by making a firewood holder and I dug dug dug in the dirt. I moved things, I planted things and I fed the dog treats.
It was the perfect day. I want to say that I can see the end zone with filling up the empty spaces in the garden, but you and I both know that never happens for long. There is always something to be pruned, moved or taken out because it didn't survive. But let's take a tour in the front today. I will get the back later. Also, I took a video tour at the same time of these pictures, I will upload that tomorrow or Tuesday. So pop back to see the difference in pictures versus video. Below you'll see the drumstick alliums I planted last Fall. I literally sprinkled them last year in a random way and they paid me back by blooming just a month after the Spring Alliums faded. How nice was that!
See the Phlox just to the left of the flag? I have the same version about 20 (ish) feet West of here that gets less sun, and it's blooming but this one in full sun won't bloom til late summer early fall. and it's the exact same variety. How weird is that!
The purple smokebush literally looks like a giant purple sparkler. It loved the plant tone fertilizer I gave it last fall.
In fact sprinkling that last Fall has paid me back ten fold and I'll definitely be doing that every Fall now!
I had pink coneflower in the backyard and this Spring I relocated it so I could have a larger grouping of it in the front. You'll see a red coneflower peeking in the back. That was a mislabeled one I bought. I will probably gift that to a friend. I prefer the cooler tones in my yard. But it sure is performing!
Best picture ever!
Bugs starting eating my cabbage so I had to order some bug bait. It seems to be working really well. I'm glad because my hostas were also getting eaten.
Below you'll see a couple of the reblooming series hydrangeas I want to relocate. I may wait til Fall or I might just put them in pots. I haven't made up my mind yet.
More purple alliums (ornamental onion) getting ready to bud up. This area gets strong sun for only about 5 hours then filtered so maybe that's why it's a bit later then it's counterparts East of here. The neighbors trees are giving me tons of afternoon shade.
The big hole behind the yard art finally got filled. I found a Tiger Eye that should help. PLus, I moved the Strawberry vanilla hydrangea that used to be right in front of the porch. I had to keep it pruned because it wants to get 6 feet tall. I finally figured that maybe I should stop pruning and just let it be somewhere else. I tucked two dark burgundy begonias underneath for a pop of color.
The light green Huecheras that I potted up for Spring got moved to right up against the house. I plan on adding a gravel pathway here (for skinny people) because this is where I find myself walking to get to the other side of the bed. SO I figured why not give it that extra detail. Hopefully I'll get the rock down in the next Month or so.
I feel energized this year to get a lot done with my yard as I am taking Garden tours of local gardens and always feel inspired and also somewhat shocked too at the garden beds. Let me explain why. The last Master Gardener Tour I took was for a neighboring County and was 8 homes total. Out of the 8 homes only two rivaled mine. Most of them were pretty but I would describe them as builder basic. There were no specimen plantings, usually just a row of Hostas and Daylillies. One home sadly had weeds growing out of the gutters on the garage. We didn't linger in that yard.
That shocked me! One yard was so stunning in the back I wish they had a shed back there because I'd have slept there just to watch their trees grow and use the inground pool. If I win the lottery guess what I'm putting in!
Leave me a comment below and tell me what ya think on my progress for this year and please stay tuned for the backyard and video!
