Still garden

Every day's a little different. No, I said that before, didn't I? Well, it's true, at this time of year. More garden pictures. :)

We just came in from playing outside. Well, Taenzer played; Timber laid in the grass and chewed on his jolly ball, and I did some watering. Funny, given how much it's been raining, how quickly things dry out.

I'm listening to NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" as I write this--it's the highlight of my week. It always makes me laugh out loud, and there aren't many things that can do that. I suppose I just love snark, sarcasm, and stupid-criminal stories.

I woke up in the middle of the night with my shoulder hurting a lot, and as I did pressure-point work (which works like magic, btw), I tried to think what on earth I'd done to set it off. Then I remembered, I planted 9 oriental lily bulbs, transplanted some pieces of vinca that I'd dug up planting the lilies, and transplanted some sod from the front yard into the dog pen. I'm so glad I got Robert to plant all those hostas for me!

Picture #1: TADA! The new roof with the new gutter! I'm so thrilled. Now I just have to get the gutter screens before the gutters fill up with leaves and crap instead of water.


Picture #2: The driveway bed. In the large version, it looks so pretty--or it would if it wasn't for that stack of sticks there. I'm about to tackle the 3rd handyman who I'm not so thrilled with. I could probably get Robert to haul them for me, but I figure the guy who made the mess ought to clean it up. Anyway, I'm really happy with this bed this year.


Picture #3: Calibrochoa (million bells/mini-petunias). You can see that I've got the apricot ones on overturned pots to give them some height. The one on the right is new, but I'm hoping it will soon cascade like the one on the left. Also that they'll all three keep blooming all summer.


Picture #4: Asiatic lilies getting ready to bloom. This is actually good--if I get those lilies from Walmart that are already blooming, I can mark them with the color they are, and as the ones I already have start blooming, I can move out the pastels and replace them with the Walmart lilies. I think I'll move the pastels over to the east side of the house.


Picture #5: The blue spiderwort. This is the color I really like, so of course they're not spreading like wildfire and trying to take the place over (unlike the magenta ones).

I'm about to give them a serious set-back. My current idea is to plant shrubs in front of the east side of the house--I want that old-fashioned drooping white spirea (bridal veil?), and I'm not sure what else, but I thought I'd anchor it with a vertical box bush. I have a gorgeous round one in the garage bed, and this one is supposed to grow up rather out like an ottoman, and they're evergreen, so there'd be some color there all year 'round. Everything that's there now will have to be moved out about 5 or 6 feet, and I'm planning on putting the box bush just about where the spiderwort is. A little more north, so as not to cover up the gas gauge. I'm trying to find a vine that's evergreen and not too rampageous to go up the trellis by the backdoor to anchor the other end. (This rules out Halls honeysuckle, trumpet vines, and ivies.) I'm thinking of, believe it or not, jasmine--there are several varieties that are hardy through zone 7 and, with some protection, into zone 6, which my part of Forgottonia has been re-classified into. A place called Brushwood Nursery has a nice selection.

Hm. Well, I was going to run out to Walmart after "Wait, Wait" but here it is 11:30--maybe I'll wait until after lunch, and read a little bit instead. Next time I'll try to do something about knitting--I brought all this yarn back, and looked at my list where I had listed things like "pink and white girlie sweater" and thought--"which patterns in which magazines are these???" Luckily, I was able to find them without too much trouble, so I need to stop playing Valhalla and cast on for a sweater!