What's New In My Yard?

Here are just some shots I took of the new plants & work I've done in my yard lately. Some of the plants are old but are at their peak and I couldn't resist. It's hard to garden when I have to wait for nap time. Sometimes I get itchy fingers but have to wait. The mosquitoes are in rare form this year and I found three dead birds in my yard in the last two days . . . . . sad. The robins nest over my deck has been deserted. Not sure if the mother got spooked but it looks like one fell out and fried on the rocks around the deck. Maybe she was traumatized about that and left the other one in the nest too long without food or something but the one in the nest didn't make it either. Then I found a larger blackbird yesterday near the entrance of my gate. I went to get free mulch from the city today. I left little buddy in his seat and pulled right up to the pile and opened up all the doors. I didn't get much as you can see from the one picture of the dogwood bush. Not quite enough to make it around my newly extended planting bed. The small plants under the bush are wild violets that I got on Freecycle. That is the coolest thing when you get/give plants on there. I wish that there was a local Internet plant exchange website so we could all exchange stuff when we need some plants or need to get rid of some. There is also a picture of my glorious bee balm, my hydrangea (it's never bloomed so this is a big deal), clematis, some new plants from my Indiana trip like cactus, white yarrow, and some large coarse blue grass from my step-mother-in-law. Sorry if they are a bit blurry but I was taking pictures in the rain and trying to not get my camera wet. Then the thunder and lightening started. Enjoy!

Before Pictures

Here are some pictures of the before pictures of the area that I am going to have the stone work done. The stone work will not be anything fancy. It will wrap around half of the deck then start again near the hose and lead away from the deck. When we moved in the deck was totally trashed. Someone painted it with cheap latex blue paint and had railings that were falling apart. After we lived here for a year I decided to rip off all the old boards and railings and just replace the boards with new ones (preserved). We saved ourself having to get a carpenter and a building permit because we were just "replacing" boards. We then just followed what was already there. A few years before we moved in there was beautiful landscaping around the deck with cobblestone border and plants and mulch. That was never kept up and the cobblestones got grown over with grass and the plant beds with grass and weeds. We placed mulch and tried to plant a woody, hardy, viney groundcover. Nothing worked. Rabbits ate everything and the plants got trampled by us or the dog or both. I got the idea to put stone in that area sunken in and surrounded by crushed limestone. We already have an area similar near the deck on the peaceful side of the house (or the side of the house that does not face the icky, nosey neighbors). Currently where we have all of our gathered stone piled. Much of the stone the landscaper will be using for our stoned area is from our neighbor, building sites, from our yard, etc. I am so excited to get this work done. He promised he will be here this Saturday rain or shine. I convinced my husband to have all the beds in the entire yard weeded, cultivated, and professionally edged with a deep landscapers edge. This way I can start with a clean slate, because everything is so overgrown it would take forever. I can hardly wait! The bush picture is one of my garbage picked burning bushes (I got 2 out of someones garbage, they are in perfect shape). The picture of the hose area is where the path will lead away from the deck to the side yard. The picture of the rocks and stone are most of the the stones that the landscaper will be using (I couldn't fit another rock pile in the shot). I will also be transplanting the lilac bush near the deck to a kidney shaped bed in the middle of the yard. I spent almost 2 hours on Monday evening digging up old groundcover near the deck that was overgrown with grass and weeds. I then sat and picked all the roots/plants out of the weeds/grass/dirt by hand and replanted to a side bed. Can't wait til Saturday. Wish I could have a landscaper cam so you garden/yard bloggers could watch with me.

Sorry!

I'd love to chat, but I am working on the yard again and loving it. I am finding myself again. We have a pm nap time for Little Buddy that allows me to actually work in the yard for an hour or two. Then it's dinnertime, then I get to do more yardwork, landscaping, etc. if I want. I love doing yard & garden stuff but wasn't able to the last 2 summers (risky pregnancy then last year was little baby/husband's never home summer). Got the second nap back! We pushed his bedtime an hour later and I stopped nursing him at night. Seemed to solve the problem. See ya, I am putting a small path on one side of my house with concrete chunks and found gravel and rocks. Nothing fancy but something that can be walked on besides the mud and mowed over without sinking. I'll take some pictures later. Bye!