The Not-So-Fun Part of Gardening

We all love pretty flowers & blooms in the Spring, don't we? But, along with enjoying those beautiful blooms comes the maintenance & upkeep. This is what happens when you wait until January to tackle all the leaves that fall from the trees. About a million leaves that need to be moved out of the beds & grass into the back area of the yard.
This fun chore is what we are up to this week, as the weather is in the 70's. Perfect for working outside in the yard. Peter is raking, blowing & hauling leaves on the tarp.
And I'm talking to Mia, the other neighbor's dog next door to us. We are surrounded by dogs. Mia always comes over to the fence when I'm out working in the yard.
Now, just in case you think everything about our house is beautiful....let me assure you it is most definitely NOT! Welcome to the mudpit. This will be a before pic & come spring, Lord willing, it will be a different story. I've wanted to work on this eyesore for 2 years now, so this is the year. This is underneath our deck & it's high enough to walk under, so could definitely work as a patio of sorts. Right now it's a mud magnet. All the water that falls through the deck ends up under here. You can see our wonderful Southern red clay. It's hard as a rock. And when I turn on the hose that is under here, water gets everywhere.
See my pretty black swing. It's hard to get inspired looking at what's under the deck. My plans are to put a pretty paver & pea gravel patio under here. I've seen it done & it's really nice looking & should be economical to do too. I don't really care about having it really fancy, since we would most likely use the deck more when it gets screened in eventually, but this will get rid of the mud & be a nice place to enjoy some shade. I need to find some inspiration pics to get a plan started. I would love to add a winding flagstone walkway over to our side gate too. So hopefully that is what I'll be working on in the next few months.

That's a project for another day. In the meantime, I'm faced with this.....
And this...lots of leaves, weeds, & overgrowth. I'm hacking away & hopefully this bed will come alive again in the spring with all the perennials I planted in here 2 years ago. If you're new to visiting me, go & take a look at my garden last April. This is what it is going to look like again. I get inspired just looking at those pics right now, as it's hard to believe the difference. I sometimes forget the miracle of Spring that happens right under my nose every single year.
I really cut back the purple verbena this time. For some strange reason, it thinks that this bed is for it alone, so it's time to beat it into submission. You can see with our mild weather so far, it hasn't even died back. There's lots of green growth underneath.
So this is all the overgrowth I cut off of it. Now it can get new growth again & not overtake the bed come spring. This is one fellow who has to be kept under control or it will take over completely. I am hoping & praying we don't have such a severe drought this year. Last year was probably one of the worst in recorded history & time will tell how many trees we will all lose around here. We know one of our big oaks in the back is dead. Many plants & trees are in drought shock, so we will see when Spring arrives what survived & what did not. It's not looking good again this year, from what we have heard, so I will probably not be planting a lot of new things this year. A hardscape project will be in order though.
Can you tell I'm really looking forward to wearing these more often these days. It's nice to have time to do this again, in the daytime, with warm winter weather around right now. And oh, I'll be looking forward to Spring again. How about you?!

Blooms & Yardsale Finds

I think I mentioned how pretty my hibiscus are every year and this year is no exception! They are really bustin' out right now & we just had a pretty good rain one day this week, so they are loving the water. These were only planted a year ago in February & they bloomed & bloomed last year & are even bigger this year.
This is the whole bed...there's a Limelight hydrangea in the middle of the 2 hibiscus (the hibiscus on the right gets less sun, so is smaller). I can't wait for them all to be in bloom at the same time. That's a real treat.
Here's an update on one of my containers. It's really getting hard to get these things watered every day, with this dang drought we're having, but I'm trying.
My basket is doing OK, not great.

Yardsale Finds: I know you all won't be too surprised to find out that I've found some treasures to keep for myself & I hope you all are enjoying the items I've put in my shop. I just had to share a couple of things that I found in the last 2 weeks. I hit a wonderful estate sale on Friday & really lucked out on picking up 2 tole trays. There was a line to get in & everyone made a beeline inside the house when the doors opened in the garage, but I decided to browse out there first & these 2 tole trays were waiting for me. I paid $8.00 for the black one & will be keeping it. I've only found one other tole tray while yardsaling, so I figured I was due for another one. This one is a beauty, even if some of the black is a little scratched around the edges...it's gorgeous!
This large green one was priced at $20. I'm putting this one on Ebay in case anyone is interested. It's large & really pretty. Here's a closeup of the floral on that one. I don't have a place to put this one or I would keep it too. I have an affinity for the black ones!

And last weekend, I found yet another Harold's skirt for $4.00...I keep finding some great designer fashions out there in my size & cheap! This one is all about Italy, one of my favorite places, so I had to have it.

That's my recap on my weekend. Hope you all have a great week!

June Garden Blooms

My Endless Summer hydrangea is really doing well. I just planted this one last year and it was pink then...now, with our soil, it has turned a nice shade of blue, which I don't mind at all. This little hydrangea is supposed to bloom all summer, so I can't wait to see how it does. It may outgrow this little bed I have it in.

Here it is in a tiny area next to the back gate, along with 2 hostas and some pink impatiens. It's not that big yet, but it sure packs a punch of color.

Tequila Sunrise Coreopsis is putting out lots of blooms.

Bachelor's Buttons are annuals, but are supposed to reseed themselves. Hope they do! This is the first time I've planted them.

One of my containers that I planted this year with Purple Fountain grass, white bacopa, vinca, and Portulaca.

My perennial bed is blooming pretty steadily now. but we need rain SO BAD!!

These Stargazer lillies are just breathtaking. I picked up 3 of these plants at our Botanical Gardens sale a few weeks ago & now they are rewarding me with some pretty awesome blooms. They smell SO good too!
I don't think they bloom for long, so I'll have to enjoy them for now. I may even cut a few stems & put them in a vase, so we can enjoy them indoors too.
Daylillies are starting to pop out too. A friend here in town let me come over last year & dig up some of her daylillies & she has a lot of different colors. I have no idea what this one is, but I can't wait to see them all open up in the next month.
Oakleaf hydrangeas are native to AL and we were fortunate enough to have this big stand growing in our backyard. They are in full bloom now and are wonderful to look at. There's a bunny family that lives back here too.
More oakleafs....that's all my blooms for now. Hope you all have a lot blooming in your garden right now too. My pink hibiscus with blooms as big as saucers is about to bust out any day now. I'll be sure to share those with all of you too...they are awesome & bloom all summer.

Happy Gardening ya'll......

We're off to Atlanta today for my niece's graduation party on Saturday.

B'ham News Garden Redo Feature

Click to open pics: I got word from the newspaper that the Garden Redo feature would run on the Saturday we left for the beach, so I was so excited to check the paper that morning as we were leaving! Of course, I had to stop & buy extra papers to send my friends and family in Atlanta. I did take it with me to share with my 2 girlfriends that I caught up with at the beach & they thought it was very cool.
Here's my original post on this garden bed, if you'd like to see more pics: Garden Redo


Oh, I have to tell you the story about my 10-year old neighbor, Grant. He was the very first person we met after we moved in here. We were out in the yard just after moving in and Grant from next door showed up and introduced himself. His dad came over and met us too and we eventually met both neighbors next door, who are really sweet people. Grant has helped me out numerous times in the yard. He really did help me pull out those boxwoods, dug holes, watered, and whatever else he can help me with. His dad says he's not so good about helping him at home. He's a sweet kid though & helped us out while we were on vacation by watering our plants. Everyone else I've met in the neighborhood who have moved in after us has already met Grant first. That guy gets around! If everyone were that friendly, all neighborhoods would be the better for it. He looks like Opie Taylor too.


I had several folks at church on Sunday tell me that they had seen the article. I'm honored to make the paper again and will definitely frame these features in my office and hopefully use them on my decorating resume. It's just a fun little something to do! I don't think we ever had anything like this feature in the Atlanta paper, so I had to move to Birmingham for this to happen. My hubby is teasing me about being famous now, so I'll enjoy it and try to keep my head from swelling too much, LOL. :)

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I was tagged by Pat at Back Porch Musings. I was to pick up the book nearest me and turn to page 28, find paragraph 3 and write about that paragraph here. The nearest book was a magazine, Traditional Home, September 2006. The third paragraph is a question from the editors.....If money were no object, how would you remodel your current dwelling? They go on to list reader's comments on how they would remodel their homes. "Wish lists addressed both function & aesthetics, including everything from enlarging a ridiculously small pantry to designing a sublime gathering space for multitudes of friends & generations of family."

So, how would YOU answer that question? I think for me, it would be getting our deck turned into a screened porch. I have all my wicker furniture stored in the garage from my old sunroom & porch & would love to have a nice screened porch to enjoy during Spring-Fall. I know I would use that space a lot if I could snuggle up on my wicker couch & be outdoors all at the same time.

Have a great week!
Hugs,
Rhoda

How My Garden Grows

We've been in this house a little over a year & one of the first things I did last year was get out in the yard during spring & start planting. This area next to the fenceline was just grass, so I dug it all out, amended the soil, & started adding some perennials. I was so proud of my efforts last year & really enjoyed all the blooms I got. The left pic is right after I planted & the right is a couple months later, when everything started filling in & growing. And, the bottom pic is today!My baskets were so lush & pretty (even though we had such a drought last year!) & I even surprised myself & kept it all watered. I sometimes have good intentions, but when the temps hit about 95* for days on end, my enthusiam wanes a bit. So, this year, I have been happily checking all my plants to see how they are all doing & they are doing great. I haven't planted my baskets & planters yet, but here's a peek at all the blooms that are a'bustin out in my little garden.

Blue pincushion Scabiosa & spirea (which I can't find the name of right now..love the lime foilage) These perennial purple verbena have gone wild & I have to keep them cut back so they don't smother the other plants.

Got the arbor painted black & installed it yesterday. I need to decide what kind of vine I want to put on it...any suggestions? This area gets mostly sun with some afternoon shade. I'm thinking an Armandii clematis. I had one at my house in GA & it did really well. Definitely want something that's evergreen. Another thought is Carolina jasmine. I would hate to put something on it that gets too heavy for the arbor, since this arbor is not that hefty. You can see part of the backyard...ugly, hard clay that we have down here in the South. We have lots of plans for back here, but it will just take time and money! I want to do a flagstone pathway from this gate over to the deck area, where under the deck, we are going to put in pavers for a patio of sorts.

Don't we all need a garden wagon? I picked this one up last year at a neighbor's yardsale for $10. I was a happy camper, since that was on my list of things to buy. Really saves the back!

Here's the BEFORE of the frontbed. I really would like to rip all the boxwoods & hollies out, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, so I made do with ripping out these on the corner, adding a stonewall (which I built ALL by myself!) and planted some pretty new plants in here. I think you'll agree that it's a world of difference now!

Above 2 pics are right after I planted last year....and below is this year! Those double knockout roses are the bomb! They are already blooming like crazy. I originally planted 3 of them last year, along with some heuchera that you can see in the first pics. The heuchera didn't do well, so I traded them in on 2 more knockout roses. The smaller 2 should catch up soon with the big ones.

Here's the armillary I found yardsaling a few weeks ago...it looks so happy among the roses.

This small little area is to the left of our gate going to the backyard. It, too, was just grass when we moved in. I added this Endless Summer hydrangea last year & 2 hostas. Really livens it up with all the green going on. The hydrangea is loaded with blooms already.

So, that's my little corner of the garden. We have so much to do, but I'm really very happy with the progress I've made since we moved in. These happy blooms make my day everytime I walk outside. Now, if I can only keep them all watered this year & we don't have another drought!

Happy Gardening to all my friends...I look forward to seeing your gardens too!

It's Coming Up Roses...

I'm learning firsthand how awesome the blogging community can be. This was a fun week, as I won 2 blog contests & got them both in the mail. First, Francie, at The Scented Cottage, was giving away these beautiful wooden roses with a rose scented sachet & she added in a spray of gardenia scent, so I entered her drawing and WON! I never win anything, so I was pretty thrilled to win them. And then, Linda T, at Reminisce, was giving away hollyhock seeds to several bloggers & I won some of those seeds too. How fun it is to go to the mailbox & find little gifts from blogging friends. It made my week! Thanks, ladies...can't wait to put these to good use. Linda, as soon as I can get out there, I'll find a place for these hollyhock seeds to grow. I've never grown hollyhocks, so I hope they do well here.

Just to get you ready for summer, here's a pic of a fruit salad I made this week. My hubby and I both love fruit, so I had on hand kiwi, bananas, strawberries, grapes, & pears and this combo made such a nice fruit salad with dinner. Hope you get out there & get your fruit too. This is a prelude to summer fruits which I love so much..watermelon, honeydew, & peaches, especially! Can't wait for those to come in strong!