Forward Thinking Sedum

I have always been under the impression that sedum was a lover of heat and dry locations.

They are acclaimed for their drought tolerance. . .

I took that to mean that they would not do well in very wet weather. . .

I live in wet and cloudy Washington.

So when I made these hypertufa pots last year and planted sedum in them I thought they might drown over the winter.

Last month we got 200% of our average rainfall for the month.

Apparently these plants are storing up for the future.

Sunshine in My Soul. . . And My Garden

I couldn't ask for a more beautiful day.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, my house is clean and quiet and my windows are open.  My dog is even snoring softly in the other room.

So I wandered outside to bask in the sunshine and discovered my flowers were basking as well.  It makes my insides smile see such loveliness.

Something about the patterns made by the arbor and the ethereal pinkness of the rhodies next to the spring green of my chocolate vine makes me a little giddy.

I could spend hours out here on days like this.

I just need some great loungy furniture to lie upon and while away the hours. . .

Well, it was a nice fantasy and a few moments of pure relaxation.

Now I am off to my graduation rehearsal.  Funny how life seems so much calmer now that school is over.  I am finding time to sit back and enjoy the roses, er rhodies.

The Garden Project: Update

This spring marks the third year of our efforts to turn our raised bed garden into a. . . raised bed garden.

Why all the time and effort to make something we already had? you might ask.  Because we are making it better, I tell you. Here is a reminder of our progress (this is as much for my benefit as for yours--we take so long to get things done that I sometimes forget where we started!)

When we moved in the side yard had three raised beds with roses and a few other various bulbs and bushes, and a tall fir tree that was sort of sickly.  This picture is the only picture I took with it in it. . .

And yes, it's there.  See that line along the left side of the picture? Not the best, I know.  I took this picture the day we looked at the house back in August of 2007.  We moved in a couple months later and before the end of the year the tree was gone.  (We took out a tree in the back yard that had put a hole in our roof and decided to take this one out too since the neighbors had expressed concern about the possibility of it coming down their direction).

Of course it fell on the only raised box that wasn't rotten. . . and smashed all the roses ( though I planted their remains elsewhere and they have since recovered).  So the following summer we had to start from scratch.  Here is a montage of our progress the first year:

And then we did nothing but let the weeds grow in.  We plunked a couple tomato plants amidst the weeds and called it a day, er year.


The following year required a lot of reclaiming efforts.  And we also had the stump ground out--and discovered a massive network of narly roots, including one the size of a tree trunk.  Our well equipped neighbor brought his truck and chains over to drag it out. Then we swore our way through five of the boxes before calling it good for a year.  We grew some from seed (most of which perished) and some from little plants we bought at the nursery.  Mostly it was a year of discovering what we would eat and what was fun to plant but which no one was interested in eating--oh, and we learned never to buy pumpkin plants called "trickster".  Unless of course you want 23 pumpkins that will fit in the palm of your hand!

AND, never wait too long to put your tomatoes in cages.  When they didn't have any at the first store I went to I put it off and had mass mountains of tomato plants.  Not good, I tell you. But the end of the season left me with a freezer full of tomato pepper soup and basil pesto and a cupboard full of dried herbs--YUM.

This year we got started early thanks to some very welcome early spring weather.  And I like to think our procrastination was actually brilliant planning on our part, because this year the roots were all decayed and pulled out like a dream.  The soil was all nice and rich and we whipped those last three boxes out in a couple weekends.  Of course, since the bed was mounded up in the middle it required us to dig down a foot to make the boxes level--which was surprisingly easy.  Then we covered the pathways with gravel to make it cleaner and help with weed prevention. I even got started planting already. So far the potatoes and onions are in, and my strawberries are all transplanted to their own little box.  Can't wait to plant more and to get my bean tuteurs up (they will go on each end of the row along the garage).  Maybe Saturday.

Now you are all up to speed.  Hopefully this year my garden will be prolific AND beautiful.

What are your garden plans this year?

Moon Garden

I'm dreaming of spring.  In my dream there are lots of flowers. . . white flowers.  I love white--white dishes, white decor, white tipped toe nails, white clothes, white sheets, and white flowers.

I have an area of dirt on the side of my house that is screaming for attention.  I have ignored it for the past two years because I had it in the back of my mind that we were going to put an addition there.  Maybe, maybe not.  Not soon by any means.  So I am making a plan.  A plan for a moon garden.

I did not know that is what all white gardens were called until I started googling white flowers.  I have a few in mind:  Hydrangeas, ranunculus, peonies, sweet woodruff, lily of the valley, delphinium, camellias, crocuses. . . all in white.  Great profusions of white.  I want enough that I can cut some and fill my house with white flowers in white pitchers.

And in my side garden I want a white picket fence with a little white gate that beckons to the back yard.

Doesn't that sound lovely.

A Vegetable Garden Journey Part 3

The beds have been filled with dirt.

My little seedlings were not 100% successful.  About a third died and many of the rest don't seem to be growing much.  I even broke down and bought a few replacement plants.  

I decided to plant everything I had left and see what happens.  I never claimed to be good at this!  What I lack in proficiency I make up for in enthusiasm. . . too bad you can't eat enthusiasm.

Obviously I have a lot of work to do to make my garden look lovely, but at least they are functional.  We plan on putting a couple more beds against the garage . . .as soon as Rob doesn't remember how much work the other five were! 

In the meantime, let's just hope my plants don't get eaten by the bunnies . . .and deer. . . and birds. . .and bugs. . .and moles.  

A Vegetable Garden Journey Part 2

We finally got around to working on our raised beds again--and got the cooperation of the weather.  It was a fabulous weekend and if we hadn't run around so much we might have gotten more done.  As it stands, we have five boxes built, two to go, and a lot of leveling of the ground to match all the leveling we did on the boxes.  But we are well on our way to a lovely raised vegetable garden  Here are a few pictures (from each angle):

We are trying to come up with solutions to keep out the rabbits and deer.  I have thought about planting repellent plants but am not sure how well they work.  We have been told that you pretty much have to put a fence around your garden.  One neighbor said their cat keeps the bunnies away--we don't have a cat, but I have been pondering planting catnip to attract the neighbors cat to do the job.  

Do you have any suggestions?  

A Final Outdoor Push. . .Maybe.

Last weekend we spent four hours making our front drive look like this:

I only wish I had remembered to take a before picture. It used to have over grown, half dead rock rose and a mass amount of day lilies. I transplanted some of the day lilies. I wasn't in love with the idea that they spend half the summer growing in, then bloomed for a week or two, then spent another month dying out. I planted a clump of daffodils and a clump of. . .I forget. I guess I will be surprised it the spring. I think crocuses or something like that. ***Iwent and looked and they are Chionodoxa--mixed, so they will be various colors of purple, pink and white***

And we worked on the tree house during the week. Our whole day to work on the tree house somehow turned into less than two hours. I am still trying to figure that one out. I did start to paint it--yellow with white trim, but forgot to photograph the additional progress. It is supposed to be sunny this weekend so maybe, maybe, MAYBE, we will actually get it finished. Talk about a weekend project gone seriously awry. It's October for heaven's sake! Ah, well, it has a roof so they can play in it during the rainy months too, right?

Planning Ahead. . .

I moved to this lovely state one year ago. We pulled up the last day of September and the truck arrived on October first. When I try to remember just how our yard looked I have merely a vague memory. I remember thinking how lovely it was. It was, after all, October and there were trees and green shrubs still, and roses blooming in the side yard--which was a heck of a lot more than I could say for the plot of ground I had left behind.

My biggest anticipation was to see what popped up come spring. Would there be daffodils? Tulips? Maybe some hyacinths, or other lovely plants indigenous to this prolific state that I had yet to learn the names of?

Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I think I owned the only house in the area without something blooming--and weeds don't count. Although, all the fields nearby were blooming in carefree abandon with wildflowers. But not my yard.

So last week I went out and bought all of these:

And I planted them in bunches about my yard. So in addition to all the work we have put into our yard this summer, I WILL have spring flowers come May. . .maybe sooner. I can't wait.

A Little Yard Improvement. . .

I have lofty goals for my yard. But first I have the gargantuan task of reclaiming control of my yard. This included taking out a couple trees and bushes and some major weeding. Here are a couple successful areas so far.

My front yard:

From blocked by tree. . .

To Roots Spawned by Satan. . .

To lovely seeded grass (we hope)--after hours of torture.

My back corner was almost painless.

It went from this:

To this, with only weeding, rock picking and stepping stone placing. I just should have taken it's picture before leaves started falling on it!

Two down. . .oh so much more to do.

Outdoor Living . . .

When spring gets underway and the weather warms up I tend to drop whatever I am doing indoors and head outside. I may be in the middle of planning a kitchen remodel, but all I can think about is what I am doing to my landscaping. I scour my magazines for inspiration and only watch HGTV when they are airing landscaping. I have to curb my desire to run out and buy plants and stone and lovely outdoor furniture. My current projects are my garden, my side yard, my front yard and a pergola off my back patio. I haven't done much yet, but here a start on my pergola. . .

A pergola I love.

I tore this out of a magazine years ago and I can't remember where.

Another great pergola. . . .

Veranda May/June 2007

So far I have planted a chocolate vine on my pergola and a row of Rhodies beside it under my family room windows. . .


The area directly under the pergola is grass. I want to put square stones under it with grass between them. I will post pics as I make more progress.

Sparse and Tidy or Lush and Grown in . . .

My husband and I are having a difference of opinion over how our yard needs to be landscaped. We bought a house with a grown in yard and large trees. I love the look of a mature garden. Rob claims it's all overgrown and needs to be torn out. I will admit that pruning is necessary, but I don't want my yard to look like it was just landscaped. I love the feel of a garden that has been lovingly cared for and tended to over time. I have a few ideas about what I would like to see happen in my yard. I lost one battle, though I wasn't fighting terribly against it, if truth be known, and a large tree was removed in our front yard. I must say I don't miss it from the street, but I miss it from my living room and bedroom, where the tree once created some privacy. But I plan on replacing what has been torn out with new plants that will eventually look more planned. Here are some pictures of where I am now in a couple portions of my yard and where I would like to be . . .eventually.

The back end of my garden as it is now. (Actually I did weed is since this picture so it is slightly better than above.) And . . . . .

Veranda March 2008

. . .how I envision it turning out some day. I love, love, love Hydrangeas. And ferns grow wild around here, so I am thinking this is not unrealistic. As for my side yard. Here is what I have currently. . . .

Very sad. But I have hope. Here is a pic that shows a little how I would like it to turn out. . .

Veranda March 2008

I think I would like to have my side yard filled in with a little more lushness and more blooming plants than this picture, though I love the circular sitting area and the height of the structured background. I have a vision of all white and green plants. Think white peonies, hostas, hydrangeas, Delphinium, helleborus, ranunculous, white bleeding heart, dahlias, lily of the valley, white dogwood, snowball bush, green mums, camassia, astrantia, mock orange. . . .I am not sure I can fit all of those in there and have structured greens and ferns, but I am going to try!