Trying to get caught up in the garden is a job in itself, trying to get caught up on the blog is also a little tricky sometimes. Especially when one has house guests. My father was visiting for two weeks and as he has always been my gardening inspiration it was so much fun visiting various nurseries, admiring my garden, and discussing care and garden modifications for the future. During this time my landscaper also took care of spreading shredded bark mulch in preparation for the summer. They also did some weeding. Now generally, I am fairly good about weeding and especially took care to attack some problem areas before the landscapers came lest they become confused as to what’s a plant and what’s a weed. Anyhow, they removed 3 wheelbarrow-fulls of weeds!! I was so nervous watching them weed and stomp around on my planting beds. I actually had the binoculars out at one point. Yes, it was an emotional day for me, worrying about my little sprouts. All in all they did an awesome job. I had to rescue a couple plants covered in mulch, but the rest I will just let push through themselves.
They also removed a diseased pine tree and planted a cedrus deodora tree in its place in my front yard. The tree is beautiful and really works with the house colors and other landscaping. The yard is looking fabulous! Of course there is lots more to accomplish.
Next steps include adding steps to the slope, installing the new fountain pump, planting the new “tropical” garden. The tropicals all arrived from mail order and I planted the tubers in pots outside to give them a start. The hardy banana and windmill palm are are potted up indoors and I can’t wait to get it all started!
My father bought me some trailing nasturtium seeds which need to be planted as well as a shooting star primula that I want to buy a concrete pot for as they love the lime. I have quite a few similar plants growing very successfully this way in pots. So, a trip to the local concrete statuary store is required. The kids love visiting with all the animal statues. Perhaps tomorrow!
Otherwise, another new addition is a golden hops vine. It is the prettiest color and perhaps my husband will give the home-grown hops a try in some brew making this fall.
Finally, weather. It has been cloudy and cold, in the low 50’s during the daytime, high 30’s at night. The grass which had started growing has slowed way down as have other plants. My species tulips opened briefly for a day with a few rays of sun, but I haven’t seen their faces since. Just one sunny day and I think the garden would explode.
That’s it for this re-cap. Am going to try to get a nice “what’s blooming” inventory started for tomorrow. Happy gardening to everyone!