Even though our midwestern summer has been rainy, severe weather-y and pretty much awful, we've managed to make some progress in the yard.
Three weeks ago we planted our little hearts out. We bought a bunch of perennials for the flower bed around the pond (joe pye weed, arizona blanket flowers, tiger lilies, cat mint, black-eyed susans and something else i can't remember) and planted violas around the front. The violas are awesome and much more weather-resistant than the pansies we planted last summer. We also planted snapdragons along the back of the pond (Forty of them — it's going to be insane when they get tall) and some zinneas. Last year's perennial additions (salvia, sedum) are thriving and look really nice, if a little massive. It's been fun watching everything bloom...I'm sure we'll have some changes to make based on how everything grows in, but we're happy so far.
The two big pots on our back patio are full of multi-colored begonias and a blue flowering vine (I keep forgetting what it's called, but it gets big and fluffy and fabulous). We also have smaller pots of marigolds and impatiens, which are thriving. I'm a little frustrated with the begonia pots, as there appears to be a bird picking at the blooms. They look a little ragged right now, but I hope they will fill in as well as they did last summer.
Our two front pots are full of happy red geraniums. My mom thinks geraniums are an old lady flower, but I love them. We also planted a verbenum bush out front, which is supposed to get up to 10 feet tall. It's well on its way.
We split a few hosta and planted those throughout the shade garden under our pine trees, along with two bleeding hearts for a little bit of color. (Again, kind of old lady, but I love the little pink heart-shaped flowers.) We also picked up a hanging basket at the farmer's market — giant white impatiens and fuchsia — and hung that under the trees. And there's a big, cheerful pot of pansies on the table.
And finally, the fence. Mattie is SO happy. She can't wait to go outside, and sits by the back door and looks at us like "Um, hello? We could be outside having fun right now. What's the hold up?" We love being able to play with her in the yard.
Of course, it's been raining constantly since we completed all of this work. Great for our plants, but not so great for enjoying them.
Oh, the irony.
A few pictures of the yard...and one of our happy puppy, too.
4 comments:
Can we hire you? What do you do about the weeds? Seriously feel like you could be speaking german when you talk about plant names.
Looks awesome! I have NO idea what the difference between all of those flowers and plants is, but it all looks and sounds lovely. :) I have lots of pots of flowers on my deck, but still have no clue what's in them. Just stuff I thought looked pretty, I guess?! :) You have a real knack for home stuff...yard and interior stuff! I agree with Heids, can we hire you?! :) (Maddie is cute too!)
Sorry...I just realized I spelled Mattie with d's and not t's. :)
I pull the weeds, almost daily. Watering and pulling weeds is my after work de-stressing technique. But the mulch helps.
I didn't know anything about plants (and still really don't), but I read some books and I've spent a lot of time at the nursery. I love it!
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