Spring Gardening

After the horrendous winter we endured, I couldn't wait to get out into the yard and start gardening.
I wanted to focus attention on the hosta area in the back yard first.  Lily of the Valley were taking over and water coming off the hill during hard rains had washed away a lot of the top soil and leaf mulch.

I dug out for the dry river bed in hopes that it would direct runoff water around the plants instead of burying them in debris. We've had several days of rain since, and so far so good. :)
I also added a thick layer of leaf mulch to keep weeds at bay.

Now if I can just get Hubby to remove that giant log...
Next, I moved on to the side yard, a small strip along the retaining wall.

 Mainly weeding, a clean edge, and some moving of plants was all that was needed for now.  It also got a layer of compost until we can get mulch down.  The only thing blooming over here this early is the Forget me nots.  The ferns  are a pretty bright green, though. And the orange poppies will be opening soon.
On the other side of the gate is a very shaded walkway.  One side is filled with a variety of ferns and hostas, and along the house I have bleeding heart and yellow celandine poppies which are in bloom now and will bloom on and off through the summer.

There's still lots more to do, and I'll be starting in the front yard this weekend as well as picking up a few annuals for the containers.
How about you? Have you been playing in the garden, too?  Happy planting, everyone!

Porch Railing Planter Boxes

It's time to plant the annuals! I love planting flowers, its like therapy. :)
I've been doing a little better the last couple of years, not going totally crazy at the greenhouse...but it is hard!  I limited myself to buying just enough to fill 2 hanging baskets and 4 pots on the deck and the 3 railing planters on the front porch.  In this year's planters I have Million Bells petunias (in orange, red, and pink), sweet potato vine, New guinea impatiens, and vinca.

My previous blog post and various pictures of the railing planters have been getting lots of traffic from pinterest lately, so I thought I would do a follow-up on what I did this year to improve them a bit.
I wanted the planters to have the same look as my moss-lined hanging baskets .  I found expandable ones at Home Depot. (I don't think they carry them anymore, though).

They are meant to hold one of those plastic window boxes, but I ran some wire around them so that I could line them with spahgnum moss and plant directly in that.  It worked out pretty well, but I noticed that by mid to late summer, when the plants were full grown, the boxes just weren't deep enough and didn't hold enough dirt to keep the flowers happy.

So this year I lined them with chicken wire that extended about 2 inches above the top. Much Better! There should be plenty of room for healthy and happy roots well into fall.

And as long as we're out here, here's a few more front yard photos.  :)
Ooohh, and you can see in the picture above that we also finally got our bubbler fountain (from the other house) installed at the new place.

And this is a photo of the house when we purchased it 2 and a half years ago...

And this is it now...

We still have quite a bit of work to do on the front landscaping, but that will all come in time.
Have you gotten any annuals planted yet? Happy gardening, everyone.

Anemone and Hunny

I wanted to snap a few pictures of our anemone flowers since they are one of the last things in the yard to bloom before winter.  Apparently, Hunny was feeling a bit jealous of the attention and decided she should be part of the photo shoot, as well.  :)

The anemone are tall and airy and make a nice backdrop for other plantings. We have both white and a pinkish purple color in several spots in the yard.

  

 

We're having a string of lovely fall days here in Ohio.  Have a great week everyone!

Vintage Novelty Fabric ~ In the Garden

Spring offically began last week (yea!), so for many of us that means gardening. I thought it would be fun to hunt through the stash and archives for some garden related vintage fabrics. Here's what I found... a variety of cute novelty prints with gardening related themes. Patio print from the 1950's. Children's fabric from the 1970-80's. Cute border print. And a couple in the "formal gardens" category; a striking black barkcloth. And a lovely scenic cotton fabric from the early 1900's. What about you, any garden themed fabrics in your sewing room?

Tree Hearts

How great is that!...Heart shaped tree logs. :-)

We had to have a very large ash tree taken down this weekend. It wasn't dead or diseased, but it was somewhat of a hazard. A few limbs had fallen during some recent windy weather, one of which went right through my car's windsheild. It also towers above the house almost 3-4 stories tall and is on a slope that has been satururated with water run-off for the better part of the year. The anxiety of it crashing into our bedroom during the next big storm was just getting too overwhelming, so for peace of mind, hubby agreed to have it taken down.

We have friends who can use the firewood and we'll keep some of the stumps to use as seating around the firepit. Hubby also had the tree guys keep one section longer so he could use the wood to make a rustic outdoor bench.

Anyway, just had to share the awesome naturally heart shaped tree pieces with you. Wouldn't they be pretty as side table tops? :-)

Its HOT!

It is crazy hot around here! 98 degrees with a heat index of 110. I'm not doing much out in the yard, but I did capture a few fun pictures.

This first one is of a large hawk that hangs out in our front tree from time to time. The robins and hummingbirds get so mad, that they gang up and chase him away before long.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discovered that the bush by the deck blooms! I think it might be Crepe Myrtle. If anyone recognizes it, let me know. :-)And the butterfly bush by the back door is a favorite hangout for both butterflies and the many hummingbirds we have in the area. I haven't been able to get a picture of the hummingbirds yet...they're fast!

I'm spending a lot of time right now at the tiny house filling nail holes, painting, and doing what I can to get it ready to sell. Most of the big projects are downstairs and require Hubby's construction skills, so they will have to wait until he has some free time. But, all of this work is seriously cutting into my blogging time. I hope to be able to catch up on all of the fun summer projects going on in blogland soon.

Stay cool, everyone and have a great week!

Porch Railing Flower Boxes

I thought the front porch needed a little color. So I planted some flower boxes.

I found the railing mount planters at Home Depot. They are designed to hold a plastic flower box, so I had to modify them to hold the moss. Using thin copper wire, I created a grid small enough to contain the moss and dirt. Then followed the same steps as when I plant my hanging baskets. (tutorial here)

I used purple New Guinea Impatiens, blue Lobelia (upright), Coleus, and Sweet potato vine.

I think it gives a nice pop of color to the front of the house. :-)

A Front Yard Tour

I was finally able to take some pictures of the front yard. The previous owner was an avid gardener, so it has been a fun surprise this spring to see what is going to bloom next. :-)

Let's start the tour at the driveway.

See that bright orange near the house? Those are gorgeous poppies! Let's get a closer look.

In front of the steps there are also several peonies, rose bushes, different colors of columbine, and alot of things I haven't identified yet.

Near the porch, ferns, hosta, more roses, and another type of poppy fill the area.

Here is the view from the house. A nice line of trees partially hide the house from the street.

And lastly, ferns, columbine, hosta, and lily of the valley fill a shady walkway on the other side of the house.
Thanks for taking the tour with me! Hopefully I'll be able to get my annuals planted this week. Have a great week everyone.