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!

Summer Deck Photos

I just wanted to share a few pictures of the deck and planters before the blazing heat completely fries the poor flowers.

The hanging baskets were planted with sweet potato vine, new guinea impatiens, and a little yellow trailing flower that I can't remember the name of. They took a hit during the stretch of 100+ degree days we had, but they're starting to perk  up again.

I also have a couple of large planters with multi colored coleus, which I love because they seem to do well where ever I put them.

The new patio furniture came from Target.com and I'm very happy with it.  Its very sturdy, not crazy expensive, and the cushions are thick and well made with piped edges. We also have the chaise...so comfy!  I accented with my bright pink throw pillows that I made for the living room of the tiny house.  The color is perfect for the deck and plays off the beautiful crepe myrtle.

I'd like to get an outdoor rug for the deck, but not sure how well it would hold up. I'd rather not have to carry it in and out all summer. Oh well, Hunny doesn't seem to mind not having one. :)
Thanks for touring the deck with me!  Stay cool and have a great weekend, everyone!

How Hunny Celebrates a Pretty Day

We had a couple of gorgeous spring-like days here in southern Ohio. I think Hunny enjoyed them even more than I did. She celebrated the sunny day by rolling around in the dirt, scooching down the hill on her back, and laying in the sun ALL DAY. I mean, this dog loves her food, but I could barely get her inside at dinner time!

The day ended with a bath. :-)

Its raining today, but still unseasonably warm. Bring on spring!

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? :-)

A Fenced Yard for Hunny

One of the main reasons we loved this new house was the large lot that it sat on. Its a little over an acre and would give our Hunny plenty of room to run. The only problem was that it was not fenced, and since our dog listens to very little we say, she would surely take off and terrorize the neighborhood children if let off her leash. So, in order to avoid the daily long walks in knee deep snow again this year, it became our goal to get the yard fenced in before winter rolled around. For the majority of the yard, we went with a wood fence style called Kentucky Board. It runs up the hill and ties into the existing farm fence at the back of the property.



At the sides of the house and across the driveway, we had a dark bronze aluminum fence and gates installed. It looks nice with the brown brick of the house and ties in with the porch railing that Hubby made.

Hunny LOVES it! Although she still won't go outside by herself (huh?), she loves to run through the yard chasing birds, and barking at Ava and Patty (the horse and cow that roam the farm land behind us. (Photo taken last winter, we don't have snow yet, thank goodness).