Christmas Notebook

We have a lot of flowerbeds in the yard. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to designate them. We’ve never figured out how to name them in an organized manner, so some of them have long names. 🙂 This bed is under the Southern Oak (which we call “the big oak”) behind the house. I don’t remember just when we first made the bed, but it has been five or six years perhaps, maybe longer. The branches of the tree have grown enough to make it shadier than it used to be and the bed had been neglected for quite a while. We haven’t updated it over the years, haven’t kept it full. It gets enough “mulch” from all the oak leaves, that nothing takes root in it besides grape vines and Virginia Creeper. Friday evening we worked on removing those. When that was done, we could see there was quite a bit of filling in to do.

The first thing I wanted to move was the Lenten Rose from the front yard near the mail box to the long bed under the big oak. The Lenten Rose had been sited under flowering almond that had kept it sheltered and shaded. Last year, we had a late hard freeze in April which killed the almond all the way back to the ground. This year it has sprouted a few small stems and will make a come back eventually, but it isn’t able to shelter the hellebore any longer.

After the Lenten Rose was in, we shopped the yard for hostas to move into this bed.

DH was on call, so of course there were interruptions. He took care of them over the phone and didn’t have to leave, which was great.

We put lots of columbine in the bed. It makes a great filler, reseeds itself readily, which is nice in some situations. It is always easy to pull out or move the plants you don’t want in the bed. These came from the bed near the front steps where we have a small fountain in a sea of columbine.

The bed is finished for now. Once the daylilies on the sunnier west end have bloomed, so we can be sure what is what, we will pull out the ditch lilies and replant with some of our favorite varieties.

I took lots of pictures of other things blooming in the yard and this yellow ragwort and the violet were two of them.

I love the quick growth of spring, the colors and the lush fresh greens. My favorite time of year in the yard.

~~Rhonda

It was a beautiful day. Low 70s and sunny, a little breeze.

We enjoyed working in the yard. I mowed the front lawn while waiting for DH to get back from work. When he got home we worked on a few projects in the front yard.

One project was removing the irises and daylilies from this bed because the trees have grown enough to make it too shady for them. Some went to a friend, some were set aside for the garden club’s plant sale next week, and a few were planted along the west fence.

We brought hostas from another bed under a redbud tree that is beginning to die back. That bed is becoming too sunny for the shade loving hostas.

This hosta, Liberty, is striking from a distance. The color is beautiful. We’ve had three summers of drought and now a spring with lots of rain. Perhaps the hostas are going to perk up.

One of my favorite dwarf irises, ‘Irish Chant,’ looks particularly pretty today.

This patch of Sweet William is under the redbud tree by the garage. Very pretty this year!

It was great to spend some time working in the yard. I’m hoping for nice weather again tomorrow. I’ll be able to mow the back yard and pull more weeds.

~~Rhonda