GARDEN RENOVATION: Part 2

Our front landscape bed has been laying fallow while we've waited for the winter to finally, truly end, and now for the spring rains to cease... So, today the sun is shining, the homeowners' association landscaper is spreading mulch, and CA and I tackle another out-of-control bed. Guess I hadn't gotten up adequate nerve in time for our first-go at starting afresh, somehow ignoring the fact that bed #2 was almost as bad as bed #1.

Bed #2

Bed #1

We dig and tug and pull to rip-out woody, ugly Vinca, along with some struggling thyme, lavender, and chives. I've given up on having an herb garden in front--lots of bugs dine off my basil. As I write this, CA is digging out most of the day lilies coming up in the first bed. This variety has a short bloom-life and dies back too soon, and the shortage of sunshine has never been encouraging.

I'm breathing easier now that the unmanageable and incongruous plantings have bitten the dust. Why did we wait so long? The landscaping was bad when we moved in almost 10 years ago... My excuses are: we moved to a townhouse to avoid yardwork; we were both over-taxed with responsibilities and work; ennui; the cost vs. pain equation; a dearth of creativity. As it turns out, I like the bare mulch much, much better than I ever did the bloomless lilacs, woody Vinca, and lazy day lilies.

There are some peonies surfacing behind the tree in the second bed, Forget-Me-Nots under the same tree, and this lovely, lovely blue perennial (Brunnera!) I got in Michigan two years ago is nestled in next to the front stoop. I want more of these!

Turns out this is Brunnera, or more appropriately these are Brunnera. Two varieties.

I'm anxious to plant the shade-tolerant varieties I've been researching, but will wait until we return from Virginia Beach because the deer in our woods are notorious snackers--preferring my gardening endeavors to their own environs. Oh wait! They were here first.

I've lost tens of twenties of dollars over repeated Springs to those deer and their voracious nibblings. I know. I know. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Here's to good mental health! And, the survival of my greenery.

I think that guy in front is a goner, too.

I'm sure there's an ingenue waiting in the wings at Key Blooms in Portage. MI.

Bed #3

Wait! Bed #3?

 Call the immunologists--I think this reno has gone viral!

Doesn't CA do nice work?

The relocated Day Lilies will survive and thrive, or they won't. But for now, they make a lovely border along the side of our screened porch. We've tried many perenniels in this back side yard bed, and nothing has survived. There may be some hosta that'll work their way up eventually. Last year we filled in with garden ornaments.

SO SAD TO SEE YOU GO...

We've had a glorious 5 days with our little ones from Omaha. They're just two and just four, and both have thoughts and conversations beyond their years. They're so expressive.

The first morning they were here, JE asked two-year-old LE to tell me her knock-knock joke. LE (who'd had a few tears a few minutes earlier) said, "I too sad now." Then a couple of days later, she prances into our tiny library and plops onto the ottoman. JE says, "LE, you look like you have something to say." LE says she does, and after another prompting by her mommy she offers this conversation starter, "My favorite candy is chocolate." Early this morning she found me and said, "Grandma, I play with iPad?" She's been proficient with her mommy's iPhone for months and months, so it's an easy transition to the great big iPhone (iPad).

JA is all boy and very, very four. He's all about action and noise, and he's also very excited about super heroes, light sabers, and swords. And, since he was just one year-old he loves, loves, loves guitars and drums. The iPad has three drum apps downloaded...

This week we've made plenty of French-press coffee, eaten great food, had two excellent restaurant meals, celebrated GiGi's birthday (big time!), done a bit of shopping for our upcoming beach vacation, and spent a good deal of time lingering...

A most excellent and memorable week.

CAT ON A HOT-TIN ROOF

For whatever reason, JA decided that the warm and sunny van roof was a nice spot for a bit of a rest... Daddy soon convinced him otherwise.

SO SMILEY

 

LE smiles a lot. A lot! Yet, when I pointed a camera her way this week, she very uncharacteristically was a sober sides much of the time.

Except, if there was frosting involved. Her smiles are jewels...

GRANDCHILDREN: Life's Reward