Gardening

The weather has finally improved, and Frank and I spent most of this week working in the garden pulling weeds and planting new flowers. We purchased three rather spectacular trees that we have placed in the garden. My personal favorite is the Weeping Cedar. It grows in a very bizarre "curvy" sort of fashion and has blue/green needles.

It stands about five feet tall and we planted it near our deck so that we can enjoy it during the summer and fall when we spend a great deal of time outside.

Frank's personal favorite is the "Weeping Juniper". This tree can get quite large but right now it is only about nine feet tall and a bit on the spindly side. The needles are silver/gray and are in stark contrast with the deep green spruce which grows behind it. We planted it ( or rather Frank did) at the entrance of the drive and the long weeping branches sway gently in the wind.

The last of our new trees is a "Weeping Spruce" - do you think we have a theme going here? It is a very slow growing spruce that is narrow in width and the limbs droop and twist. I don't know if you can see the cones at the the top of the tree - believe it or not they are a bright red. It is certainly a whimsical looking spruce!

We also had 5 cubic yards of bark chips delivered so that we could mulch everything, and slowly (very slowly) I am shoveling it around the yard! We bought the bark at "Best of the West" in Redmond, and while we were there I spotted some beautiful irises growing around their office. Apparently they came from a woman in Redmond who gives them away free. They gave me the ladies address and we found her home. The lot adjacent to her house was a field of irises (blue, lavender, purple, white and yellow}. I knocked on the door and introduced myself saying that I'd heard that she shared her irises with interested people. She was very nice and took my phone number saying that in August she will be digging them up to separate them and will give me a call.

Also - another good thing happened this week. A fellow resident of tollgate noticed that I was gardening and called me to say that she had lots of catmint, salvia, echinacea, and blue pokey grass to give away. All very good - but it means I have a lot more work to do!

The Sun Came Out!

When we woke this morning, the sky was blue, birds were singing, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Believe it or not, we have had hail and rain this past week - a fact that has greatly thwarted my attempts to get a jump start on Sister's relatively short growing season. Today, however, was marvelous and both Frank and I hustled outside to pull weeds, trim limbs, and plant a variety of flowers. When I stepped off the porch, I was excited to see that one of my poppies had bloomed - the very first one of the season!

I purchased a variety of colors from a local nursery - the poppies are a fancy variety and will come back each spring. While I was planting and pulling weeds, Frank was busy cutting back the evergreen shrubs - a task that will require several trips to the dump tomorrow.

While Frank was busy sawing and cutting - I was planting some colorful petunias for the planter box on our deck.

Check out the delphinium - supposedly this plant will attract butterflies and humming birds! So beautiful ...

We finally called it quits around 6:00 pm and ended the day with a long soak in the hot tub. Life certainly is good!