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!