Done Rockin'

All the stone has been moved from our driveway & placed in the proper places. Now I have to pick up at least 10 bags of mulch. Once that mulch is down, I will share a picture!

A Little More Rock

Added another pile of stone to our driveway this afternoon! This time it is fieldstone! You may have noticed in pictures around here that we have an area near the middle of our front yard with three spirea, a maple tree, and two lilac bushes. This area is kind of kidney shaped & mulched. The mulch often ends up in the grass since the only thing keeping it in is black edging which is really intended to keep the grass from growing into an area. So, I decided to add a fieldstone around it to hold the mulch in that area and keep it from going through the lawnmower into the neighbor's house or car. Not that I have done that before...hehe...okay maybe once, but there was no damage.

Woohoo...

Got the rocks down in the area by the mailbox. It looks great!

This Rocks

Last spring when I redid the area by the mailbox, I had no idea what a mistake it would be to take out the stone & replace it with wood mulch. Rain water runs down the driveway and into that bed washing the mulch into the street. I would say about 3/4 of what was down there is gone. I will remove it & replace it with stone that matches what is in other areas of our yard. In other words, what was there to begin with! Doh!

I ordered the stone (1.5 tons) to replace the mulch and to add to what is in other parts of the yard, it has been delivered, and some will be moved into it's new home tomorrow.

to sore muscles...

Playing in Dirt

I spent much of the weekend out in our yard! Saturday was spent purchasing plants to replace the overgrown ugly "ground cover" that had taken over the area in front of the house.

Those overgrown monstrosities were pulled out Sunday with the help of a wonderful neighbor (Thank you again, Jay!). The planting that day was short lived as we had plans to meet friends for dinner, but I did get a good start. I transplanted a couple meadow sage that had been near the stuff we got rid of and also planted three other plants.

Monday morning I was back to planting by mid-morning & it didn't finish until about 7PM. In all, I planted or transplanted nearly 40 plants. In the area I planted most of these plants there is that cloth that prevents weed growth. UGH -- that stuff is nice, but it is a pain when it comes to planting!

Before

After

I am really happy with the way it turned out! Now I am itching to do more planting!

Fabulous Blooms

Daylily


Red (with one white petal) Dahlia

Ah, Nature

Thursday night Olivia was out in the garage emptying the canister from the vacuum when all of a sudden she runs in the house saying Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. I thought she got stung by a bee or something, but it turned out she saw a possum (or opossum if you prefer). Yes, a POSSUM! Olivia said when he saw her, he scurried under my vehicle. I went out to the garage to investigate. I noticed he had used our garage floor as his litter box, but opened the garage door before cleaning it up. I searched under the car and behind the few things that are stored next to the car, but did not see him. I figured he had ran out of the garage when I opened the door. I closed the garage door and we went to bed a bit after this adventure.

First thing Friday morning I go out to check the garage under the light of day. That bugger wasn't gone - how do I know you wonder? Well, he had used my garage floor as a litter box again. I opened the door, ran the car, moved things around in the garage. Cleaned up his second mess which as in nearly the same spot as the first I had cleaned up. I know he is nocturnal, but left the door open most of the day so if he wanted to escape captivity he could. All day long no messes, no sight of him. I figured he must have been gone, but decided to check again in the middle of the night when one of the dogs needed to go out. No sign of him so I was pretty confident that he was gone this time.

First thing Saturday morning, I checked the garage! Sure enough, he had used the floor as a litter box again. I decided that meant I needed to take everything out of the garage to get rid of him. So I pulled my vehicle out of the garage and got to work. The first thing I reached for was a bag of mulch (there were four) we didn't use when we added the bed by the mailbox and laid new mulch in another area of the yard. As I am moving that first bag, what did I see? Yep, you guessed it -- that little stinker curled up in a ball playing possum on top of two of our bags of mulch...

It took some time and a little gentle guidance with a metal pole (yes, I am a chicken), but I finally got that little bugger out!! :)

It gives me the willies to look at the pictures I took Saturday morning...LOL!!

Dashing Dahlias

A couple shots of this year's window box flowers -- Dwarf Dahlias!!



Not to toot my own horn, but they may be the best I have ever taken. I LOVE them! :)

Photographic Evidence

Here is some photographic evidence of our busy weekend.

As you might remember, over the winter our mailbox lost a battle with a snowplow so we purchased a new one. A new mailbox called for a fresh look. We had planned on doing this (minus the mailbox) for the last couple years, but never got around to it.

Before

After #1

After #2

Replacing the coral bells, three euonymus, and a bush that was somehow a mixture of spirea & weigelia are fountain grass surrounded by creeping phlox, coreopsis, coneflower, meadow sage, veronica and some sweet alyssum. The rock has been replaced with mulch.

Thank you again, Olivia, for moving all that rock to the back yard.

Spring Blooms

These were blooming about a week ago (two weeks later than normal), but are done now...

They are the tulips & rhododendrons I have shown before, but this year I took pictures from a different vantage point -- worm's eye view and ultra close. The close up of the tulip is my fav, and I may have it printed on canvas to hang in our house somewhere.

Shaping Up the Yard

The last couple days have been busy ones!!

Purchase:
mulch -- check
annuals for window boxes -- check
hanging baskets -- check

To Do:
put down mulch -- check
plant window boxes -- check
hang baskets -- check
put more sand under bricks to level sidewalk area -- check

I also began getting rid of some bushes in our front yard. I have hated those things since the day we moved in. I wanted to get rid of them, but Bob liked them so that took some convincing. That is until he realized he likes summer blooming things more than those things.

They had spread and grown so much that I had forgotten there were only three. I was thinking there were five of the large ones. One of them was massive. I also pulled out two other pine/evergreen bushes one was dead and the other was in an odd spot to leave. Once I get some muscle (Yoohoo -- Bob and Scott, Kevin, or Dale!) to dig out the roots from the three larger bushes, we will have a blank slate and begin planting some perennials. I can't wait!

Wow, I must have really hated those bushes. I cannot find a single picture of them unless they are covered with snow. My camera batteries are dead (again), but once they are charged, I take some pics.

Wow, That's Service

After our last big snow storm or maybe the one before that (there have been too many to keep them all straight), our mailbox had a fight with one of the plows and the snowplow won! It won big time. The post was broken off right to the ground. After the snow we were able to pack enough snow around it to keep it up right and functional for a week or so. The snow melted so I spent a little money for a temporary fix that worked until our Sunday papers were delivered. Adding their weight to the mail/paper boxes brought it crashing down as did the wind a few days later. I had had it with trying to keep the box propped up in the bucket of sand. So I put our mail on hold -- went several times a week to pick it up.

Knowing we don't really have the proper tools to install a new post & box system properly, I decided to try to locate a local company who could handle this job. One look in the Yellow Pages (how late 1900s of me..lol) lead me in the right direction. They have a website so I began my search for the perfect mailbox. It was pricey, but I didn't want any old mailbox in front of my house. Yes, I am a mailbox snob...LOL! I found this one (in matte black)...


After I seeing that one, I called to inquire about a the price for installation & about how long it would be until the install could happen. I was told the install would be $85 and would take 1-3 weeks for what we ordered to come in a be installed. That was acceptable to us so VERY late Sunday night (more like Monday morning) I ordered.

I was prepared to keep waiting & thought if I hadn't heard anything from them after two weeks I would call just to check on the status of the order. Well, that call will not have to be made. I got a call from the installer yesterday before noon. Barely 36 hours after I placed the order, I had a call and a time the installer would be out. He arrived yesterday afternoon about 2:30 and worked in the rain for a little over two hours. Not only did he install the new post/box in a new area, but also dug out the old cement with broken off post and filled that hole with the dirt from the new hole he dug. He took the old stuff along with him and left the area in good condition.

It will be so nice to be able to walk out to the mailbox tomorrow to pick up my mail rather than having to hop in the car & drive across town to pick it up. I don't envy those of you who have to go pick up mail.

Thank you "Mahvelous" Mailboxes!!

A Little Autumn Color

Taken in our front yard on October 20, 2007...

You can see the rest of the photos I took that early evening here.

Thursday Thirteen #26

Our first 10 or so raspberries were ripe for picking yesterday! There are about twice as many ready today! There are SO many more that just aren't ready quite yet. For the next few weeks we will be in raspberry heaven. This is for those of you who want to plant a raspberry bush, but don't know how to take care of them. They really don't required as much work as you may think.

Thirteen Things About Raspberries

1. There are two categories of red raspberries. The common raspberry, which ripens in early to midsummer and the ever bearing raspberry. The ever bearing raspberry produces an early-summer crop on the old growth (previous season) and a fall crop on the new growth (current season).

2. Raspberries grow best in rich,well-drained soil.

3. Raspberries grow best in climates where the spring is lingering and slow to warm, but may succeed in warmer climates if the are grown in light shade.

4. A row or hill of raspberries will ordinarily produce good crops of fruit for 10 years or more, before they need to be replaced.

5. Raspberries should NOT be planted in where eggplants, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes have been grown within three years. They they are susceptible to disease associated with those plants. (Oops, the year we planted our raspberry bush it was right next to TWO tomato plants. It survived and is now too big to have anything else nearby.)

6. New plants should be planted in late fall or early spring and set into the soil 2 inches deeper than they were growing.

7. Newly planted summer bearing raspberries should be left alone for the first year to establish themselves. When buds begin to show the following spring, cut back to 3-5 canes per plant.

8. Raspberry plants should be fertilized in early spring with an all purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer.

9. Do NOT let raspberry plants dry out during flowering and fruiting.

10. In spring, shorten the canes to 3 feet and force the growth into lateral side branches along support wires. (I did not know this. It will make harvesting next year SO much easier.)

11. After a cane produces fruit it should be cut to the ground. The only exception is with the ever bearing raspberry. The second crop's canes should not be cut down as those will bear the next year's first crop of raspberries.

12. Never cut off the new canes which haven't produced yet, they will produce the next years crop. (I am guilty of this, but only it is the suckers that spout up where they shouldn't be. Bad canes...lol)

13. Raspberries are easily propagated by pinning the tip of the cane to the ground, where you want it to root. Once it is rooted, sever the new start from the parent plant. You can also propagate from the sucker growths which come up around the parent plant.

source: thegardenhelper.com

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My spring pictures have now been uploaded to flickr. You can see them here!

Spring Blooms

Spring 2007...

Front "porch"!

Close up of planter in plant stand.
I love the colors of this planter & the little white flowers smell SO good!
Anyone know what they are?

Meadow sage in front yard!

Meadow sage & weigela in front yard.

I will be adding more to my flickr photos later. Right now a pretty wild storm is on it's way to our area. I will be logging off for a while. Probably so I can capture some cool storm cloud pictures. Yes, I'll be careful!

Plant for the Cure at Lowe's

This is the first spring we have a Lowe's nearby. I was so excited to be able to pick up this year's Plant for the Cure geranium! It is such a pretty shade of pink!

And it's planted! Woohoo...our growing season is so very near! (If there is the threat of frost, I can move the planter into the garage for protection.)

Oooops!

I should have published this post yesterday (July 18, 2006), but instead I saved it as a draft!

We finally cooled off from the HOT temps that have been around the country the last week or so. I looks like that won't last long. I have to get the grass cut before we are back up near 90. It's not fun to do yard work in that.

Here are the pics I promised Monday!

This variety of Day Lily is called Pardon Me.
It's blooming like crazy right now.

Our Unique Hydrangea will be in "full" bloom soon.

The name unique really fits this hydrangea. The buds on the flower head never seem to all open at once. It gives the flower a lovely lacely look. I love having dried hydrengeas in the house. I am not sure how these dry, but I am planning on giving it a try this year. I'll let you all know how they turn out.

Finally & Just In Time

I finally finished painting the outside of the fence and the arbor and just in time. The HOT, HUMID weather will be back for the weekend.

BEFORE
This photo was taken last summer.
Just imagine what another Wisconsin winter did to it!

AFTER
This was taken just an hour ago.
I am so pleased with the way it turned out.
There was just a slight color change.

Other stuff is happening in the yard as well. The hydrangeas are looking glorious!

This was taken tonight and is the same flower I posted a picture of late in June.

The hostas (yuck!) are blooming. Soon (read tomorrow) I will be cutting those flowers off. I hate them. I am planning to remove most of them from our yard. They line the entire sidewalk along the side of the garage. The previous owners didn't use much creativity when it came to planting that area. I have never counted, but there must be about 18 hostas along there ALL in a straight line. Did I say YUCK ? LOL!!

It looks like we will have our first day lily bloom of the season tomorrow morning. I sure hope so. I love the variety we planted. (Note to self: purchase more of those day lilies...lol!!)

The rest of the painting projects I have planned will probably have to wait until the fall. Usually when we hit mid-July the temps aren't great for painting and/or staining. Although, today was beautiful here near the lake. Mid 70's and not much humidity until late this afternoon.

I do have one good thing to say about the humidity. It makes the sunsets even more beautiful.

Off to watch Project Runway and Rock Star: Supernova! :)

Hydrangeas & Raspberries

I love this time of year! Our Nikko Blue Hydrangeas are beginning to open! (Taken June 23, 2006)

And beginning to turn a lovely shade of pink! Yes, PINK! The soil in this part of Wisconsin makes them a lovely shade. I know I can amend the soil so they bloom blue, but I absolutely LOVE the shade of pink we get!! (Taken June 29, 2006)

The first raspberries of the season are ready today.
This is the third summer we will have raspberries and will be the most plentiful year by far!

I will have to be out bright and early every morning to beat the birds to them! I have some all ready to put on top of our Kemp's Frozen Yogurt! YUMMY! (taken June 29, 2006)