New pictures finally ready

My daffodils made a beautiful centerpiece for the kitchen table. I just loved it.

April has seen some crazy weather. We experienced a deep freeze for about a week which destroyed my hostas. I tried covering them up, but they still froze. I read up about hostas and learned that I should cut the leaves back to the crown, and hopefully they will regrow.

Today I spent about 2 hours weeding the "shade garden" where I planted the hostas. It looks much better now than it does in this picture. The grass in the mulch is gone, unfortunately, I think the hostas are goners too. We'll see.

On a happier note, despite the freezes, and then the SNOW, my tulips and daffodils bloomed and were just beautiful. The daffodils are done blooming now, but the red tulips are going strong. Just look at these pictures!

They turned out so pretty, despite the fluctuating weather. We would have 70 degree days and 50 degree nights, followed by 30 degree days and nightly lows in the teens.

My Backyard

Last October I found a bunch of shrubs on sale for $2 and under at Meijer. That began my interest in planting and gardening. I bought several bushes and went home, dug holes, and plopped the plants in. This is the back corner of my house. It was just grass up to the foundation. I planted the bushes, then put mulch around the plants. This spring I am raking up the mulch, putting down landscape fabric, and remulching. Up until the freezing weather hit us this week the plants were beginning to bud. The forsythia at the edge, over by the drain spout even had a few yellow flowers. For some reason the rest of the buds were just green. The tall plant in the back corner is a viburnum allegheny. There are 6 butterfly bushes planted here also. 3 of the 6 show signs of green growth. The other 3 might be dead. I got 4 of those butterfly bushes for only 50 cents each, and they might have been dead when I bought them. I've added some red brick to border this bed also. I removed the red brick from the sides of the house. I like it better back here. I'll have a picture of it later.

This is another view of the back of the house. I've planted other bushes around the chimney and deck. I'm most excited to see the rhododendron bloom, and the nikko blue hydrangea. Last week I planted 6 lily flowers. I also planted 3 cardinal flowers under the window next to the deck. The cardinal flowers came from Teresa.

These are 2 rose of sharon bushes, and one petit bleu "bluebeard" bush.

Bad Weather

The weather is soooooo bad! We went from a high in the 70's to below freezing. A freeze warning has been in effect for 3 days now, and the temp will stay below freezing until Sunday. It is currently snowing outside. I am so upset. My daffodils continued to bloom so well until the cold weather came in. Now they are all drooping to the ground. I am most worried about my tulips. I could see the red buds inside them, now all those too are drooping to the ground. I'm afraid they will be ruined and I won't get to see them bloom. In the picture you can see two daffodil blooms. Before the cold weather hit there were probalby 25 in bloom, and in between them are the unbloomed red tulips. I really hope they don't die. I want to see those tulips!!!



















Also of concern are my hostas that I planted in my shade garden. This area has complete shade until around 3:00 in the afternoon. I know that hostas do very well in this type of light, so I planted 6 that I bought on sale at Meijer. I also planted some bare root hostas in this garden too. Unfortunately, a hard freeze that we have gotten will kill hostas once they are leafed out like this. I covered them with buckets but they were already shriveled and slimy looking. I checked on them this afternoon and they still didn't look great, but I'm still hoping they will be OK. I put the buckets back on them. Today is Friday, and the weather won't make it safe to keep them uncovered until at least Monday afternoon. Lesson learned is not to plant too early in the season! I was just so anxious to plant because it is a very rewarding and enjoyable hobby.

spring is finally here -- March 29, 2007

DAFFODIL

This is my very first post in my very first blog. I have made a lot of changes to the landscaping that was already here when we bought our house last May. I have never planted shrubs or flowers before, so it is all new to me. I am having a lot of fun though. Let me begin by saying I am landscaping on a very low budget. All of the plants and shrubs were either given to me or bought at a very steep discout at local garden centers and nurserys. The most I have spent on any plant is $2.50. Unfortunately I have spent quite a bit more money on mulch than on plants. In the above picture you see one of my very first flowers, a daffodil. My daughter and a friend of hers helped me plant these. I dug the trench, and they planted the bulbs. We also planted red tulips which haven't bloomed yet.

To the left here is the front of my house where the daffodils and tulips are located. When we bought the house only the tree/bush to the right of the window was there, and the small golden privet bush just to the edge of the porch. The green evergreen bush was a gift from my dad and stepmother. My stepmother Teresa has given me tons of advice and plants from her garden. I am really appreciative of her help and generosity. Unfortunately the bush seems to be leaning to the side and I think is not getting enough water. The edge of the roof seems to be hanging over the bush and so rain is not getting the soil and mulch around the plant. I might have to dig it up and move it a little farther out away from the house. In this part of the flower bed I have planted the tulips and daffodils, and also some stella d' oro daylily plants. The stellas are coming up and look very healthy. I bought a 12 pack of red "crimson pirate" daylily plants from Sam's club and planted those around the stellas. The stellas have yellow blooms. The red daylily plants were bare root plants and only one little fan of a clump. Marissa planted them and at first they were a sickly yellow/white color, but since have been slowly turning green. I think they will make it, but I'm not sure that they will bloom this year. They are really tiny plants. Then in the back of the bed, just below the window I planted two black night butterfly bushes. I got them for 50 cents each at Meijer. Once again I think that I planted them too close to the house and that they have not been getting the rain. If they die at least I will not be out too much money. Lesson learned is that I need to not plant things so close to the house. I hope they make it though because the pictures I have seen of butterfly bushes are beautiful. I have never seen one in real life.

On the other side of the front door is another garden. It originally had those two barbury bushes and then two golden privets to the front in between the barbury bushes, right next to the sidewalk. Behind those four bushes were two really bad looking hostas. That was it. There was a lot of empty space. I decided to move the two golden privet bushes to the back of the bed. This was my first time digging up and moving bushes. It was kind of hard but very rewarding. I moved them in August and both bushes survived! I also dug up a mystery bush from the side of the house and planted it between the two golden privets. I'm not yet sure if that plant is alive. Hopefully soon it will bud and then leaf out. I think the mystery bush is a minuet weigela. I planted a red prince weigela next to the garage wall. It is very small and looks dead. It was another 50 cent bush from Meijer. I still have hope that it made it. You can sort of see the line of daffodils and tulips that are at the front next to the sidewalk. After planting them in a line I read that usually tulips and daffodils look better planted in small groups instead of rows. Oh well, I am still thrilled that they came up and that some are blooming. Next time I add bulbs I'll make groups. In front of the tulips and daffodils are 6 mum plants that bloomed very well in the fall. I cut them down to the ground. Not sure if you're supposed to do that. I hope they'll come back and bloom again this fall. In all of the space between the bulbs and the bushes I have planted starts from Teresa's garden. I have black eyed susans, purple coneflowers, shasta daisies, and balloon flowers planted. I just put them in various spots around the bed. Kristina and Marissa helped me plant them. Also, whenever I am outside in the gardens Eric is always there helping too. He loves to be outside. I stuck in a little plant of coreopsis and pincushion flower too. Only one of each so I don't know if they'll even be noticable. I can't wait to see all of the beautiful flowers. I sure hope it turns out as beautiful as I picture it in my head.