Saturday, April 17, 2010

Sunny Saturday Morning Yard Walk

It was too chilly to garden this morning, but while waiting for our grandson to come over, I looked out and saw a couple robins I decided I'd like a photo of for Camera Critters, hosted by Misty Dawn.  (The CC link goes to the list of participants, the other to Misty Dawn's post for today.)  After I got a few critter pics, I came back for a warmer jacket and Heidi to enjoy the beautiful morning.  I know the best quality photos are not taken in the sun, but I was too high on spring to care.

I will start with the critters.

The robins stopped fluffing things up looking for food when they saw me with the camera.



I heard a bird singing loudly, and it turned out to be a male cardinal.



I saw this broken egg on our deck, but did not see a nest near by.  Do you know what kind of bird's egg it was?  You can see the yoke in it.  How sad.


Our grandson woke up at this point, so I am back in the evening to finish the post.  I got some plants put in and took a few photos just before dusk, so I'll include a few of those, too.

I started this morning, in front of the house.  There are coral bells, hellebores and other plants in there.  In the ground are my mother-in-law's peonies and lily of the valley, lamium, lambs ears, painter's pallet, etc. This is on the south side of the house, with shade from the big tree in the yard.


My father-in-law built this raised bed around the tree.  I think I've mentioned this maple tree was transplanted as a young tree from a neighbor's yard, by FIL and my husband when he was a boy.  I have learned you aren't supposed to do that, but now that it's done, we need to get around to replacing the boards.




Here's another view of the newly planted bed after having had the street resurfaced last summer.


This is the area next to it that I'm in the process of reworking now that it's connected to the new bed.



Across the sidewalk, to the east:


Even more to the east, and Heidi is in the mood to run!



Here are photos of the area this evening after planting more perennial geraniums by the curb and 4 butterfly milkweed plants, 2 yellow, and 2 orange.







Back to this morning, this bed is on its 4th season.  I originally planning on mostly having annuals in here, but I seem to be planting more and more perennials.  I did plant some stocks and snapdragons this evening, but didn't include photos of those.





This is the east side of the house, facing north.


Facing south:


Walking to the north, still facing south:




We've made past the house, back yard, and shed. The driveway is just to the north of this area.  I continued to face south so my shadow wouldn't be in the photos.



This photo shows the iris/daylily with a few other things thrown in flower bed by the curb, in front of another bed, which is in front of the vegetable garden.  It also shows the driveway and the area we just came from on the other side of the garbage cans.





I walked to the end of the driveway, and took this photo of where I garden across the street, just as Grandson was arriving.



He's such a sweetie, and woke up with a smile when he realized where he was.


I forgot to take photos in the back yard.  Heidi has been up to some digging, and I thought the stakes, pots, and such that I put around were stopping her, but this evening, I saw she had knocked some things aside and dug up an area that I was about to replant coneflowers in to replace the ones she dug out last year.  She can't dig in the main part of the graveled yard because there is landscape fabric under the gravel.  So, she gets into the areas I've planted in.  The roots of the plant next to where she dug are exposed.  I'll have to work on the area tomorrow.

I hope to see photos from your yard/property walks, too.

18 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the walk! I like seeing the long shots to give me perspective of the layout.

    Looks like everything is all set to burst into bloom when warmer weather hits.

    Your grandson is a sweetie. There is nothing more precious than watching them asleep. We don't have any small ones now. Our youngest is 9.

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  2. Wonderful! I can't wait to see the photos of everything in bloom, I know it will be glorious!

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  3. You have so many gardens! Thanks for taking us along on your morning walk.

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  4. Things are filling in well, and you are ahead of the weeds. Grandson is growing and such a cutie!

    It is the nature of dogs to dig. Mine is more like a backhoe and piles of bricks and broken pots are just a minor challenge to her determination.

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  5. Everything is looking great! Have you finished the kitchen?

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  6. Isn't spring an exciting time when everything comes back to life in the garden? I'm sure your neighbors enjoy the views all of all your flowers, I know mine comment on that all the time.

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  7. It sure is all filling in and looking great there. It's fun taking walks around to see what new is popping up.

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  8. Sue, You keep adding and adding and everything is looking wonderful. Your neighbors must be very happy to watch your progress! :-) Love that you are a Monarch way-station. I need to check that out!!

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  9. Wonderful walk around your yard. You've been doing a lot of work. Looks great. Grandson is too cute. I know he had fun with you!

    P.S. Checked my Ortho book for problems on asters. It is my go to book. It says it can be either leaf spot or powdery mildew. There is a fungicide available for it but you must know which one exact. Funguses winter over in plant debris and like a close humid environment. If your plants are new and you don't see any evidence of the disease and perhaps you cleaned up last fall then I'd think you'd be safe to give them away. Someone will love them. You might want to warn to watch for signs though.

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  10. Thanks for the tour, Sue! Wow, I can see how busy you must be. I don't think I'd be brave enough to show all my flowerbeds just yet--mine aren't nearly as clean as yours:) The warm weather has certainly helped to get a good start on spring projects, but I seem to run out of energy before completing them all. Hope Heidi stays out of any more planted areas; I'm trying to convince Sophie that the new bed she was digging around in last fall is off limits now that I actually have some plants growing in there.

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  11. Fantastic series of photos. Everything filling in so beautifully. God knows just when to rejuvenate us all !!

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  12. It is so much fun to see your gardens come back to life!

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  13. Hello Susan,

    Oh my goodness, you have been very busy. I cannot wait to see your corner garden in a few weeks!

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  14. It's looking great, Sue, thanks for the tour. Your garden layout has given me some ideas for adding beds in the front garden. Right now, all we have a foundation bed, so we have lots of blank space to work with.

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  15. Sue, you have accomplished so much, already! Your garden looks great! Thanks for the tour.

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  16. Wow..
    the last time I remember seeing yoru garden it was white with snow, and now the whole garden transformed with green & flowers.
    Amazing to see how you manage your garden with diligence and hardwork.

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  17. Thanks for the tour of your garden. :) You have some large planting beds, I can't wait to see how much they grow and fill in over the next couple of months. :)

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