New Bed almost Decided, Our Second Grandchild

I asked Larry today when he was going to decide how much grass he was willing to part with after the stump is ground.  I was thinking about giving up on expanding the area, but he said to go ahead and go for it.  That's how it's worked for most of the planting areas.  He has to warm up to the idea.  Some of the time, he's surprised me, and offered more areas, such as by the curb, where the grass wasn't growing anyway.  He always likes how the flower beds turn out.

This is the one that surprised me the most, as he was more agreeable about giving me the space, and even rented a sod cutter to get the grass off.

I had told him I needed a big area for annuals.  Well, I do have some self sowing annuals in the bed, but I ended up putting a number of perennials in it, too.

 I had Larry walk the area with me today, and I showed him a couple places where the bed could end.  He told me to make it as big as I want.  I told him he better not say that, because I'd take the whole front yard if I had the choice.  Soon, we will be putting a bench and couple of chairs in the area between the sidewalk and the tree stump, where we usually put them.  In the future, we may put in a brick patio.  I'm planning on extending the new bed to the right in the photo, leaving a path between it and the existing bed in front of the house.

The flower bed will come out just a couple feet to the right of the edge of the previous planting area under the tree, and will not go clear to the sidewalk between the beds.

I wasn't sure if I should have the bed come down to the end of the sidewalk that's between the houses, or down to where the other bed ends.  After what Larry said, I think I'll go for the larger space.

I plan to go ahead and take the bed to the sidewalk on the left.  I want to plant Mexican sunflowers for the monarchs, some tall, dark blue or purple lisianthus, some large blooming dahlias, maybe the evening scented stocks I have growing inside, and some other annuals.  I hope to fill the area with bulbs in the fall, so that there will be lots of color in the spring.  Then, I can plant more large annuals that can hide the fading foliage of the bulbs.  I love perennials, but like to have the long bloom time of annuals, as well.  I told Larry we could dump some of the washtubs out, turn them upside down, and then put other tubs on them, so that we wouldn't have as many pots to water.

 Three year old K.J. is now a big brother.  Meet C.E.  He was born Friday.  I need to decide if I'm going to start another blog, or include him in K.J.'s blog.

 K.J. spent Friday and Saturday nights at our house.  We had lots of fun, but he was ready to go home when it was time.  I had just received some Thomas the Train bridges and such I had purchased on ebay, and we had lots of fun, as always.

I love making up different configurations for the tracks almost as much as gardening.
 

K.J. is such a sweetheart.  This weekend, we did a couple yard walks.  I told him the names of flowers, and he repeated them to me.  When they left Sunday, they took our daughter, his Aunt Ashley to the hospital to see Baby Brother.  Trevor and Ashley were talking about the flowers, and weren't sure what some were.  K.J. informed them they were pasque flowers.  How cool is that?  He went on to point out the daffodils and tulips.  Our son said he did that at the garden center today, too, and impressed the lady working there. 

K.J. is branching out and enjoying other activities besides the trains.  He had lots of fun painting with water colors.  He is having some adjusting to do with having a new brother.  He and Dad came over this evening for awhile, so Mom could get some sleep.  He had fallen asleep in the car, and was not happy about being back at our house.  He woke up enough to play for awhile, though.  This evening, we talked using "Face Time", and he was enjoying some time with Mom.

 

Today, as I was on my way to work, a song was going through my head.  Instead of, "It's the real thing, the words were, "It's the real spring."  Things are really growing with all the rain we're getting.  Now, I hope it dries out enough to get that stump ground so I can get to work on the new area.  Plants are available at the nurseries, and this weekend is the "Spring Affair" annual plant sale.  As soon as the soil dries a little, I'll be able to thin the lettuce, spinach, and such to have that first spring salad of the year.  The beets are up, too.

I hope those of you who have experienced the rough weather lately are doing alright, and that spring comes soon to those of you in cooler places.  Well, I hope our warm spring temps return soon, too.