Category Archives: yard

The wacky weedwhacking woman

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That’s what I did today and I am wacky for doing it considering what I’ve been going through this week. I did it for two hours because it’s pleasant outside and the temps are going up later in the week.

You have to do weedwhacking to get what the trim mower misses. My pond was getting covered with Creeping Charlie, which seems to be taking over this year. I only whacked a few things-some ferns, a spindly lily (which I was going to move-rats) and part of an impatien.

My friend is coming down from NY, so I want to make a good first impression. I’ll try to tidy up inside as much as I can. ; )

Cape May finished!

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Cape May design
Stitched off and on from about Jan/Feb ’06 until May 2007. Cape May by Valentine Stitchery stitched on Ocean Fantasy 28 ct. lugana.  (opps-it’s on a pillow, the top isn’t crooked). Think I’ll get this professionally framed when I find a coupon from Michaels or AC Moore.

Off to the dentist again…soon. I’m feeling eating ‘bad foods’ like donuts and grilled stuff. I should know better not to schedule the dentist after a holiday.
Sean’s car needs a starter and I hope we can pick it up today as I will probably be at the dentist an hour or more.
Update-OUCHIE! It was not a pleasant dental visit (gum scraping hurts). Sean’s car is still at the shop and he has my van. Here’s what I am doing to take my mind off my sore mouth:
5-29-07 collage
White clematis in a pot (where should I plant this?); the orange flower from my window box; apricot nemesia; the first tiny leaves of my new waterlily; one of the first roses of the year; Japanese irises near the pond.

As warm as the 4th of July

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Bri and I worked outside today and Sean worked in Big Lots. He was scheduled for 3 days in a row and the boss even tried to snag him for tomorrow, but he put his foot down. He has a new Dell laptop to play with and hasn’t had that much time to look at it (no internet yet).

Bri planted tomatoes and green peppers while I planted zinnias, cosmos, daisies, Mexican sunflowers and an assortment of seeds that came in a package between paper (you just lay them on the soil and throw a 1/2″ of dirt over them). They were poppies, zinnias and a few others. By the time I was done, I had two very rosy cheeks and was dripping in perspiration. I cooled off and mulched Sean’s garden so he could just enjoy it and not worry about doing it. Bri cut the entire lawn too.

My gladiolus (planted a few weeks ago) are coming up! Yes! And I see astilbe poking it’s finger-like leaves up near my Sweet William flowers.

I had a ‘Perkins’ dinner tonight-eggs with chives and a little cheddar cheese on top, bacon, fries, biscuits and grapes.

Before I went outside today I worked on 4 Art trading cards. (so G if you are reading my blog stop here). Our pal chose the project-pick an artist, do cards like their artwork. I picked one of my favorites-Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting for all four cards. They were fun to do! For my cross stitch readers-I used some gold cording from my stash for the sky swirls. Two have star shaped brackets. I did use one element from the original painting in each design-a star or the village (for instance). Some of you may recognize the Don McLean lyrics from his song based on this painting. I was sad to read that Vincent had painted this when he was in an insane asylum. 

Famous Artist ATCs

The original Starry Night
We are having rainstorms tonight. We need the rain, but I know that some of my plants were really getting hammered. I am also hoping that I patted the ground down well after I planted the above mentioned seeds.

8 minute post

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(before the dentist)

Finished sewing girl done on linen with 4210 variegated DMC red floss. I’ll probably hang her in the family room along with the redwork piece my mom made for me.

Finished cross stitch

Iris garden (are you tired of looking at them yet? I’m not! See how close the road is?)

Irises

Gnome garden-waiting for the flowers to fill in, but newly mulched.

Gnome garden
Update-Dr. B thought I was biting down on my filling so he sanded off some of the tooth. He said if it continues to bother me it may be a nerve problem-crossing fingers.

The 3 Merry Gardeners

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Actually we are the tired gardeners. We all did our share of yard work. Sean mowed around the house and weeded and planted his garden. He planted some of his annuals too close (I’m surprised at him) and used all the Cleomes and I wanted half of them. I’m stealing some back! Brian did the long part of the yard, some extra trim work that Sean didn’t do and rototilled the veggie patch plus a big circle for me for my flower seeds. I weeded a lot of my lily/grass garden; planted pots; planted impatiens and snapdragons and put down the two bags of mulch I had (I hate mulching, but it’s so worth it). I need about 5 or more bags. I saved the lives of two newborn field mice too. Mama and her brood had a nest in the rototiller! She took off leaving two babies behind. I picked them up with a plastic pot and gingerly put them under a hosta and covered them with part of the nest. About 10-15 minutes later, Mama came back for them.

We got Chinese food for dinner (so Sean would go and get it as he showered before Bri and I did) and it was ok. I’m always weary to eat it.

Tomorrow I’m getting a tooth checked out to see if the filling is cracked. Saturday Sean took me to a hospital fair and the ‘Attic Attack’ was a joke-hardly any donations this year. We ended up grabbing a sandwich and buying a few plants. We went to Kmart and bought Bri a small chain saw as an early Father’s Day gift. We then went to a book store where I haven’t been to since college and it had expanded! I enjoyed their huge magazine aisle and their discounted shelves-I bought two-Angel inspired recipes and Victorians and their flowers. I should review these for you! Maybe tomorrow.

And to answer Barbara’s question in my comments-we have 1.4 acres all on a rectangular piece of land. The house is on one end and I would say my gardens are confined to about 1/4 acre or a little more.

Check out this neat link that my pal Nancy sent me last month. Make it pretty now!

Working hard

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I spent a large part of the afternoon outside. It was around 70 or so and a little breezy, so nice. First I cleaned the chaise that a lady from Freecycle gave us (another freebie). It was really dirty and only spray on bleach and a wire brush would take the mildew and green off. I let it dry and started to spray paint it green but ran out. What a difference though. I also trash picked a perfectly good outdoor side table with a glass top. They were tossing it because it was green (on the underneath mostly) which came off in 10 minutes! Now it’s like new again!

Here are some photos of the fruit of my labor. Sean also edged and planted ‘his’ garden that he’s had for over 1o yrs.

This is one half irises. I just replanted gladiolus I save from last year. My hollyhock was split in 3 and moved to here.

Circle garden

Red azalea

Red azalea with my fairy birdbath in the background

Lily and grasses garden
Where I have most of my lilies and grasses. The grass is taking over and it’s getting thinned out. I have about half of this weeded. We are slowly getting rid of an old grape arbor in the background that is covered with sticky vines-it’s hard work.

Honey iris
An iris that bloomed today-honeycomb(?)

Guess what happened to us about 6:45 tonight? We got locked out of the house! I went to go in to put the camera away and the suction from the screen door pulled shut the big door! Luckily, a window was left open in the back of the house and Sean was able to take out the screen and ‘slither’ into the house (he had to hand me about 5 African violets before he had room to get in). He did get a brush burn from the handle that opens the window and hurt his stomach a little-I don’t think Bri or I could have done what he did. Lesson we learned-hide a set of keys somewhere outside!

Green things

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Here is my garden out front in a semi-circle under our big evergreen tree. This is where I added the Victoria blue salvia and the peach colored salvia. There isn’t too much room for much more with the Columbine (pink/purple), Barrenwort, bulbs such as tulips, narcissus and hyacinths and Bleeding heart. I know I am missing a few, but all these perennials were divided from other areas of the yard. I love the plant in the foreground, it’s really spread. It has the interesting polka dot leaves and blooms that range from pink to blue. The Barrenwort is pretty cool too. It has heart-shaped leaves rimmed with red (almost like the red was stenciled) and it gets little star-like reddish flowers.

Woodland garden

And Sean’s gift-the planter with the fern, begonia and a few other plants.

Planter from Sean

And some planters from Longwood Gardens, sure to inspire us!

Used as center piece on round brick patio

Out front at Longwood Gardens

I have to go round up 5 items for the photo hunt contest tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I’ll be switching out (finally) my winter to summer clothes. What a pain, but I am so sick of wearing the same clothes for the past few weeks.

Today I may plant a few more flowers and I did find my gladiolus  from last year, so I can plant them in the rock hard dirt. We had rain near here last night in Harrisburg, but it was ‘close and no cigar’.

Kiwis and honey bees

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Although I took over 50 photos at Longwood Gardens yesterday, I still wanted to take photos of my own flowers before they faded away. We haven’t had rain for a while and it’s dry as punk outside. So here are my Kiwi Slices irises and a very fast and busy bee heading for the bleeding heart.

Kiwi Slices irises

Busy bee with bleeding heart
I tried to do a little edging with the hoe and I was dripping in perspiration. My house inside desperately needs attention, so I better tackle tidying up some areas.
Sean is taking his 3rd final. So far he has a ‘C’ in Chemistry and an ‘A’ in Social Psychology. He is taking a music final today and a Geology one tomorrow.