Saturday in the Garden

I finally went today and bought some bedding plants. I did not put in bedding plants last year because it was so incredibly wet here and then when it dried it was too late in the season. I was sorry I didn't because I missed the flowers. Before I am going  to share my pictures I want to say my home is not perfect, I do not have a weed free, everything pristine and perfect yard. There is all sorts of weeds everywhere, and the paint on the house is peeling, the veranda floor needs painting and when I am being kind I call it shabby chic instead of just shabby but its home, its the homestead and its mine. I love it and like me its a work in progress.

So here we go: I planted a zillion marigolds today. I have narrow flower beds that run down each side of my sidewalk and across the front of the fence. In them I like to have marigolds. I put a potentilla bush at the corners on either side of the gate. On the one side is just lawn and on the other are two miniature lilac bushes, the sundial, another potentilla bush that I thought was dead but its not, (YAHOO!!)

This is the great disappointment of my yard, I killed this poor little variegated dogwood. I was trying to kill weeds but as you can see in the picture, the weeds are thriving, the bush is dead, dead, dead. I planted the two hostas this year. I think I will do more out there. I love hostas.

Next weekend I will dig this poor dead thing out and hopefully those weeds as well and I will replace it with a new bush. Begonias will form a semi circle in front of it. Poor dead dogwood. It was the only green living thing in the yard when I bought the house and I had to go and kill it.

I love this little piggy wash tub. I have a fondness for pigs, yes I do, I know no one knows that but I do. I know you can barely see her snout under the flowers but she is there. I usually plant pansies in this tub but this year I had a brain wave. I bought two cheap hanging baskets and plopped one in this wash tub. I love the result. Beautiful blooms with little effort on my part.

I have put my fancy plant pots on this little plant stand, along with my mozaic bird house. I have impatients plants to fill the pots with but I need to get some proper potting soil. That is on my list for this week.

I also love this little bird house bench. It needs a plant I think to dress up the tool box and watering can don't you think?? I am thinking that I could maybe put the snow shovel away now.

Here is the other hanging basket. I plopped it in this planter chair. Again, lots of blooming bang with little effort on my part. The bird bath needs a cleaning. Poor birds, they need clean water to bath in. I will add this to my list of things to do. I firmly believe that any yard that is mine needs a gnome, a bird bath and at least one or two pink flamingos.  I am working on getting ferns to grow by the fence behind the bench. Three have taken hold so far. At the far end of the bench is a crock. I plant petunias in there, but they too need fresh dirt before they get planted.

My garden bench needs to be painted badly. It was thrown in between the shed and the fence when I first moved here. I dragged it out and I love it., its long and sturdy but its getting very weathered. Hopefully over the course of the summer I will get it scrapped down and painted.

I still have lots to do, I want to hang the mozaic stars and moon on the shed, paint the shed. I have plant pots to fill with lovely flowers, I have a patio pad to make, just a little place where the barbecue can sit with out sinking into the ground and a chair for me to sit in. I need to paint the bench, dig out the bush. Fill in the back flower bed with perennials. Hang the bird house. Put stones in the tiny little annoying space at the back step between my house and the fence. (Cannot get the mower in there and its a weed festival). So the work in progress continues on. There will be more pictures as the projects continue but for now I am happy with my progress, sore from abusing my poor knees and content to sit on the veranda with a cold drink and enjoy the beauty of the day.

Toodles
Linda