Down the garden path

I love my garden path.   The blue star creeper had tried to take it over, but I had Zach spend a day clearing it out and then putting mulch down again.  You can see the edge of the front deck on the right hand side, and in the background is one of the hosta's in the west garden.  Slowly I am adding in more color to replace the big shrubs that I pulled out.  A work in progress - always.

Color Splash

It rained all day yesterday and some of today, so I didn't get out in the garden this week to work.  I ran out today between showers to take a picture of the new roses.  This is the largest of the 3 roses that I have, and is up against the house.  




The next one is a shot of a bouquet of flowers that a client gave me on the anniversary of our one year working together.  She surprised me with these!  I love the sunflowers, which I tried growing once but we just don't get enough hot sun to do it.  

Mushroom Face

I was walking Max the other day and found this guy staring at me!  I thought that someone had stuck a mask on the log, but no it's a mushroom.   I went back yesterday with Max and my camera to take some shots.

Max & Flax

Here's one of my favorite shots of Max, doing what he does best.  Surveying his kingdom.  There is a  dip in the ground where he is and he loves to curl up there and watch me as I work in the garden.  The flax in the pot needs to be replanted, but I can't get it out of the pot without breaking it.  So it will stay there until it explodes out of the pot!

Potholes

Lots of excitement around here yesterday.  We finally got the pot holes filled!

First Rose

I have 3 rose bushes.  2 are on the deck in pots and the 3rd one is right next to the house.  I have to be very diligent in spraying them with deer repellent as they are quite irresistible -  Even the ones on the deck.  Here's the first bloom!

Here's another shot of my number one helper - my beautiful Maxwell Smart!

Doc's Twin

I have a huge rhoddie in the back row of the west garden.  It is the same type as Doc, only larger.  It gets about the same amount of sun, but is in the loamy acid soil, whereas the soil where Doc is was hard clay.  They both seem to love their locations, because they get more gorgeous every year.  Here's some shots of the twin rhoddie.  In front of it, is a hydrangea and a japanese maple.  On either side of it are camellias.

Helpers

Spent 3 hours in the garden this morning.  Needed to move a couple of maple trees, and plant a rose of sharon.  Then of course weeding and some pruning.    Since it is supposed to be nice for a couple of weeks, I sprayed everything with deer repellent.   Plan on going back out this afternoon for a few more hours of work.  I'm not out in the garden by myself.  I have helpers.

Max is my number 1 helper - he chases snakes, eats grass and will lick the dirt off my face.  What he does best is sit in the shade and supervise me.    Ray will get out and mow the lawn.
Here's some shots of my helpers.

Dirt piles courtesy of the vole/mole

Then there's the vole. or mole.  He digs up dirt for me.  Leaves big piles of dirt everywhere.  I go around and scoop it up for my dirt pile.  I don't even have to ask him to do this....he volunteers!

Hosta Hosta, who's gotta Hosta

I had never even seen a Hosta before planting them in the west garden.  I remember buying one at the nursery and thought it was the strangest looking plant I had ever seen.  It was 4 or 5 ugly looking things sticking out of the dirt.  Boy do they ever turn into a beautiful swan!  They are one of the few plants that have thrived in this acid loamy soil.  I do spray them alot with deer repellent, and have so far been lucky with that.  Snails, however love them, so I'm using alot of sluggo this year.  I'll take more pictures when they bloom in late summer to show off their flowers.

Doc in all his glory

I wanted to take a few more pictures of Doc since he's fully in bloom now.  The blooms are huge and just gorgeous.  Here's a few more shots to enjoy.  

Post Border

Here's the west garden with the border installed.  Yes, I know the grass needs to be mowed, but that is not my department! I really like how it turned out.

Pre Border

Our kitchen window overlooks what we refer to as the "west garden".  It is very loamy soil and was covered with grass and blackberry vines when we moved in 7 years ago.  I spent weeks clearing it by hand; ripping out the blackberries and pulling the grasses out.  Every year the grass grows back and tries to reclaim it.  So I hired a very able helper, Zach, to clear it out for me.  Then I added some steer manure and topsoil to it and dug a trench around it to put in a brick border.  That'll keep the grass from trying anything!

Here's the garden before installing the border.

Big Rhoddie

I have 3 rhoddies along our driveway on the east side of the house.  They are Sleepy, Grumpy and Doc. Sleepy always blooms first and is a gorgeous red.  Then Grumpy starts, and finally Doc.  These guys are both pink, but Doc has huge pink and white flowers.  Here's a shot of them.