More ideas, more labor

Oh I can tell it's the end of the school year. I'm now waking up at the time I would normally leave for work. Yikes! Just this week and next to go. Teachers never let you know that we probably look forward to the end of school more than students.




I am so excited to have nasturtium blooms. Those are funky little things. I keep getting yellowed, sparce leaves, yet here come blooms. Whatever they're doing, I just hope they keep the orangey-red blooms comming. I can't wait to see if they taste any good! Oh, and don't I love my stellas. I would have NEVER picked these, but they just make me smile. It's funny how something so "plain" can be such a joy in the garden. Actually, all my favorite flowers are things I would have never thought. I guess when you look at bouquets or single stalks/blooms it's different from having a garden full. I love my coneflowers! I don't know if I could survive without them. The anticipation of them is all that got me through winter! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. . . a little?

All of my wintersowing is planted out except a peach hollyhock, a bottle of cardinal flowers and a couple of mystery babies in the peat starter. Although I loved WSing, I'm having a bit of difficulty getting up the gumption to start my annuals. I know it's getting pretty late for starting, but still the motivation is lacking.

Despite this, I've already planned a new part-shade bed. It's going to be fab! It all started with a tree. Every year my husband buys me a tree for our anniversary. This year he bought me a Yaki-something maple. It's the Jap. Maple that has the burgandy fringey leaves and grows kind of bonsai-y. I didn't really have anywhere to place it until, while weed-eating, I got a light bulb. I have a space beside my patio that isn't for anything except hiding junk like an old pond liner we never could get to stay sunk and bags of clippings. Why the people who previously owned this house didn't take the fence out to the end of the house is beyond me, but this has turned out to be a great place for a bed. Ah-ha! This tree, that pond, the sound of trickling water while sitting out on the patio! Mua-ha-ha! So, now I've planned more of the stuff I hate doing: hauling and shoveling soil, loading and unloading those blocks. I guess I haven't had enough punishment yet. I get such a thrill out of discovering these great hidey-holes in what would seem to be a plain 'ole suburban back yard.

Disclaimer: As anyone can tell, I'm not a pro at this formatting stuff yet.