May 31,2010: Back Garden and Deck

I planted several pots to keep on the deck. I already had the two geraniums saved from last year, and the (barely surviving) dragon leaf begonia. I planted the rest yesterday. The selection at Home Depot was not great, and I didn't have time to go out to a nice greenhouse, so I made do. I planted 3 veggies - a cherry tomato, a green pepper, and a cucumber plant (with the cage) to see how they would do in pots. I also planted two pots with a variety of flowers - each has a spike (on red, one green), a sweet potato vine (one red, one green), a few yellow/orange marigolds, and a few pink petunias. The red spike was also saved from last year. I wanted to have some wave petunias or bacopa too, but they were not available. I planted one window box with new guinea impatients, and one with the leftover petunias and marigolds.

I also added a few petunias to the back garden (surrounding the new Japanese maple). This area is visible from the deck and the dining room windows. I chose bright colors so they would show up.

May 31, 2010: Front Garden After Two Weeks

After two weeks, I can start to tell that everything is filling out. The rhodadendron has a lot of new growth, and all the annuals are getting bigger.

View from driveway:

The hosta on the corner (Paul's Glory) has buds and is getting ready to flower:

The Japanese irises had two blooms this week. They are a little past now:

The ligularia seem to like the (very shady) spot we chose - it is sprouting new leaves. This area seems to avoid both the morning sun that comes from the front, and the late afternoon sun that comes from the back.
The first two caladiums are peaking through the ground. They are white, pink, and green and should be beautiful.

May 16, 2010: After the New Garden is Planted

This project took us about two days to complete. I had about 5 cu ft of dirt (leaf compost) delivered from the borough for the foundation. We put down newspapers over the grass that was there, and then mounded the dirt on top. We also widened the path with paving stones, added a stepping stone path back to the gas meter, mulched around the tree, rearranged the stones around the driveway. The whole project cost about $300 for all the plants/dirt etc. Many of the plants came from Mama's garden.

View from the driveway(you can see the stones around the driveway have been rearranged) :

View from the far corner (we added mulch around the tree to make a border):
View from the porch (here you can see the path with stepping stones):
View of the path (Papa widened it by adding paving stones on both sides):

May 15, 2010: Before the Big Overhaul

View from the driveway:

Veiw from the far corner:
View from the porch:
View of the path:

April 8, 2010: Daffodils in the Spring