Sunday, June 29, 2014

4th of july??? already????

Just not sure how that happened!
This week, the day lilies continued to come out to play. It's a shame they only last for one day, they're so beautiful.......

 
I'll definitely be on the lookout for more daylilies for next year.
 
The clearance rack was kind of a bust.....things are winding down in nursery-land. When it starts to get hot here, it's too much work to keep things alive. (hot=80 degrees or more).
I did find a nice cape fuschia, a white lupine, a couple of hostas for a buck fifty, and a Japanese painted fern.
 
We also made a little field trip yesterday over to Vashon island. I'd never been there before, and it was a short ferry ride over. There was a nursery there that was going out of business, and I can see why. I thought it would be cool and they'd have some great plants. It turned out to be a hoarder's site, and the plants were pretty beat up. I did score a couple of pacific coast iris, and some black currants, but, honestly, they should have just hauled up a dumpster.
 
The trip was not completely wasted, though, because we were able to stop a a great nursery called DIG. They had some really cool sculptures, and some more cool plants. I came home with an Echinacea, and a kaffir lilly that will be great additions. Another stop, another nursery, another Echinacea. This one with a huge pink flower, called bubble gum. It'll be a great addition.
 
Next week......not sure what the holiday will bring.......
 
I'll leave you with this.....
the back a year ago
and today.......coming right along.


 

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The garden is rockin'

This week, tons of things started to bloom. The peonies are pretty much done (they're SO short lived), but the lilies and day lilies are making up for it.



 
There may be some poppies too.....

 
all in all, as someone recently said...."it looks like a monet painting". That was kind of the plan.
 
The clearance rack was rocking too.....two white peonies, a red clematis, a couple of hostas, a white ground cover, and some other things I've forgotten.
 
The garden is going crazy too. I'm up to my eyeballs in raspberries and peas, the apples are doing great, the carrots are growing, the onions are huge and the lettuce needs to be picked. Salad anyone?
 
Next week.....there's a nursery on Vashon Island that's going out of business and everything is half price. How can you NOT go check that out? A full report next week.
 
Off to water.
 

Sunday, June 8, 2014

lots of work, and a peony score

this week, it was all about the yard work.....
weeding, watering, watering, weeding......
the poppies are blooming....
along with many other things, and the clearance rack is loaded.....

This week from the clearance rack.....2 pink perennial geraniums, one white hydrangea, a couple of  bare root peonies, a nice yellow sedum, some wooly thyme, and the best score.....4 huge peonies from the fred meyer rack.

 
all done and planted, except the big ones. I'm still deciding where they should go.
 
Next week, more of the same, watering, weeding and shopping. What more could you want?

Sunday, June 1, 2014

we got a LOT done.....

This week was a bit of vacation of sorts. We got a LOT done on the remaining list 'o things to do.

We started with a slate patio and firepit......
That there's a ton of stone, moved 3 times, don't cha know.....

After the patio was finished, we had a few stones left over, so we made a path.
 
I think that section there would look really cute with a little pond, some nice waterlilies, maybe a bit of a fountain......
 
The next major project was to stain the deck.
before......
 
after....
furniture all in place and ready for summer.
 
That's pretty much all the big stuff on the list....we also fixed the deck step that was built with a piece of plywood that had our name written on the side of it in felt pen. (idiots), got the back fountain running again, put up some flags to keep the deer out of the garden, and spent a great day taking a tour of a really cool specialty nursery, far reaches farm.
 
Of course, some plants had to come home with me......a lemon yellow poker plant, an angels fishing rod, a white giant pincushion flower for the moon garden, a cool crocrosmia called "goldfinch", and a corydalis that you just can't find anywhere else.
 
The clearance rack offerings were kind of slim this week, probably because of the holiday. I did get a couple of things, and they're already in the ground and happy in their new home.
 
Up next......cleaning and waterproofing the bird baths, painting the pump house, some new solar rope lights for the patio, finishing the trim on the shop....see, it's all small stuff now....oh,, and CONSTANTLY weeding and searching for more plants.
 
p.s. some of the peonies are blooming.....

 
and the poppies too......

 
 
hard to believe a year ago, it looked like this.....