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plans in my head

Category: a new year | Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:05 am

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this is the time of year i start all of my "grand" plans. whether they work out or not has yet to be seen. one thing i know for sure i must do....i have a bunch of hostas on the side of my house....i'm not very fond of them....i promised my mother in law she could have them...she has a great spot along the side of her house.....so i've got to prep her area and then dig them up and move them. i figure a couple of days worth of work....my next door neighbor who is a very old family friend of my in-laws has lily of the valley that needs thinning out, again...did that about 5 yrs ago....i would much rather have that on the side of my house..won't cover the side walk like the hostas do. plus i have a couple of volunteer purple coneflowers i discovered last year...i'll give one to my mother in law and one to my sister in law who lives two houses down..........the other is to make a new bed with a path through it near the back fence (that was last years plan, but other things happened)....this time of year the sunshine is such a tease! next big milestone...st. patrick's day & the ides(?) of march.

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brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Category: a new year | Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 11:56 pm

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boy, is it cold today......i think the high today was only 6....that is cold even for wny......but....the days are getting longer, groundhog day is only a week or so away, & six weeks later, well you know the rest.....am getting my seed & flower catalogs and that only makes me wish for spring......everything is buried under the snow, including my xmas tree.....if there is a nice quiet day and not too cold....will have something to burn in the pit....(lots of dry wood in the shed to get it started)...already thinking about what i'll be doing as soon as i can get a shovel in the ground......

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hot, hot, hot!!!!!!!!

Category: stuff in bloom | Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:49 am

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very hot couple of weeks.....all i'm doing is watering.....put a bunch of stuff in front..fern leaf bleeding heart; masterwort; cinnamon fern..plus a bunch of soapwort & a few annuals & seeds....which is good; though i think i will have to move the 3 lily plants to the other corner.....(in the spring). but i am happy with the progress....also threw some sedum in a very bare spot in the front....it will look very cool if it takes. i wish i could get rid of all the grass in the front.....eventually i will...lol. moved some sea holly which had been taking over a small section in front of the fire pit (my fault)...moved about a dozen plants....put them out of the way near the back fence...and they promptly wilted & looked near dead....still, watered them anyway, then had some good rain, and low & behold...they are now growing like no tomorrow and a couple have got blooms on them again!..cana's are doing great...water, water, water......quite a different year....but then again, i never know what to expect....the garden usually tells me what to do!

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birth of a garden

Category: memories | Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:23 pm

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when i moved in with my late husband 10 or so years ago, the back yard was nice...huge lilac bush in the corner, a rusting radio flyer in the middle of the yard, and a shed (maybe 8' x 8') along side the fence. He had it decked out with a wood burner, windows, benches & a small tv so he could watch sports all year (mostly in the winter). his family & friends (mostly family) would join him, they would cook out & watch football & hockey. (first wife didn't like people in the house too much, so he fixed it so he could do what he wanted...the shed which was dubbed the chalet)
so, here i come.. i never minded company, and the use for the shed became less & less. i took one area on the side and started a flower garden...it was very small, but satisfied my need to get my hands dirty. (the shed had become a storage area for junk & was hardly used for anything but garbage)
one windy winter night...he wakes me up about 3 am & tells me..."you've got to check this out". looking out the back door...there is the shed....over in the next two yards, in pieces!! by daylight, we got to see exactly what took place...what a mess! so...after insurance claims, etc....it was cleaned up, and all that was left were railroad ties where the chalet had been anchored. ok...what to do now?..do you want another shed? or a big beautiful garden? i would have been ok if he had put in another shed, but it really was no longer needed..so, had a few people move things around, filled it with dirt, and proceeded on a journey that is still going.
the only thing that was saved from the shed was the wood burner, and it sits in the corner of the garden.
the lilac bush was destroyed by an ice storm, and is just a shadow of it's former size, the radio flyer now is half sunk into the ground, and now is home to my daisies.

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plans & wishes.....

Category: a new year | Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:01 pm

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beautiful day today....the sunshine gets your mind thinking about what you want to do this spring & summer....i'm getting anxious about new plants i started last spring & summer.....will they have made it through the winter? i bought a shrub last spring...wine & roses weigelia....it sits in the corner of my back yard by the fence, and will be the backdrop of the new flower bed i was supposed to do last year....it's going to be beautiful (the shrub...i'm still pondering the outline of the bed).
this spring is going to be a divide & replant spring...lots of things to move..got waylaid last spring & had to put everything in the ground in a temporary spot just to save them...they all grew very well all summer & are now covered in snow, resting well, i hope. yarrow, & some bleeding heart & astriana. i love the foliage on the yarrow...and some shasta daisies in the wagon that sits in the middle of the yard....(that is a whole other subject - the wagon- & maybe will write about that later).

can't wait for it all to unfold!

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updates for my yard

Category: a new year | Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:52 pm

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i know i haven't posted/blogged in a while....much work to do.....am putting in 2 new beds this year,(pretty soon i won't have much grass to cut at all!! yeah!!)...have put my sunflower seeds in last week, and just have a few annuals to pop in....my biggest project today, is to put in a shrub, wine and roses wiegelia. its going to be beautiful, and will take up an entire corner of the yard. if it's nice tonight will have a fire in the pit, and i think i'll dig out the tiki torches too......i love the spring.


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the sunshine is returning!!!

Category: a new year | Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:28 pm

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i am very glad to be seeing more sunshine! everything is starting to wake up and the big piles of snow are slowly dwindling. the dogs are happy too because that means momma will be outside playing in the dirt and they will be out too!!! right now, though they seem to want to be in and out about 50 times a day (exageration), and if it's not too cold and windy (that still has a bite to it sometimes) i'll leave the back door open and they can sit on the back porch if they behave. Being retrievers, they bark at anything unfamiliar, which is good in a way, but it gets old sometimes....lol.

was walking into the yard the other day, and looked into my sleeping garden, and was thrilled to see that at least one of the peony plants my dearest friend had given me survived the winter! it was just starting to peek up through the dirt.
i figure a couple more weeks (of course, everything depends on mother nature) i'll be able to start cleaning everything up and getting ready for the new outside season...i've already had my brother man the grill at a cook-out!

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anxious annie

Category: a new year | Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:17 pm

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here we are, two months into the new year, and i can't wait for the winter to disappear!.....have ordered some nice flowers for my new front garden, (i am running out of room in the back yard) and it is a spot which get no direct sun..not quite sure how i'm going to do it, but with plants on the way, (probably arrive in april) i must make up my mind!
I had bought some bulbs in the fall, and neglected to put them in right away, so i actually got them in around the first of the year (i could still dig in the ground), just in time, too....after that, the weather went downhill, and has been cold and frozen ever since.....i know it's early, but i'm always on the look out for the crocus, daffodils, and muscari to be peeking their tips out of the ground.....
I also bought some canas for my backyard....had them a few years ago, and they didn't over winter well, and i wasn't able to revive them....i'll give them one more shot.....

hopefully...third time is a charm for this blog entry...lol

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a gift

Category: memories | Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:25 pm

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I have known my friend for all but six years of my life. We grew up on the same street, and were the only daughters in families filled with boys. We were sisters, even if our last names and mothers were different.
Through the years, we have managed to stay in touch, though, when we became adults, we were living on opposite sides of the country.
This spring she needed to return to the area to be with her mom, whom was in failing health and needed constant care for her ending days.
For a few days every now and then, she could arrange to take a break and she would visit me for a day or two. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding these visits, I enjoyed her company and was happy she could feel she was home and relax for a while.
The last days of June brought an end to her journey and she spent almost a week with me before returning home.
We spent time in the back yard talking about our houses, pets, gardens, and families, also what it was like caring for someone getting ready to go the to their next life.
The last time my friend had visited, she had requested seeds from the rose of sharon buses in the yard. Being the slow mover I am, I still hadn't gotten to them almost 2 years later. This time, I spotted two seedlings in my back flower garden, and potted them. I also put in a couple of foxglove and few sprigs of sedum.
I helped her pack her truck, put the pot with the seedlings in the back, and off she went. The plants survived almost 2 weeks in the truck, and are now doing well in their new home.
I feel we both received gifts.



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in full swing..

Category: stuff in bloom | Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:45 am

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lets, see....bachelor buttons, cosmos...the cleome is absolutely beautiful this year! zinnias and dahlias are nice.. sweet peas are already fading, and so has some of the monarda. the penstemon was nice, (i think i'm going to move it). the purple coneflower loves it's new spot...right up front where eveyone can see it when they come in the back yard gate. the nasturtiums are lovely, and i'm going to let the seeds fall and see what happens. and of course the portulaca comes back every year, though they are sometimes slow to show up. i'll have to thin the liatris come next spring....the rose of sharon is going like crazy (those are not mine, but my aunts(we share our back yards...that way i don't have to have a fence, and living in the city, sometimes you need all the room you can get..and she lets me do what ever i want as far as flowers and stuff...she grows the tomatoes and cukes, so i put up with the mess) (boy am i long winded tonight).. everything is nice to look at, and i'm happy with the work that i accomplished this year.

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