A Walk Around the Yard

Let's take a walk around the yard and enjoy the beauty that is June.  We can start with the garden by the door, now blooming with many white flowers, including a Mexican geranium and some salvia.  

If we walk counterclockwise and out into the street we get a good view of the north side with its long perennial bed and backdrop of large dogwood shrubs.  

During the twelve years this house was rented out the gardens were sorely neglected and we've spent the seven years that we've lived here uncovering them and figuring out what we have.  It was only a couple of years ago that we found two really lovely roses in the back of the bed and last year I found a pretty plant that I think is a foxglove.  But I think we've found everything now!

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Near the driveway is a big rose bush that we inherited from our friend Paula's mother a couple of years ago.  We had a few blooms last year, but look at it now!  All that rain we got in May really gave the rose, peonies, poppies, and iris a boost.  That crimson flower in the front is a peony, also from Paula's mom.  

On the other side of the driveway are other roses, most of which we planted since we moved here.

And past that is a lawn and then the shed which is sorely in need of repairs which are scheduled for sometime soon.  A carpenter is going to fix various problems with the framing and then reside it to match the house.  Should look great, yes?  The garden to the street side of the shed is an overgrown mess and the irrigation there isn't working anymore, so that will be something to tackle after the shed work is done.  It'll be tricky since we don't want to fix the irrigation problem.  For the moment, I'm just glad it's green, since without water it will soon be brown and crispy again. 

To the right of the shed is a nice bed with some ornamental grasses, a couple of day lilies and a lovely delphinium.   Then we go through the gate and into the backyard which contains two raised beds where we're growing some veggies and some annuals.  Ben had the good idea to replace the old beat up railroad ties with stone, which turned out very well.   Oops, looks like I need to stake the delphiniums!

Here's a view of the stone raised beds which replaced the old wooden ones. 

Those tall white things are stakes to hold up the six dahlias when they get big.  Right now they are only inches tall, but just wait.  They'll be two to four feet tall in another month or two. 

And here you can see the backyard itself which is Turbo's domain.  All those white round things in the grass are Turbo's balls.  

Bit by bit we're giving attention to the plants around the sides of the backyard. About half of the green stuff you see are "junk trees" and shrubs, but last year we did plant a clematis and a Nine Bark shrub which are both doing great this season, and for the first time the two rose climbing rose bushes are blooming; yippee!  You can see one here. 

As we come around the back we approach the patio which covers the space between our house and our next door neighbor.  This photo is taken looking towards the backyard.  We have several nice bushes and plants that the landscape company planted.  Much to my surprise they all are thriving.   

And we have added several pots, some with flowers and some with herbs. 

The little pots on the wall are holding mint.  Gotta have mint!

Well, as you can tell we have plenty of garden to keep us busy.  And you might think that it takes us a lot of time to keep it looking ship shape, but really it doesn't, even without hiring any help.   

Ben manages the grass, including growing and cutting it.  He's also ready to do any digging needed to put in new plants and any whacking needed to get rid of dead ones.  And he is a great pruner. 

I'm the procurer of all small plants and we team up when it's time to buy big or expensive ones.  I do most of the planning and I do the unsung but vital job of keeping the grass dog-waste free.  

We've learned over the years not to grow things where you can't see them easily or can't water them easily, and those lessons have saved us a lot of time and disappointment.  

But most importantly, we stop gardening when it "feels too much like work,"  knocking off for the day before we are too tired out.  When it stops being fun we put the tools away, get cleaned up, and take a break.  After all, you have to stop and smell the roses!