Playing In the Dirt

there are not too many things i love to do more than gardening. i love being outside. i love being surrounded by beautiful growing things. i love watching the transformation from bare to lush. i love the feel of working in the dirt. (i hate wearing gloves, so i will never have pretty nails. i had them once... for my wedding. i wanted the traditional hands and rings photo.) i love coming in at night tired and dirty. and i am by no means a workaholic. you should see my house right now. but if it's nice outside, there's where i want to be. 
besides the beds, i've been filling every pot i can find with flowers or herbs. they are a little easier to control and maintain, especially if you have a dry season. 

pots have been filled with pansies....

'penny mickey' violas...
 

cats and kittens (or hens and chicks)....

and 'contessa burgandy bicolor' ivy geraniums.

i planted my three patio urns with spikes, bacopa and 'aloha purple sky' calibrachoa (my new favorite flower). i love how full it is and it grows like crazy. i'm anxious to see how it does throughout the season. 

the hanging basket, which i got for $5 at a yard sale (which i think was actually part of a light fixture), is planted with 'lanai upright purple mosaic' verbena and proven winners 'supertunia bordeaux' petunias.

the large pots at either side of the side door have spike plants, 'vintage mix' stock, 'sophistica antique shades' petunias, 'blush' euphorbia, and 'blackie' sweet potatoe vine.

i bought this galvinized metal carrier(?) at a flea market last year for $3, and had been just using it to hold garden tools, etc.

this spring i decided to plant it with 'dahlinova lisa white' dahlias and 'plum vein' calibrachoa.

i have to tell you a bacopa story. i could never remember whether it was pronounced 'bacopa' or 'bocapa'.  so one year we were at ashcombes, one of my sisters (i think it was jan) said..."you know deb"...(and the rest is sung to barry manilow's song copa cabana)..."at ba-co-pa, co-pa ca-ba-na, the hottest spot north of ha-va-na."   
i still have to sing that song every single time i see that flower, but now i pronounce it correctly.

Getting in Shape

i was afraid i'd have to forgo gardening this spring because of my hip surgery, but the flower beds look better than they ever have. thank you, Lord.
some then and now shots....

 april 5

may 13

i love these pink diascia. they are considered perennials in the south, but not here. however, we had such a mild winter this year that they came up by themselves this spring.

before weeding and cleaning...

and after.

this one has a long way to go, but it's a start.

some of the other beds...

more to come. sorry.

It's All My Fault

i admit it, i did it, i killed my tree. i didn't mean to, but i'm the one that planted the ivy. i'm the one who let it get out of control. i'm the one who didn't stop it soon enough. but it climbed the tree and choked it to death. on april 17th, we put it out of it's misery before we had a tree limb fall on the house or worse, on someone. 

it was already oddly shaped because we had lost a large limb years ago (pre-ivy) in a wind storm. 
 

i kept apologizing to it as i watched the tree guy at work.
 

look out below!!!
 

my husband had a lot of wood to cut up and haul.
 

we made the choice to keep this much of the tree for several reasons. it still provides a good bit of shade and a privacy block from the road. and a big reason for me... it is a huge sanctuary for birds. i'd like to know how many nests and families are in this thing. sometimes the amount of bird sounds coming from it is amazing. 

 it's kind of a large, natural high-rise aviary apartment complex.  :)