I love summer!

It's been another one of those glorious weekends, playing in the dirt.

I did opt to take out the waterfall, so my pond's back to just a small fountain.


I will be working in that area behind the pond over the next couple weekends. My fern (currently clear back in the corner, in front of the gnome - you can barely see it) is doing very nicely ...


... last year, when I first planted it, it only had about 3 fronds on it, so it looked kind of puny. But it's planted in a very difficult place, in fairly poor soil (this was planted before I'd 'gotten' the whole conditioning of the soil thing), so I'm thinking about moving it up, right to the edge of the pond in that empty space where the waterfall base was. I think it would look nice there, hanging over the edge of the pond (and hopefully when it gets big enough, camouflaging the pump cord and maybe even the outlet box). The lilac's in the middle of a three-year serious pruning, in an attempt to get it back to being more compact and shrubby, so that it will bloom better, and the blooms won't be clear up on the top of it, 10 feet in the air. If I succeed, then anything planted directly behind it - like the fern is now - won't be visible in a few years anyway.

I didn't want to get rid of the waterfall components completely, though, so I moved them and did this.




I kinda like this, and I like having a second small water feature in the yard. As a bonus, Greg's kids can play in this one to their heart's content. They are fascinated with my pond, but I always have to disappoint them by telling them they can't play in it. Now they'll have a water fountain all their own. It's final resting place will be a few feet back from where it is now, and then we are going to plant some things around it, too, to give it a more settled, permanent appearance.

Meanwhile, back at the pond - I have that tall evergreen thing on the left-hand side. Its branches were growing all the way to the ground, but I noticed much of the bottom layer was half dead. Not to mention the big dead hole in the side of it where I pulled up one of the round evergreen shrubs which had been growing too close to this one.


While poking around I discovered this had a nice sturdy trunk, and I thought, if I trim off these dead bits on the bottom, it'll just make it look more like a little tree. So I did that, and opened up all this space underneath it - not only hopefully making this shrub / tree healthier, but making more places to plant stuff around it. (and I can decorate it for Christmas this year!)


It's not exactly even, because I didn't want to trim it clear to the top of the dead spot - it would have been too much. Hopefully over time that will fill in, or ... it won't, and I'll just have a lopsided tree.

There's a large oak sapling growing behind it, self-seeded from the other backyard trees. Since it's reached such a decent size I think I'm going to plant it out front. But I'm not ready to transplant it yet (that's a project for another weekend), so it's going to live here until I am.

I got my vines planted - morning glories (which bloom in the morning) and moonflower (which blooms at dusk) intermingled. Lisa was right - the shells on these seeds are so hard that they need something to help them along - cutting or sanding them slightly, or soaking in warm water for several hours, which is the route I chose. But then I didn't get to plant them Saturday, and didn't want to leave them soaking too long, so I placed them between damp paper towels for storage until today. I'd read that was a good thing to do with seeds right before planting anyway. It seems to have worked, some of them have cracked open and have tiny tips poking out, so that's a good sign.


We'll see how they do, direct planted in their new home. I don't think the spot gets nearly enough sun, so they may not do so well ... but that's okay. If not, I'll find something else to plant in that spot next year. It's all a big ongoing experimentation!

I bought a fern for the porch.


This is the hugest potted fern I've ever seen, and it was only $10. I love these airy ferns on the porch in the summer, it makes it look so tropical. When I've had these before, I usually just let them die off in the fall, because they aren't perennial outdoors here (I don't think, anyway) and I have no place inside to let it live for the winter.

I also bought another lined hanging basket, just because I love these types of planters (lined with the coco matting or whatever it is), but when I got it, had nothing to plant in it. Then I found a hanging basket of this calibrachoa - this is the same stuff I planted in the fence basket behind the pond, only that version was purple. I saw these and really liked them, and knew they would look wonderful in my new basket, so ... another planting.


I've invested a lot in annuals this year, which has it's good points and bad points. On the good side, they're relatively inexpensive, bloom profusely till late frost, and quickly fill out empty places, while waiting for my new perennials to take hold and grow. The only down side is that none of them come back the following year, so I have to do this all over again. I think it's a good trade for small areas and hanging baskets. Perennials are nice to fill larger areas, and as accents, but I think (with my limited reading about them, no actual experience) many of them don't have very long bloom times. Although it seems like they are starting to come out with more perennials that bloom for longer during the summer. The Johnson's Blue hardy geraniums I bought are supposed to bloom most of the summer till frost, as are the Alaska Shasta daisies. When choosing my first perennials, I tried to pick ones with longer bloom times, but as I move around the yard filling in different areas, I think I will be branching out further into the art of mixing plants with all different bloom times, to have a varied and changing garden throughout the year.

But I'll probably always use annuals for instant and constant bloom along the borders of beds, and for the porch planters and hanging baskets.

And last but certainly not least, Greg was busy building the third and final phase of the patio.

So there it is, all completed. That last bit is for us to stack our firewood on for the brazier. As far as I know it isn't getting built any larger, because the next big scheme is to put in raised beds from the end of the patio along the side of the garage - Greg wants to plant some vegetables.

My dream is slowly becoming a reality ... to have all but a few tiny patches of my backyard planted and pathway'd and patio'd and landscaped into my own little garden paradise. And when I get done with the backyard, I'll start on the front.

Hmmm ... I think for my next backyard project I'll design the 'knitting garden.' Speaking of which - it's 2:50 p.m., and my plans for the rest of the day consist of a shower, and some knitting.