Good Start

I've gotten quite a bit done - my nephew and I moved the blocks around and dug up dirt and grass last week, and my sis in law and I did more on Friday. She loves doing stuff outside so was chopping roots, moving and digging and setting the rocks, etc. She also potted the two hanging baskets for me. No one seems to want me anywhere around axes and power tools, I hear. Hmph. She even warned Brian - not that we used any power tools.

I dug up the hostas around the trees to put them somewhere else. I also dug up some Pink Pewter and White Nancy Lamium and put that around the trees instead. (I"m very impressed with myself for knowing what they are.) I haven't replanted the hostas yet, and still need to plant the coral bells and other things I've gotten, but I did get some of the planters planted. I put marigolds in the front beds, and hope they get enough sun. We plan to trim the fronts of the flowering crabs in front, so maybe the marigolds will get enough light to keep them happy. I love marigolds so hope they do okay there. I did find an astilbe that says it's more tolerant of drought and light, so will put those in too. We've always kind of wanted a bench, so if we find one that we like, I'll put it in, and scatter plants around. I also got some columbine for height, too.

I found some Rieger begonias and put them in some pots - maybe they'll be high enough up the squirrels won't notice them. (good luck with that, I suppose...) I always put coleus in the pots by the house since there isn't much light there. I'm also going to cheat and use fake plants in the basket by the door, since that gets no sun. If someone is close enough to the door to notice they're fake, they're apt to be someone I've invited, so they won't care if they're fake!

I hadn't been to Malmberg's yet, so went there Thursday. Lots of nice stuff there, so I'll add that to my list of places. It's not far from work, which is an added bonus.

I'll have to start doing things left-handed out there - I seem to have given myself "garden elbow" which is the same as "Tennis Elbow" without the tennis. That's what you get for being too enthusiastic. :-)

Here goes

Well - I've gotten a bunch of plants to start planting in my yard. I got several different heuchera because of the neat colored foliage, and may end up getting more, plus impatiens, begonias, and several varieties of coleus. I figured out that I can grow them from cuttings, so hopefully I won't have to buy as many next year. I did make it to the Bloomington Garden Club sale and the Edina garden club sale last week, and went to Chaska Farm and Garden store this afternoon. I left work a little early, so I told my boss it was her fault I spent so much. But, if it turns out well, she gets some of the credit too!

My nephew and sis in law (his mom) are coming over Tuesday to help me move stuff around and plant some, so hopefully it won't rain while we're digging around out there. I have edging stones to move around, and we'll try to add more soil. Hope the hostas that are there won't mind.

The house painting turned out really well. The neighbors like it too, which is good, since they'll have to look at it for quite awhile! It's different from everyone else's, but not obnoxiously so. Anyone that's been to the house before will drive right by, it looks so different. The painters thought the cats were cute - they would try to catch the brush with their paws when the guys were doing the windows.

Brandi suggested that I post before and after pics, (good idea!) so here's the before: The house has been painted, but I haven't planted any of the new stuff. Anything growing is stuff that was there before. (Some of it may be weeds - I have to figure out which is which!)

I want to combine the ring in front with the edging in front of the house to make one big patch. Grass doesn't really grow, so I'll try something else! There are two smaller rings in front of this with the flowering crab trees, but I'll just plant annuals or something in there to go with the lamium I put in the last couple of years.

Plus, I bought two of these and the tags aren't in there, so I don't remember for sure what they are! Aaargh. Any ideas?