Getting there

I've been working like a dog on the front yard - this stuff had better grow back next year! I still have a few more things to plant, and some planters to throw stuff in, but overall it's actually starting to look like I had a plan! Not that I did, mind you... I was a but intimidated by the idea of an entire garden plan, so I've been doing little "vignettes" or just planting an area at a time instead of

The coral bells are in, replanted most of the hosta I dug out, threw various coleus around, and put in some astilbes that are supposed to be more tolerant of dry/sun with a few forgetmenots to fill in the spots between. I found some yellow columbine that were on sale, so I put 4 of them in, too. I ordered some half-price perennials from Bluestone, so am waiting for them. I ordered some more columbine - really cute blue and white, and pink and white. Also some pink pincushion flowers (scabiosa - what an awful name!) to stick in the bed beside the driveway. This bed just has some weeds, a few hostas and some scilla that are done on one side, and a lot of iris and tulip that don't really bloom much - I think they need to be thinned out. I've also used various impatiens, and some begonias, etc. I've gone through 15 bags of soil, which will hopefully help keep the plants happy.

Once it's all planted I'll have to start figuring out maintenance, I suppose. My idea is that putting all this work in this year means less in the next few years. (I suppose real gardeners reading this are laughing right now!) If most of the perennials come back, I can then add more stuff if I need to, and throw annuals around. I'm even thinking of growing the coleus from cutting so I don't have to buy so many. I'm not sure where I'd put them in the house, though - the cats might think they were a tasty snack.

I rehung our birdfeeder in the back yard - we had been hanging it off the deck last year. It was a lot of fun watching the birds, and fun watching the cats watch the birds. We gave up on it, though, because a 700 pound raccoon decided that it was a great place to have a snack. He'd just knock it off the deck, and amble down the stairs to have his munchies. I hope I've outsmarted him - we'll see if the squirrel/raccoon repellant spray works! If not, I'll have to be even sneakier.