jizutsu's Blog

Plant Recon
Feb 19, 2011 | 3:13 PM PST
Tags: perennials , weeding , iris , rose bush , primrose , kids , yard care , irrigation system , silver dollar plant , tea rose , dogwood , lilac

So I'm still on a mission to find some perennials for my yard (and my friend's, now) so we went over to her friend's house since he has a massive house with a huge yard that hasn't seen a spade, lawnmower, or garden tool of any kind for many many moons now. . .I told him we were going to hunt for some perennials for me to take home. My friend grabbed her kids, and I grabbed the tools and off we went on our plant finding mission.

I had never really walked the yard there (it's too overgrown and we always stayed in the house), so it was really kind of interesting to be in the yard during daylight hours. I found a few irises, a couple of rose bushes and some primroses on our first run through (and those were just in the front bed by his walkway). I really wish I had my camera that day. . .

So my friend supervised the kids as they raked the leaves in the yard and I went to town on digging out the garden bed in the front. It looks to be about 3' deep and around 15-20' long. My goal was to dig up that whole bed and redistribute the plants in that bed and take whatever is left over. I was a little too ambitious. I got about 8' into the bed, but while I was digging, I found an irrigation system (I almost wonder if we're going to find a dead gardener in our attempt to clear his yard). I think if we replace a couple of the pipes, the system could be used, which would be awesome so all our hardwork doesn't wither away and die. . .we'll see though.

The kids had a great time raking all the leaves, too (weird, huh?). They got to have a little outside science lesson and went on missions for "new" plant and "bug" species (and actually found a cute little seedling that kind of resembles Seymour's plant from the Little Shop of Horrors), and even found a frog! And the 2 year old wanted to help me plant flowers. I'm gonna make them all gardeners if it's the last thing I do!

As we were all out in the yard working (which apparently is not something that happens often there), this charming older (than me) lady pulled her car into the drive. . .I thought it was weird since neither my friend or I recognized the vehicle and come to find out, she used to live in the hosue we were working on in the 80's and SHE is the one who planted all the cool plants that I was on the mission for in the first place! So she walked me around the yard, pointing out the locations of all the plants she planted and I'm super excited to go back! There's a pretty little Lilac tree back there, a few Silver Dollar plants, some more bulbs that I like, a tea rose bush (that I still need to find) a Dogwood (that may be a little too big for me to take home), and some pretty little perennial flowers she described.

We uncovered some stone in front of his porch, and I suspect that it goes out to his driveway in between these huge flowering bushes. . .we'll totally see next time I go over and take care of some yardwork (after the snow stops). . .I can't wait to see what else is there! And I'll definitely be bringing my camera (who knows what else we'll find?). . .