leah's Blog

Entry for May 19, 2007
May 19, 2007 | 10:52 PM PST
Tags: mother's day , gift , rugosa rose , lilac , violet , yarrow

One of my patients' mother was having a rough weekend last Friday night, so I put together a little care package of plants from my yard for her and gave it to her, from my patient, for Mother's Day last weekend. I gave her a rugosa rose baby, 3 pots with 3 stems in each of lilac, 3 pots with 2 starts in each of yarrow, 3 pots with 3 starts in each of violets, and 2 pots with 1 start in each of oriental tiger lily. My patient is 11, has a developmental level much younger, and does not speak, but I told her mother that W was upset that she couldn't get up out of the bed and go get something for Mother's Day, so I promised I would take care of it for her. W's house doesn't have a whole lot of ornamental landscaping and I wasn't sure if her mom had much of a green thumb, so I typed up a letter from W to her mother that included how big each thing would get, what to expect from it, and what sort of care it needed. Along with some more personal stuff purporting to be from her daughter, which may seem odd to people who don't work with children like this, but I assure you, they each have very distinct personalities, know exactly who they do and do not like, and express their feelings quite clearly. At times you can even tell how frustrated she gets that she can't actually speak. I've been working with her for about a year or so now and in the very beginning her mother told me how much it meant to her that I talk to her when she's awake, as some of the nurses do their work in silence, thinking because she can't speak back that it's not important to interact with her. It seems the most obvious thing in the world to me. Anyway, she cried and said she was going to frame the letter.

I worked there again this past Friday and the plants haven't made it into the ground yet, but they're looking well, all except the rose is still a bit wilted. I think the plan was to plant them yesterday. I hope they do well.

(I didn't do anything at all in the yard today other than refill the bird feeder, so a story instead.)

Entry for May 18, 2007
May 18, 2007 | 9:52 PM PST
Tags: greenhouse , pergola , moratorium , bamboo windchimes , beans , peas , birds , lilacs , rugosa rose , iris , groundcover , marigold , petunia , pansy , rainy weather , pussy willow

<growl>  I just wrote a whole entry and then when I went to post it the auto time out had logged me out.  What an annoyingly short time period.

There's no way I'm going to remember to update this thing every day, that's becoming clear.

It's been rainy, cooler, and windy this week, so I'm not getting much done out in the yard.  Which is actually just what I needed, because while we were spending all our time outside, the *inside* has been going to pot!  We're having a dozen people over on Sunday afternoon, and I'd've been ashamed to have company with the state of our house earlier this week.  It's looking better now.  :)

I did get some stuff done--I got some of my ornamental pots planted.  The smaller urn already had purple pansies in it, but the dogs have knocked it over half a dozen times, so it needed to be topped off.  And moved!  I did the larger urn in marigolds, purple petunias, and ivy.  And a hanging basket in ivy, nestled in the pussy willow.  I did two window boxes off the side of the back porch, both in marigolds and a silver vining groundcover I forget the name of.  I still have some annuals and ivy left, and a dozen or so ornamental pots.  I just need some potting soil.

My beans and peas are sprouting, I'll put them out in the bed early next week once they're big enough to not be so tempting to the birds.  The irises are blooming.  The lilacs are done for the year.  The rugosa roses are going strong, and they smell heavenly, even from 15 feet away.

With the wind, I couldn't help but put out the bamboo windchimes I hadn't hung yet.  They're scattered around the yard, and I love the sound of them.  The new one I just bought dropped a chime already, and needs to be repaired.  I don't understand why they don't build them more durably; it didn't even last 24 hours.

I moved all my unplanted plants over out of the way, since they were accumulating and looking pretty cluttered.  They nearly cover a 4x4 ft piece of plywood.  I am now instituting a moratorium on purchasing plants until they are all in the ground.  Or pots.  ;)  I managed to resist temptation when I walked through the Walmart nursery this afternoon.  I may make an exception for perennials on clearance at Lowe's.

Started looking into permits for the greenhouse and the pergola. 

Entry for May 07, 2007
May 7, 2007 | 10:00 PM PST
Tags: puttering , planning , zen garden , plant sharing , fencing ideas , compost , bricks , rugosa rose , Mr K , pergola , moss

Woke up early today. Went and took care of my grandfather's lawn first.

Picked up a load of composted horse manure from D's house, only one front end loader scoop this time to leave extra room. Stopped by Delaware Brick and picked up another strap of bricks for the patio. The compost had slid everywhere, so I just backed up to the pile and loaded a strap that fell over who knows how long ago up by hand over the tailgate. The yard man's always friendly, and he gave me a hand, so it took no time. And now he doesn't have to wiggle the forklift around the fallen pile anymore.

Mr K worked on the patio all evening. I pruned the rugosa rose (ouch, see photo album for a look at the thorns) with remarkably little damage to my person compared to last time. Got the tomato cages in, and unloaded the compost--half in the new bed out front, half in one of the raised beds out back. I should've watered, but I was tired and windburnt, and it was getting dark.

Talked artistic vision briefly before we headed in to get cleaned up for dinner. There's a Zen garden in my head and I'd like to make it materialize. It's got to wait until our current batch of projects but I think he's on board. We've got a weeping willow we put in the first summer we bought the house, so it's getting pretty big. Maybe 30 ft away is a gingko we put in 2 summers ago. They're around a drainage/retention ditch that's about the size of a school bus, maybe 4 ft deep with a 40 degree slope at the end where the trees are, and gradually sloping up to ground level at the other end. We've lived there 4 years now and I've only seen it hold water once. One winter we had a massive thaw, it filled up and froze, and the next morning nothing was left but the frozen crust across the top--the water had all drained out from under it. I'm thinking a few more specimen trees, at least a Japanese red maple and a black pine, maybe a weeping cypress if I can find one hardy enough to not have to put it inside for the winter. A wide expanse of white sand, and a rake. A few different sizes of stone, both as borders and around the trees. Moss around the trees and on the rocks. Maybe a small grove of bamboo if I can find one I'm confident will not invade. And maybe some ornamental grasses as a transition back into the rest of the yard. And wide slate stepping stones, set into the slope, and down the middle of the sandy expanse. That, and some removable timber bridges that can be stowed out of sight will help with the raking, since the sandy expanse will probably be at least 30-40' wide.

Talked to my father, the resident expert in all things wood and woodworking related, over sushi after dark. Needed advice about the pergola which I'd like to start soon, and I'm also curious about bamboo reed fencing, which caught my attention during my wanderings online last night. His impression is favorable, so maybe I'll run it by the Mr. We have distinctly different aesthetic sensibilities in many areas. Talked a little about my Zen garden vision, and T says they've got tons of moss in several different varieties free for the taking.

I love plant sharing. They're so darn expensive to buy in the nursery or greenhouse, or even in the big box stores. And the ones that divide and multiply are no trouble to dig out. They barely even leave a hole when you take a few out. I've given some stuff to T before, and she gave me some lily of the valley. I'm not much for the through-the-mail exchanges some forums do, but I give stuff away in person all the time. I've got the address of one of my coworkers starred in my email right now so I can drop off a goodie box at her house one of these afternoons when I get a chance.