soaphouse's Blog

Good Morning In the Garden
Dec 20, 2008 | 3:30 PM PST
Tags: tulip , great gunnera , clean

So, my wonderful hubby took the girls out erranding this morning so that I could have some "me" time and I used it in the garden :)

I was able to get a lot of cleaning and straightening done. I spent most of my time in the back yard pulling weeds and cutting back. I also swept the path and raked. Makes everything look so much better!

Amazing what a difference tidying up makes!

I still need to decide what to put in that bed with the coral bark maple. I was thinking some grasses, but I want all the items to stay fairly low so the maple can stay the star. I also tied the climbing roses to the arbor and got them neatened up. Funny thing, I selected this variety "mdme alfred cartierre" because it was thornless:

Hmmmm??? Not sure what to make of that...but it is still pretty...

I also did the same tidying in the front and here is a pict of my view from the front porch:

I also cut down the elephant ears some more. they get so mushy and moldy this time of year. we have also had a lot of rain lately, so it had gotten pretty yucky, so i did that task...which is not pleasant as the "juice" from the foliage, makes me itch...even through gloves. I did get it done though, and it looks much better!

Here is a pict of the front of the house in the drizzle of the day:

I also speant some time looking back at past blog entries. It was a nice remider of the progress I have made and the things to look forward to in the spring! I find I am a very hopeful and forgetful gardener - HAH!

Soon, it will be time to cut back the knock out roses and grasses and get all the pinestraw down to get ready for next spring.

I also have a $25 credit from Dutch Bulbs from the great gunnera that never could, so I need to decide what to get with that...I might try the gunnera again. I really had my heart set on it for the creek. I may need to start it in a pot first.

I also plan to check my garden centers after Christmas a buy some tulip bulbs on clearance. (I did that last year and got a great deal!)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Christmas time at soapHOUSE...
Dec 7, 2008 | 1:03 PM PST
Tags: grapevine , clematis , mint , christmas , fall , clean up , Christmas Decorations

We have been busy over the past month with all sorts of things! I have managed to carve out some time here and there to do the usual garden clean up that needs to be done this time of year. Our final moments of fall have passed:

And we are well into winter. We saw a couple of dear the other morning out by the creek which was so magical and my little girl was so excited to get to meet Rudolph :)

See them back there?

Most of the garden clean up is done now except for a few odds and ends and we have moved on to decorating for Christmas:

I always do a bit of a garden theme with my christmas decorating: using a lot of greens from the garden along with fresh herbs and grapevine. Here is a nice closeup of an area of the tree with a small grape vine wreath. I have these spaced all over the tree this year:

I love the look of the rustic grapevine against the shimmer of the lights and the ornaments :)

I did a bit more clean out in the garden this afternoon. Shook some dead leaves off the hardy clematis, cut back some mint blooms, and cut down some spent cannas. Once the holidays are over, I will set out to get pinestraw over all the beds and start all my spring planning. Unfortunatley I didn't get the compost in the veggie beds soon enough to get out a fall crop :( so, I will have to enjoy planning for the spring.

Time for some holiday baking...