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Despite the Iris Patch having a MAJOR aphid infestation, they continue to bloom :) They have never really done too much in seasons pasts (they are relatively new to my garden- passed along from my husband's grandfather's farm), so its fun to see what color they are. So far we have white and today, the purples are blooming. In the picture, they look more maroon colored. It depends which way the sun is hitting:

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I am also very pleased to report that some of the veggie seeds are starting to come up already and the freshly planted hostas are looking good. Also, the peony buds look like they might burst open any day now!

Oi Vey! Just had to take a quick break from writing this to go tell 3 neighborhood kids to get out of our creek and not mess up all my freshly planted goodies! They were swinging from bank to bank from the grape vines that I cut back! ARGH! I hate being THAT neighbor....but really, I don't want them to get hurt either, would be our liability you know. They quickly sauntered off with their tail between their legs.

Well, I have had a few very fun nursery shopping trips over the last few days. Somehow the blow to the wallet hurts less when smaller, but multiple trips are made HAH!

Anyway, each time, I came home with quite a few goodies! I found some 1 gallon azaleas for $2 each, so I got 4 of them to complete and fill in some empty spots in the existing azalea bed.

They were all labeled "assorted azalea" I have learned that there are SO many varieties of azaleas that identifying what I currently have may be more difficult than initially thought. So, for now...its "assorted".

I also got a cool looking plant that I had never heard of. "Acanthus Mollis 'Oak Leaf'" (Grecian Pattern Plant) The plant label says that it is extremely fast growing to a hight of 4 feet tall and wide. It also says that it is semi evergreen and somewhat invasive when happy. Oh, and it likes shade too...so I thought, isn't that PERFECT for the creek bank! The guy at the nursery agreed :). So, in it went and I have great expectations...

Right after that pict was taken, I got up there with the weed eater and trimmed everything back to our property line. I had been struggling as to how to control all the growth back there...with roundup, by hand, or with the weed eater. I had been hesitant about the use of roundup...I really don't like to make a habit out of using that stuff and especially being on a creek bank. Plus, I am planting a lot of plants that are said to naturalize well and if I continually spray roundup that certainly will not help things. Then, I saw a gardening show about a lady who had a huge moss garden and she said the best thing to do to help it along is keep it free of debris, so I set out with my weed eater and did notice that once I got everything trimmed, there is a layer of moss under that...so I hope to help it along.

Also, while I was weedeating, the tornado sirens started going off!!! Its such a chore climbing up the creek bank with weed eater in hand (and at 9 mo preggers) that since I was already back there, I just wanted to get it done, so I went super fast and was able to make it inside before the storm hit!!!

I also picked up some other things at the nursery that will stay in my studio until the last frost date here (April 15th). Even though they are all perennial, all their nice spring growth would get zapped should we have another late freeze. Here is a breakdown of the goodies waiting for their homes:

10 Annual Mexican Heathers (These will get dotted around the front and back yard. They are so drought tolerant and always perform well for me. Last year, when I waited until after the frost date to purchase things, I had to drive to 3 different nurseries to find these, so I went ahead and got what I wanted.)

2 Sum and Substance Hostas (I really wanted 6, but the budget wouldn't allow, so I got 2 that looked like they could be divided and i will break them down into 6 total. They will look puny this year, but in years to come will be awesome. 3 will go in the shade bed in progress with the azaleas and the other 3 will go under the saucer magnolia in the front yard.

1 Minuteman Hosta - Nice variegated variety. I will divide this one as well. Not sure how many divisions I will get, but they will all go in the azalea shade bed.

2 Blue Cups Hostas - Very cool cup like leaves in a nice cool blue. Will also divide these ...hopefully into 4 total and will put 2 with the azaleas and 2 under the saucer magnolia.

1 Ostrich Fern - I wanted 3 of these to put under the saucer magnolia with the hostas, but once again the budget prevailed. This one can not be divided, but I will plant it by the creek and if it lives up to its reputation as a fast growing clumping spreader, I should be able to take some clumps in the next couple of years to dot around the garden.

1 Robust Male Fern - Never heard of this one...funny name, semi-evergreen, glossy fronds, fast growing to 4 feet tall...so, it will be another plant to find a home by the creek.

Whew...and imagine, when I set out to write this entry, I didn't think I had that much to say. HAH!

I spent yesterday afternoon tootling about in the front yard. I mowed our "lawn" , which is really more a patch of weeds than anything. After its mowed, it actually looks pretty decent. My dreams of fescue were squelched by the drought last year....maybe this fall i can do that. Once the mowing was done, I pulled some weeds, cut back some vinca, hacked down the curry plant (it had gotten very raggedy and woody, will be interesting to see if it comes back), and I also watered the autumn ferns. It looks as though the layer of compost applied to the top of that bed last summer is really coming through for us...I have never had so many new fronds appearing at once on these ferns. It looks so pretty! Here is a view of the front yard as seen from my front porch today:

As you can see, my girl and my hubby are enjoying the freshly mowed weeds :)

The redbud looks so amazing right now as well! Also, the ajuga is blooming and is adding a nice shot of color:

The dogwood is almost in all of its glory. It is in the same bed that got the compost dressing and i do think it is helping the dogwood also, in seasons past, the dogwood has suffered from one of its common fungal diseases that causes the blossoms to fall off before they fully open. It looks like we might not have that prob this year :)

On a recent shopping trip with my mom, I picked up this cool garden art windchime and I have been enjoying it as I sit on my front porch:

Its very overcast today and a bit cool and breezy, so I am not sure if I will venture out in the garden later or not. I have been thinking more about creek planting lately and trying to decide what to plant on the opposite bank...I still have yet to have the moment of brilliant inspiration. I do need to get back there with the weedeater so that all my hard work spent cleaning everything out doesn't go to waste....it will if I don't stay on top of things back there. I am anxiously awaiting the emerging of the great gunnerra that went in the ground a few weeks ago...i check for growth every day :)

I did hear an ad on the radio that our local home depot has 5 dollar coreopsis and hostas, so i may venture down there this afternoon. Tomorrow the forecast is thunder storms, so I better do what I have to do today :)

Had a wonderful weekend in the garden. All the work I did in the fall and winter is paying off....there is not too much to do now other than routine weeding and maintinence. The most fun, of course, is watching all of the plants doing their spring things! On Friday, mom and I stopped by the nursery and I picked up 2 more georgia blue bells. They went along the street side of the front bed along with the other one. The blue of their bloom is so nice in contrast with the hot pink of the creeping phlox. The redbud is really popping out and looks so wonderful right now!

The tulips are all coming up nicely (I was afraid a lot of them had been hijacked by the squirrels). Some of them have formed their flower buds! They will look so nice blooming around the bridhouse :)

The hostas are starting to show themselves as well as the peonies! I always wonder about these late arrivers, but they have yet to dissapoint...you would think I'd learn! I also spotted a fun surprise while perusing the garden...One of the autumn ferns that I dug up from mom's yard had a little piece of Japanese painted fern in it... Once it gets bigger, I will dig it out and find him a home of his own.

On Saturday I mowed the backyard and weedeated by the creek, just in time for a fabulous rain storm that lasted well into the evening. So nice to sit on the porch and watch the plants in the drizzle!

Hooray! My goodies from the Dutch Bulb Company were waiting for me by the front door when I got home from work today :)

In the box was 1 Great Gunnera, 2 Hardy Fuschias (one pink and white and one purple and white) and 1 Tree Peony.

I had ordered these back in January, but they don't ship them until planting time...which actually is quite handy. I promptly went out and planted all my goodies.

The Great Gunnerra went on the far creek bank. The 2 Fuschias went by the Lilac in the back of the azalea bed and the Tree Peony went in the new bed where we took out the maple tree this past winter.

I would have taken picts...but they were all shipped bare root, so the picts would not have looked like much. Hopefully they will thrive and be amazing :)

So if you read one of my previous posts, you know the saga of the green "giant". Well, i am still awaiting the 3rd one that mysteriously got left out of its bag...the 2 that were planted already are suffering a bit of transplant shock, but we have had enough rain lately that I still have hope for them. So, today I stopped by the local nursery (SO many temptations!!!!) and they had 3 gallon sizes of the green giant :) So, I picked one to plant in the spot reserved for the 3rd one:

The sticks that you see on either side of the tree represent the other ones that were ordered through the mail. It will be interesting to see and compare the growth of the different sizes...HAH!

The freshly planted weeping willows (from the same supplier) are looking great and getting all their new leaves:

I think it will be so pretty weeping over the creek side :)

Once I got my new tree planted, I set out to mow and edge the front yard. Looks so nice when that has been done. I also got some picts of more spring happenings:

Azalea buds bursting:

I must say I am learning to love my azaleas. They came with the house and would not have been what I chose, but the were in good condition so I left them. I have really started to put some more time and energy into the back beds and I am starting to form a nice shade bed with the azaleas as the foundation. Last year they didn't bloom (due to an extremely late frost that zapped all their buds) and the years before I did not pay much attention - other than to notice that they are various shads of pink. So, I have no idea their varieties or how big they are expected to get. This year...when they bloom, I plan on taking cuttings to the local nursery to have them tell me the varieties so that I can fully develop the design of the shade bed. Should be interesting and fun :)

The newly planted lilac buds are starting to open so I am looking forward to watching that. I have never grown a lilac before:

The oakleaf is budding out nicely as well. Year before last, we transplanted it from a very awkward spot close to the house and the following year, its form and shape was way out of wack, so I had to prune it and sacrifice some blooms, so this year it should be in its full glory :

I also transplanted some large pieces of variegated ivy to the shady side of the creek bank. Hopefully they will fill in and cascade nicely - providing a nice evergreen cover and weed suppression.

I would say, all in all, a great afternoon in the garden. I certainly feel blessed that I could spend my afternoon that way and not cleaning up rubble from the tornado that hit just south and north of us. Amazing that a tornado blew through downtown Atlanta. They say that has never happened before....first time for everything, I suppose.

I've had a great week in the garden! Spring just keeps on springing and I have enjoyed watching it unfold in my garden :) On Thursday, the order that I had placed on-line for the "bones" of the creek plantings arrived. I ordered everything from Direct Gardening (which I had heard bad things about, but for the price...I thought it was worth taking a chance) I ordered 3 Green Giant Arborvitaes, 2 Weeping Willows and 1 Colorado Blue Spruce. The total order was barely $30, so I pretty much expected the worse, but thought it was worth a try. Needless to say, when I received the order, I literally stood in my kitchen, laughing out loud as I unpacked the wee plants! The "Green Giants" looked like twigs with a few roots. More like the jolly green giant. HAH! But, I thought...for the price and considering they are supposed to grow like 3-5 feet a year, I will just take my chances. What's even funnier is that they were packaged in vacuum sealed plastic bags. My order did include 3 of those baggies for the green giants...but, only 2 had plants! So, I called the customer service # and they were quite nice (to my surprise) so, hopefully I will receive that 3rd arborvitae :) Funny thing is that those were the most expensive out of the order and they were the smallest...the willows (which were $1 a piece) were the largest. The colorado Blue Spruce was a fairly decent size too. The order also included some freebie bulbs labeled shamrock and exotica. These were about the size of raisins, so I plopped them in the ground by my irises in the back and we will see what happens :) On Saturday I got around to planting the goodies...

The green "giants" found a home on the back creek bank to hopefully create a nice privacy screen:

I topped with a good dressing of compost and marked it with a stake, so hopefully he will have a fighting chance!

Here is a pict of one of the willows, planted on creek bank to help prevent erosion:

The Colorado Blue Spruce found a home where we took out the maple earlier this winter...I have great hopes for this guy:

On Friday I had a great day helping my mom in her garden. She is a landscape designer, so she always has some wonderful project up her sleeve...on Friday, I helped her lay some fescue sod in a pathway. I had never worked with sod before, so it was fun to learn how to do that...and talk about instant gratification! Of course, she let me take some divisions of things in her garden too. I came home with a great bunch of hellebore seedlings, 2 autumn ferns, and a huge clump of sedum autumn joy! Love those freebies :) I got them planted around on Saturday also:

Hellebore
s landed amongst the liriope in front of the azalea bed with the other variety of hellebores. Will be very pretty when they grow up to start blooming:

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The autumn ferns went under the fig tree with 4 other autumn ferns I transplanted from under my redbud (they were not getting along well with the vinca) I know the fig will give them a nice shady home come spring:

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And, when they grow up all nice a fluffy...they will help hide all the utility nonsense! I am still thinking about where to put the sedums...

This Sunday afternoon, I just did a couple of odds and ends: some weeding, moved 2 artemesias from a shady spot to one where they will get more sun, and leveled out some ground in the back of the azalea bed ( the former owner of this house, used to dump his house plant soil in a mound back there). I also took a few minutes to take some pictures of the early spring bloomers:

Minia
ture Daffodils:

Larger Daffodils planted under redbud in the front yard. I love the white...just brightens up that spot perfectly:

m>I know...I got a little carried away with those picts...they were just so pretty and very photogenic!

The
Georgia Blue Bells are full of blooms and such a wonderful blue color:

And, the first crocus has shown itself:

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In the next few days, my husband will be working on the rest of the chicken wire surrounds for the veggie beds...planting time will be here before I know it :)!!!

Oh, and on a side note...turns out the "owl" in my previous post was actually a hawk! My mom noticed from the picture and then it was confirmed again when we saw him again this weekend! Guess we will have to come up with a name for him too :)

Over the last couple of days I have gotten some fun things done by the creek! I picked up some creeping jenny plants for the opposite bank side...of course, after planting them, I also drove stakes through the root ball to hold them in. The water usually doesn't come up this high though....

Today, I also decided to try digging in some stairs. I am not sure if they will stay put with a heavy rain and the rushing creek water, but this whole thing is an experiment... I used some pavers that were on our property when we moved in and have just been sitting in a pile. I figure this way, if it doesn't work out...I haven't spent $ on nice pavers and I am only out about an hour of time. If it does hold up....I may change out the pavers over time for nicer ones. I also transplanted some variagated ivy pieces in between the blocks, so hopefully they will grow in nicely. I pinned them down with landscape pins.

Not too shabby for an hour's worth of work and free materials! I finished just in time for the forcasted rain, so these pictures might be the only thing left of this by morning :0

I also spent some time getting more brush to the curb...I will do more of that tomorrow

Wow, I never thought I would be able to write this entry! Its finished! All of the brush, limbs, vines, and trees has been removed from the creek! Its the first time we have seen this 80+ foot area of creek line on our property since we bought this house. It has always been overgrown...and now, it is beautiful! Its will be even prettier when I start to plant it up! My husband brought his chainsaw out yesterday to help me get the last of it:

Looking at this pict gives a good idea of scale too! He took down 3 trees over 30 feet tall and 4 or 5 smaller trees! So nice to have his help. Here I am, doing the final pruning:

Then
, after a pass with the weedeater and moving all the limbs and brush over the fence, all done!

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Of course, I still have to get all of that brush to the curb, but that can wait until this next week. Here is a shot w/o the fence in it:

I also used my panoramic photo stitch utility on my computer to merge some shots together to give an overall picture of the area.

I can hardly believe its finally cleaned up and ready for plants! SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After discussing the area with my mom (who is a landscape designer) I decided against the mountain laurels for the shrub screen on the far left. She said they tend to not do as well here in our climate and that they are more suited for mountainous regions (hence the name i suppose) and that they are fairly prone to disease and become spindly with age. She suggested Acubas which I think would be much better! I was hesitant to do those at first b/c they grow very slow here and larger sizes at the nursery tend to be on the pricier side. But, it really is a better choice and I want to do it right b/c I have put some much time and sweat into this project already. SO FUN to dream of all the possibilities.

Today, I transplanted all the wax mahonias and nandinas that I found on the other side of the creek. Turns out there were more than I thought: about 27 mahonias and 2 nandinas!

Here is a picture of the area before:

And after:

I know out of the 27...a few are bound to grow in niceley :)

I put the two nandinas in a pot that lives in the front by the gate:

I think it looks pretty nice. Plus, can't beat free!!!

I am starting to think about what I might want to plant on the opposite side of the creek, where the bank is really high. Our property extends about 4 feet beyond that. I would like to just plant some dense, evergreen shade shrubs that will help ward off the privet. Any ideas would be great!

On the far right of this picture, I will plant a weeping willow. So I need some ideas for the area to the left of that. In the low part...near the creek, I will be putting my great Gunnera that I have on order. ITS STARTING TO COME TOGETHER!!!!

Tomorrow, hubby has promised to get back there with his chain saw and take down what I can't get with my loppers :)

Have a great gardening weekend everyone!

Its been a great couple of days in the garden! Yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon after I got off of work, working on the creek. It was very satisfying as I was finally able to venture to the other side of the creek! I thought that would never happen. Especially when you look at where all this started:

In case you are wondering where the creek is in that shot...its to the left of the fence, under all the brush! Its very encouraging to look back at this to see how far I have come. Sometimes it seems like I will never finish this, but when I look at how far I have come, I know I will! Here are some current shots of the creek:

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This afternoon I worked on getting the brush to the curb. The hardest part of this was that all of the brush had to travel over the creek and then over the fence then through the gate, then all the way to the curb! I was very thankful for my galoshes. Needless to say, Privet is now a very bad word in my world! I was online the other day browsing nurseries and one had gallon privet for sale for $19.95!!! I could make a fortune, just sell what I am ripping out :) Why can't something amazing be invasive...like peonies or something! But, I digress...

I did place another plant order for the "bones" of this project:

• 
  3 Green Giant Arborvities (for a fast growing evergreen screen on the other side of the creek at our property line.)
  
• 2 Weeping Willows (one for each bank side to help with erosion)
• 1 Colorado Blue Spruce (which is actually for the area in the back where we took out the maple)

I also found a lot of volunteer wax mahonias back there that I will transplant so that they can thrive and be enjoyed. Also, one nandina that I will dig up for a container in the front yard. And, some nice woodland ferns that I uncovered and will hopefully do better now that they are not crowded by privet! Gotta love free plant suprises :)

Its just so exciting to see this all coming together!

On another note, my arbor came in the mail last night and I got it all assembled and installed:

On the left side, I planted a honeysuckle vine of some sort that was passed down from my mother. I am not sure of the variety. It is desiduous and had really neat seed pods in the fall that hang down. On the right side of this arbor, I plan to put out miniature gourd vine seeds. I think if this works...it will be really cool to see the gourds hanging down through the arbor!

YEAH!

Well, yesterday we had snow all day...with accumulation, which is very unusual for us here! Of course b/c of snow...I am sure you can all imagine that it was quite cold! This means my plans for more creek clean up were put to a rest for this weekend at least. But, it did give me a good chance to get some things done inside the house. I worked on painting the nursery for the little one to come and I spent some time tootling around on various gardening websites. But, most exciting of all is that I got all of my past blog entries printed out and put in a 3 ring binder. I had NO idea how much I had written! I have enjoyed and found it very helpful in the past to look over my old entries. Now that they are all on paper...I have a great essay of the garden for most of last season and I can write notes in the margins and highlight and it will be just a great resource for future garden planning. It ended up being over 300 pages of blog entries! Now, I will try to maintain the discipline of printing out my blog on a monthly basis so that I always have it up to date.

One thing that I have found most helpful with it right now is looking back on the creek project and the progress. I am really starting to plan what to plant in that area as it is almost cleared out....but, since everything is dormant right now, looking back at old entries has really helped me notice where I still need to clean out and areas of sun and shade.

I have also been making a lot of mental to do lists for future garden projects. I think I ought to get them down on "paper":

• 
  Work on Hosta/Hydrangea Bed

• -I already transplanted the Hydrangeas to better locations, now I need to top dress with compost in the spring, then divide and transplant any hostas that need help. I also hope to add some new varieties of hostas. I am thinking I would also like to add some fatsia japonicas in the back to help hide the chain link fence.

• I also have many plants that I would like to divide and move around the garden:

• 
  -Ajuga
• -Daylilie
  s
• -Lambs Ear
• -Creeping Flox
• -Hardy Begonia
• -Vinca Minor and Vinca Major

• I also have a list of plants I would like to add to the garden this year (don't we all!):

• 
  - New sunny bed where we took out the maple: 3 or 5 false threaded cypress, Some fun varieties of conifers, possibly the tree peonie that I just ordered and maybe the hardy fuchsias as well.

• -New Porch Bed that I just created and got ready for planting: Sweet Pea VInes, Sunflowers, Bells of Ireland and something low growing for the front.

• -For the New Arbor that I am awaiting in the mail: It will go in the side yard on the right side of the house and I will plant a deciduous honeysuckle vine on the left side and I will put miniature ornamental gourd seeds on the other side. I am thinking the gourds will look so cools hanging there in the winter!

• -For
  the Never Ending Creek Project: Great Gunnera on bank side. 3 Green Giant Arborvities on property line to hide neighbors, Weeping willow tree on bank to prevent erosion problem. Lots of woodland fern varieties...and next fall I will add some bulbs to it as well! I would also like to add an arbor at the gate entrance and grow a Joseph's Coat Rose on it.
  

• -Veggie
  Garden: I am going to plant mostly plants this year from the local nursery so that if we are still in a level 4 drought, I will have a better chance at success...I plan to do: cherry tomatoes, pole beans and sugar snaps, Sweet Potatoes (purchased the starts already from Burpee), Spinach, Purple Brussle Sprouts, Asparagus and Artichokes (that I will purchase from Territorial Seed Company), and whatever else looks fun from the nursery. I will be doing a lot of companion planting as well so that means lots of: asters, dill, coriander, cosmos, basil, garlic, dill, basil and radishes...oh and onions too! I hope to have a couple more raised beds built so I will have lots of room for all this!

• -I also would like to beef up the shade bed where the azalea bed is. I haven't really ever done much with this for many reasons: Its in the back yard, so it is just now starting to get the attention it deserves, azaleas really are not my favorite things, but they are in good shape and they were here when we moved in, because they are not what I would have chosen, I think I have a hard time envisioning what else to do there. Also, it is one of the only deeply shaded spots in my yard, so I haven't learned a lot yet about shade gardening. I did plant a lot of daffodils there this fall , so I know that will be nice in early spring. I want to make it super pretty b/c it is my view out the kitchen window and I see it very regularly when I do the dishes.

• - I want to get some more knock out roses to plant at the base of my new sculpture in the front window seat bed.

• - And finally, I would like to add more flowering evergreen vines to my chain link fence in the ongoing effort to cover it up. The carolina jessamine and honeysuckles have done particularlily well, so I think I will get some of those.

• -I am sure that, in reality, only about half of this will get done, but I will end up doing a million other things that weren't even on my list. Thats always how it goes...but thats the fun of it! There is always something unexpected and tempting at the nursery that must be taken home :)

Whew....now that I got that out of my system!

It will be great to look back on this and see what ends up getting done! LOL

Once the weather warmed up and it dried out a bit...I headed out to do more creek clean up. It really is starting to take shape and all the dreams I had for it can now become a reality!

I have also been taking time the last couple of days to print out all of my blog entries. I find it so helpful to look back on the past pictures, successes, and failures when thinking of the future in my garden. I plan on putting all the pages in a binder and keeping them for future reference. Of course, that means lots of time at the computer, so I am looking through all the catalogs that have been flooding my mailbox and I have been ordering some fun things!

I placed a great order today with Van Bourgondein......

<
em>The main thing I am excited about is a "Great Gunnera" for the creek!

This is of course, the pict from the website, but I have very high hopes that the bare root that will arrive in the mail, will look like this beauty one day! The website said it is perfect for creek banks and likes wet feet. The leaves are said to get up to 6 feet accross!!!!

I
also ordered a Kamata-nishiki tree peony (which I have always wanted) and a collection of hardy fuchsias!

<
em>I couldn't resist all this temptation....they even had an offer of $25 off!

SO FUN!

Tomorrow
I will work on more creek clean out so that when my goodies arrive I can put them in the ground...

I had another great weekend in the garden. Got LOTS done as I am taking advantage of the warm daytime temps we have been having lately. I spent so much time on the front yard this past growing season, that now I am excited to get more work done in the back. I have been doing things such as defining the beds and putting in paths. I ordered another load of the free woodchips from the city and got busy spreading it:

I laid down a path in between the beds leading to the back. The bed to the left contains hydrangeas and hostas. I just transplanted all the hydrangeas to a better layout and added 2 variegated hydrangeas on either side of the sweet gum tree - I am looking forward to seeing how it looks come spring.

Here is the same path, from the back view:

My husband cut down the remainder of the trunk of the tree we took out last weekend. He was excited, because this meant he got to buy an electric chain saw. He always loves getting new toys...as you can see it definately did the trick:

I also transplanted the nandinas that were in the front of this tree over to another space so that now I have room to put in a nice conifer garden :) I also finished spreading all the pine straw (this helped to define the beds and create some new planting areas in the back yard. Here is a good shot of the back yard as of today:

The creek area even got some attention this weekend. Once I finish dragging the brush to the curb, it will be all cleared and ready to plant up with ground covers and ferns. I also plan to put an arbor at the gate with a nice vine on it and an outdoor hammock so that the area can be fully enjoyed!

I am interested to see what survived out of my bargain fern purchases that I planted back here in late summer. Once the drought hit, they began to suffer...so we will see. The creeping euonymous is doing well, however :)

On the list for this week: finish spreading wood chip pile and dragging creek brush to curb!

Must be, the weather has finally cooled off, it's been in the fifties for the past few days here, but thankfully, no frost yet. I  guess I am the oddball around, I don't care for fall, except that I don't have to water the flowers as much, and they do get lush again, just in time for the freeze to kill them. Oh well, soon enough and it will be spring again. I feel like the past summer has been wasted at my house, anyway, I've had a bum knee and a bad back all summer and couldn't do any of the things I had planned to do. Maybe I'll be fixed up and feeling better next summer, and I can put up the fence I have wanted for three years now.

Now I will look forward to Christmas. I absolutely skip fall. I don't decorate for fall, or Halloween, I just let my summer flowers last as long as they will, then when they are gone, I just wait until I can put up Christmas decorations. The only concession to fall  is Thanksgiving. We always have a big Thanksgiving dinner,

Enough griping.

I have added a few pictures to my albums and they are pretty, to me at least. I'm not the most skillful gardener, don't know what I'm doing a lot of the time, but the few flowers I get to grow provide me with lots of pleasure. I had an overabundance of kittens this year also, so they have helped to decorate the garden.

Soon I plan to add some more pictures of the creek. It is beautiful there, and there are a few places that are downright gorgeous.
 

I haven't been able to do much in the garden lately...partly because of my new job and also due to the drought. I had so many projects planned for this fall, but so many of them involved watering...as most gardening does! AND, my city has issued a total outdoor water ban :( I know its necessary, but it still makes me very sad! All I can do is sit back and watch my poor plants suffer. Luckily a majority of my landscape is extremely drought tolerant. However, I still have the usual ferns and hydrangeas. And, my vinca looks so crispy and awful! The creek behind our house that I have blogged about before that is always full of water and even floods quite occassionally is bone dry! In the 4, almost 5 yrs that we have lived here I have NEVER seen it without water! Its overcast today and there is a slight chance of rain, but I don't think its going to happen :( 

My main gardening projects have just been clean up...a lot of pruning and trimming back of what is dying.

I also hope to put out a lot of pine straw mulch around my beds soon...to get ready for the winter. 

The last few days it has gotten SO HOT here! I thought it was warm before, but we have had heat indexes at over 105 degrees. So, I haven't been doing too much in the garden. The afternoon showers have stopped, so the weeds have slowed down which is nice, but I am having to water some things. While watering the veggies, I spotted this yellow finch (i think its a finch, i don't know much about birds)

Its not the best picture but it was all i had the chance to get before he flew off:

Its so cool to see creatures enjoying the garden!

I also managed to get a shot of this guy:

Happily, the garden is doing a lot of taking care of itself. We are still working on the creek project...we got some done on sunday:

My plan was to drag all the brush to the curb this afternoon for pick up tomorrow...but its just too hot! Plus, leaving it there to dry out will make it less heavy next week :)

I am also excited because my strawberry plants are finally starting to look like something! So, I might get some berries next year....

I also got some great shots of Daturas untwirling:

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/p>

And, very cool shot of opening elephant ear leaf

 I guess about all I can stand to do in this heat is have fun with the camera :)

Another trip to the nursery this time of year proved to yield many more bargains! This time, I got some goodies for by the creek :)

I got 2 Ostrich Ferns, 1 Cinnamon Fern, 3 Euonymus Purple Winter Creepers, 1 Lamium, and 1 mystery grass. All this for $19. WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Heres the area before the plantings:

And After:

Right after I took this picture, I drove stakes through each plant to keep them in place if we get another heavy downpour. This way I won't loose any plants down stream. (This was an idea from the guy at the nursery. It would have never occurred to me to do that!

Unfortu
nately I can't mulch the area because it will all just get washed away. Thats why i put in the ground covers. Hopefully they will do a good job of spreading. I am also going to transplant some vinca over in the area in the fall.

FishinBC asked for some recent picts of the creek and how its going. so here its is...i am slowly chipping away at this a little every day and have big dreams for what it can become!

Here is how it started:

That picture was taken after i pulled all the vines off the fence.

Here is the same angle taken today:

You can see progress has been made, but I still have a ways to go! I have uncovered the creek...here are more shots:

> 

 

I know for sure that in the fall , I am going to divide some of my ornamental grasses and plant them in front of the chain link to cover that a bit. Then I will put in some weeping willows on the creek banks to help with erosion. I will also put in some hardware so that a hammock can be hung. This is such a big project, but little by little, its coming along :) 

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I had a fairly productive weekend in the garden. Got more work done on my many ongoing projects. My hubby went to get me more compost for the new bed:

As you can see, Milo likes it :)

Just one more truckload and this bed will be ready to plant! I have a small red maple that will be the center. A pass along from my inlaws...

We also got some more work done on the creek clean out project. My husband cut down some of the BIG branches and trees. But, we had to stop when his saws all blade broke. But, it gave me plenty of stuff to work on getting to the curb for pickup!

Its amazing what we are uncovering back there...it makes all the work fun!

I really spent most of the weekend in the backyard and mostly did routine work in the front. I finally got around to weedeating with my new blade attachment and it is the best thing since sliced bread! no more string nonsense! Here are some picts I took along the way of the backyard and its progress:

Sunflowers
blooming among the veggies:

Inside the world of a tomatillo husk:

The first signs of a ripening tomato:

Baby eggplant! YEAH!!!

Kale seedlings coming up:

My attempt at a squash vine borer remedy... I slit the vine and covered the wound with compost...I do not have high hopes for this:

The veggie beds as of today:

The backyard as of today:

Hope you all had a great gardening weekend!