witt's Blog

First, I'd like to thank everyone for the well-wishes that you sent Hubby. I'm sure that is helping him to be on the mend. He appreciates your thoughts and prayers.

I'd like to give you a peek inside the Cement Garden. You cannot see what is in there from the front. It's like a secret garden. This is a view from the side and over to the Rock Garden. The front path is almost blocked now by the pink spirea on one side and the huge rosemary on the other. When you go to the side, you can see what is hidden there, which isn't much at this time of year. The little stone bench on the side is the Thinking Bench that you hear me speak of so often. (You can't sit on it anymore unless you like to sit in rosemary. I have a chair beside it now.) The pot is usually spilling with perennial hot pink petunias in the summer. I'm so ready to plant some. So far none of them have returned from the winter. You can see on the left the butterfly bush is just putting out. The daffs are done, but the lilies should be starting soon. There are two poliomenthas in there that the hummingbirds love, but they're not blooming yet. I made cuttings last week. I want more! There are some pink evening primroses that should be blooming soon. Pink oxalis is starting and the serissas are leafing out. Slowly but surely. There are some other things like sedum and southernwood. I can't remember it all.

Here is the New Daffodil Bed by the Great Wall of Willie. I put a table that used to be by the Biddy Barn down on the end and place a strawberry jar full of ice plant. I think that will be pretty in the summer. On the other end was another pot of perennial petunias.

Here is a close-up of the iris that are blooming for the first time. Now there are about four or five that have popped out since I took this picture.

I transplanted a society garlic in this bed which I hope will be blooming this summer and multiply. I love how they sway in the breeze. I put some of the cosmos seeds in this bed, too. I hope that they will do better than those last year. I also put a cilantro that I dug up. I couldn't believe that none came up from all the seeds that fell out of last year's crop. I was hoping for sprays of white blossoms. Maybe if I put in more of the babies that are coming up in the First Natural Bed they will bolt and bless us with their flowers.

Yesterday I just piddled around doing transplants of this and that, bee balm, society garlic, garlic chives, and common chives. I did plant some cosmos seeds that I received in the mail as a promotion. Mine didn't do worth a hoot last year. Perhaps they will this year.

I decided to put out some more straw in the First Natural Bed. The squirrels are playing havoc all over the front yard. When I got to my last handful from the bucket, I plopped out a snake. It was brown and orange, so I don't know what it was. Instead of bothering Hubby, I got the hoe and chopped it into a gazillion pieces. Now I'm nervous about getting into the straw again to finish what I started. I didn't have the urge to do any more yard work after that. It was a beautiful day, though. Hubby did sit on the carporch and enjoyed watching all the colorful birds.

I had pictures to post and everything. Now I feel I'll never get caught up with what everyone else is doing, but I thank God that it wasn't anything worse than what it was.

Here's a picture of the Patio Garden. The cilantro is all over the place! I can't wait until it blooms. The patio is always so pretty in a field of white and green.

This is the calycanthus in the Potting Shed Bed. Oh, how I loved it as a child. We would always put the blossoms in our Sunday pocketbooks, and the fragrance was so lovely when you opened your purse to get out your offering. They called calycanthus "sweet bubbies" because the ladies would put the blossoms in their bosoms in place of perfume. For some reason mine isn't as aromatic as the ones from my childhood, but I still think that their chocolate blossoms are unique.

As most know, I am no photographer, but here are some of the gardens in waiting. There's not much blooming going on yet. This is the Rock Garden. All that is blooming now is the ajuga and the jessamine is about done now. Ignore the red stick. Hubby just HAD to put the new rain gauge smack in the middle of my thyme with a RED stick no less. I just bit my tongue.

This is Aunt Winnie's Garden. Nothing blooming here yet either except the oxalis is beginning to send out her sweet little pink blossoms.

This is another angle of the Rock Garden. I was trying to show the Cement Garden that is behind the two. It's sort of a secret garden that you can't see until you go in. I'll try to get a better view although nothing is blooming in here yet either. It is early in the season for us.

After I looked at the pictures that I took of the Back Forty, I realized how pitiful the poor hollies look after their pruning. They were huge and robust. I saw that they were putting out, so maybe it won't look bad for too long. It is difficult to see the pretty variegated artimesia because the picture was a little overexposed. The Biddy Barn was behind the Back Forty in this picture. Now it is just an empty space.

Here is a long shot of the Back Forty. There's our windmill that was supposed to keep moles away. Hrrumph! Didn't happen. I'm waiting on the azalea and the iris to begin blooming. The chives have just started to bud. Nothing from the rubedkia and cone flowers yet, of course.

The Biddy Barn was to the left in this picture. I sure do miss it! It will be full of weeds in no time.

dogwoods in bloom

peach trees, burgeoning leaves

azaleas waiting