Monday, May 29, 2006

98 Degrees in the Shade

Having finally finished painting the kitchen and installing the counters, not to mention painting the foundation of the house and building my fountain, we decided that it was time to have people over. So last night a few of the weekly Daily Show night contingent and a couple of neighbors and friends dropped by for some grilling, cake (it was P.'s birthday) and conversation. A good time was had by all, though the "conversation" about run-off voting got a skosh intense:-)

Party goers lounging in a post-dining daze.

S. lounging after slaving over a hot grill.

Pump:$16 at Menards. Planter Pot: $60 at Bachman's. Finding out that your neighbors copied your design almost exactly because they so admired it: Priceless.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Godfather

Last weekend S. and I became the proud Godparents (in addition to uncle and aunt) of KQ, (hereby known as Dilly.)

Little peanut Dilly with Uncle S. included for scale.

The word on the street is that fist munching means she's hungry. Not something that Uncle Scooby can remedy.

Dilly in her beautiful baptismal gown, (hand-sewn by Great Aunts Noona and Cookie!) accompanied by her parents, god and temporal.

Apparently, Heuchera ="HOY-craw"

However you pronounce it, it likes to grow in the shade, and shade is something I have in abundance.

H. Peach Flambe' and H. Plum Pudding backed by Asiatic Lilies (leftover wedding favors, transplants from Fares' backyard, and legacy plants from Doris) at the sunnier W edge of the rock garden.

H. Hearts on Fire. I love the variegated leaves.

H. Hearts on Fire and H. Purple Mountain Majesty next to the Blue Leaf Arctic Willow and Dianthus at the NW corner of the rock garden.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Yay, Gardening! (part III)

Dwarf Willow, Dianthus, Sedum, and a stray Hosta in the rock garden.

Wedding Iris from Noona stretching toward the sun.

Round three of the Spring planting saga, starring: Mayapple, English Thyme, Sweet Woodruff, Vinca, 6 varieties of Tomato, 2 varieties of pepper, Rainbow Chard, Basil, Coral Bells, and Salvia.

Yay, Gardening! (part II)

Hostas and Vinca next to the front steps.


Bleeding Hearts in the back yard.


One of my recent projects: Hostas (soon to be joined by Vinca) around the Poplar in the median.


More Hearts.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Yay, Gardening!

This morning I finally had time to do some gardening. We have new neighbors to the north, and they've been hard at work in their yard, setting a high bar for everyone else on the block. Last week they planted flowers on the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street in front of their house. This morning I had enough time to rise to the challenge. (I will try to post pix before S. and I take off to Omaha tomorrow for M.'s graduation from Med school! Way to go, Sis!) I planted two beds in my boulevard strip—one next to the sidewalk with a red Peony, pink Astilbe, purple-tinged Heuchera (coral bells) and three plantings of four Brodiaea bulbs, nestled in cypress mulch. I'm really excited about the Brodiaea—I've never planted it before—it should have purple star-shaped flowers (provided it comes up...)

The other bed surrounds the trunk of the Poplar tree. I transplanted four Hostas from my rock garden in the back yard. (coming ever closer to a Hosta-free state. It's not that dislike Hostas per se, I just have so many of them, and they multiply like rabbits!) . I had a more ornate planting scheme which was thwarted by several shallow tree roots. The next time I'm at the nursery I'll probably buy some Vinca to fill in the rest of the bed. In the mean time, the mulch will have to do.

Check back for pix soon!