Update on the Great Outdoors

Although at the beginning of the summer I had hopes and dreams that our house would look something like this by the end of the summer...

I've realized those dreams aren't going to happen as soon as I'd hoped.  

(Photo courtesy of many hours of photoshop and my boredom)

So, now I'm just focusing my attention on an improved version of this (reality)...

I think we've made some moves in the right direction. 

I replaced the brick walkway border with monkey grass.  

My monkey grass was getting all brown on the tips, and so I went back through and mulched it.  It has really helped because the soil isn't getting so dried up with the sun.  

Sand probably would have been better, but I had mulch on hand.  I want the monkey grass patches to grow together and fill in, and I hope the mulch doesn't prevent that.  

I tryed to clip down some of the Camellias on the left so that they wouldn't cover our window, but then I realized it was a job for a professional!  But I did make them nice and round (except a few places I couldn't reach).

I got ferns!  (Thanks Mom!)  But I can't figure out why they look so pitiful.  

They didn't look too good when I first got them, but I didn't realize that was such a bad sign.  I promise I water them!

Am I supposed to trim off the stringy parts?  Help!  Leave comments!  

I planted some Ilex Holly shrubs.  I googled them and they are supposed to get 6-8 feet in diameter!  I hope that's right, cause I planted them pretty far apart and only planted two.  

Our monkey grass is over grown and some of it needs to be dug up or killed or something.  I'm not sure what the best plan of attack is for that one yet.  Hopefully, next year we can plant some flowers to fill up this large bed.  We did have some lambs ears, but Chris yanked them up because he thought they were weeds!  But it's okay, we're even cause I sprayed round-up in some of our sod and killed it!

 My flower boxes have been blooming like crazy, but it's like the second it changed from June to July they started really struggling in this heat.  I CANNOT miss a day of watering without having dead blooms.  I under estimated what a big commitment it is to keep your flowers alive.  Watering wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that our water spout is wacky and I get drenched every time I turn it on.  

 This is my shady-est box and the little pink trailing flowers didn't last AT ALL!  They need a lot of sunlight I guess.  

I happened to go over to, my sister, Liz's house at just the right time this week, because she had put this rug on the street to be thrown out!  Makes a perfect little porch rug for us, and it's indoor/outdoor.  

 The ferns and the rug make our porch a cozy little late-evening hangout spot.  

It was so cozy, that somebody wasn't going to get up anytime soon...so I seized the opportunity for live models.  

This crepe myrtle is blooming like crazy in our side yard!

Unfortunately the little tree in front of it looks dead as a doornail.  

I love how the blooms arch over our gate, and I love seeing them out our window.  

I think soon I'll try and paint our pitiful rod iron columns so they'll disappear blend in with the house more and maybe paint our front door a fun color.  But if I paint the front door a bold color, I can't decide what color our shutters should be.  Something to ponder...

Here's the recap...

Before:

Lately:

Fantasy:

Thanks for reading.

Backyard Planter

Sometimes my mom will get me something and say "I got you this _____.  It should go in the _______, next to the ________, on top of the _________ that I got you. 

Usually it works out, because it'll be something that wasn't really on my radar at all, and so if she wants to contribute it's just an added bonus. 

She brought over this planter (specifically intended to go in our backyard on our patio).

The next day she dropped off the exact plants she wanted me to plant in it. 

So all I had to do was get to work...

BeiBei was getting SO EXCITED about her new flower buffet! 

You see, I probably could have told my mother that BeiBei MIGHT destroy this.  But there's a famous expression in our family, "You didn't Ask."

Hopefully, BeiBei will be able to resist, cause isn't it fun & pretty...?

Good Job, Mom!  Thanks for the backyard addition. 

I'll post another picture once it's grown a bit.

A little late spring planting...

I hadn't really caught the planting bug this spring, but then I joined in just in the nick of time in the last week of spring (May=Spring, June=Summer), with a little help from Mom.  Our garden needed major work.  See garden in exhibit A.

Exhibit A

See, I was perfectly content to just leave our garden this way, since Chris has inflicted a temporary no-spend policy on my house projects.

Then Mom swooped in to save the day with a casual email.  "Sara, I bet your pansies have been dead for a while now, do you want me to get you some flowers for your flower boxes?"

I promptly replied, "Yes!"  Thinking to myself, "If you're buying I'm game!"

So we met at the nursery a few days later and came home with these...
They are...hmm...let's see.
Serena White Angelonias (tall white ones)
Caberet Red Calibrachoa (trailing red ones)
Crystal Mix Zinnias (yellow ones)
Profusion Apricot Zinnias (orange ones)

I'd never planted, well anything, before so my mom showed me how it's done...

Here's the how-to on planting flower boxes, from one dummie to another.  

1. Get the soil good and loose by stirring it up.

2. Soak the soil with water until it runs out the bottom.

3. Decide where you want your plants to go.  (We went tallest in the center and filtered out to the "trailing" flowers (flowers that will grow to hang over edge) last on the outside.  

4.  You dig a little hole for each flower and place it in, only as deep as the roots.  Don't submerge the green parts in the soil, because they will rot (whatever that means).  

5. Wait till you get everything situated where you want it.  You may have to move things around several times.  Then pack it all down.

6.  Water gently one last time.  

Here's the finished product...

Before:

After:

Chris always tells me I'm a messy cook.  I guess I'm a messy gardner too!

After clean up:

(try to ignore the dishwasher sitting on our porch waiting to be sold)

After a few days of growing:

Luckily, I planted right before several days of rain so they are getting lots of water.

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading.  

(More to come on another little planting project)