Thursday, January 21, 2010

Spring Fever

I am fully aware that it is still January.  However, I'm secretly dreaming of spring. 

Since Jade & I built - our house had zero landscaping!  We live in the woods, but in more of a land peninsula.  So we have the woods around our house, but our immediate yard had no trees or decent grass.  Our soil is also pretty much 100% clay (literally it's like making play doh ropes to plant around your plants - I hate it!)

So last spring was our first landscaping adventure.  We realized that we loved trees in the fall of 2008.  We planted about 20 trees that we picked because of their fall leaf color, or their spring blooms.  We had so much fun, and now Jade & I love trees.  We really enjoy spending the day at a nursery or the St. Louis Botanical Gardens looking at plants and trees.  I have always teased my Dad & called him Stuie Appleseed b/c he plants trees like no one I know.  Well...now I'm Annie Appleseed.



Here we planted 3 grasses - they got huge by the end of the summer & look great.  We also have a lilac bush to the left - it looks tiny & twiggy, but by the end of the summer it grew by a large amount as well.  I can't wait to see what it looks like this year!


So back to my first story - last spring Jade & I started landscaping.  We had the front of the house done by a professional.  We didn't want to screw it up royally!  So we got to play with the East and North side of the house.  Then we planted a few things by our septic tank, well, electrical box (safe I know!), and propane tank.  All areas that are needed, but things you want to hide too!  Overall we were very pleased with our work.  We used railroad ties as edging because they are easy to work with, cheap, & straight for mowing.  (FYI - I am not a good lawn mower in Jade's eyes, but I do it anyway.  He mows the very large lawn in a diagonal so it truly looks like a golf course - waste of time I think.)  I'm very anxious to see how these plants do their 2nd year.  My mom always says perennials do their best their 3rd year - so almost there!  I'm a bit worried that some are getting too much sun, but I'll know for sure after this summer passes. 

This spring we are focusing on the walk-out basement.  We have a very large patio down there & two wing walls.  We have some random plants down there that we bought, but had no home so they are temporary.  I'm very anxious to get planning!  I have an idea of lots of pea gravel & a fire pit with lots of plantings to make it more intimate.  We love entertaining & this will be the place to do it - when we get it complete!

So until then - I have ordered some more plant books to help me get my mind in gear for the busy spring ahead!



7 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to SPRING too! I can't wait to get out in my yard amd plant...plant...plant! My tropical in ground plants are not looking good after our 2 week freeze (this is not normal for us...last time was in 1958)... I'm hoping that come Spring they will look better:)

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  2. I love trees. We are tree people. I'm working on a tree post for today (if I get around to it). LOL

    I cannot wait until Spring. I'm a gardener... well, a wannabe, anyway.
    Can't wait to follow along with your projects this summer. I know you'll show us and tell us all about it with your witty words!
    ~Amy

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  3. When does Spring start for you? Maybe we can did up a bit come May but sometimes we still have snow at the end of April. The Easter Bunny always hops through snow here. I can't even imagine thinking about my landscaping so I'll enjoy reading about yours, before I have to go shovel : ) Love the colour of your house. Looks like the colour of barns in the days of old. I hope to start working on our bungalow but seem to be paralyzed with analysis paralysis as of late, so instead I"m blogging about my laundry mountains. Reading about your progress will inspire me.

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  4. I can't wait for spring either! I also cannot wait to have my own house so I can plant things, mostly I'm looking forward to having a garden :)

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  5. Spring starts for us anytime between late March & May. Sometimes we get ice & snow in March though. I usually don't plant annuals until May, but I did do some perennials I think in April last year.

    Tiff you'll love your own house! I used to be terrible at gardening at our trailer, but now that it's my house & really like to work on it!

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  6. Our yard is a mess. We work on it a little but every year, but we are both hopeless gardeners. I'm hoping I'll get lots of good inspiration on the blogs.

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  7. I can relate to your post. Our front yard needs some major improvement, especially one area that because a storage ground while our pool was being built. I can't wait for spring so we can plant some new stuff.

    I found your blog from mimibellaboo. I looked down at your older posts where your beautiful little girl gets a glare on her glasses. I have a daughter who's 7 that wears glasses, too. She always gets that glare. Wish I could figure out a setting on my camera that would fix that.

    I look forward to following your blog.

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Thank you so much for your kind words & support! I love hearing from you & read each and every comment you leave for me! ~Annie

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