Yardwork

So it's spring & things look great at my house.  You can see the remnants of Jade's golf course mowing.  The grass is growing so fast right now he can't keep up with it!

My porch landscaping is starting to look great & I've finally gotten to plant my pots.  I'm hoping that by our show date for Ethel Edith, May 8th, that everything is filled in and looking great!  The show will be at my house on the concrete pad & in the lawn.

I just love how sedums are so round when they first start growing.  The roses & lavender will get huge soon!  I hate our corner boxwood - it will be replaced shortly!  It keeps having pieces of it die on me.

Even Duke and Sylvia are enjoying the spring.

I found some fun pillows at Kohl's to cheer up my porch swing.

A big fern, cute door mat, and giant bugs from Hobby Lobby complete the entrance.

My Mom told me to paint my back porch patio furniture.  It was green, but I love it hot pink!

I'm anxious for all my plants back here to get big - it's always so cozy on this porch.

My perennials are really growing in fast.  Except two I some how sprayed with Round Up - how I love that stuff!  I have to replacements to go back in though.  I can't wait to put out some fresh mulch!  We usually get a semi load for Mom & Dads and my house.

My ostrich ferns are shooting out babies everywhere!

My walkout basement is getting better.  I planted all my galvanized tubs & can't wait to see them get big and full.  I'm really going to have to work on watering this year!

This is the ugly side of the walkout.  For now the kids still like the riding toys so they like to get them out and ride down here.  I may move these up to the garage soon & keep this more of an adult area.

I found some giraffe pillows on clearance at walmart - love them!

Jade built the top for our bar.  It's looking great!  I have two big lemon grasses on order for the tall galvanized tubs.  They are meant to repel mosquitoes so we'll see how that works.  I'd like to find a few chicken feeders to fill with more plants for the bar. 

This weekend we will be landscaping like mad!  We have two large 15' x 4' beds to plant along these wing walls in addition to mulching all the beds & trees!  Wish us luck - we want a pretty yard for our show next weekend!  Thank the lord Abbie is a chiropractor - I think she'll be adjusting me after the mulching!

It's Worth The Drive

If you live anywhere near St. Louis, you must go see their Botanical Gardens.

Jade & I have been twice and every time we are more in more in awe of this place each time!  I am dying to go this spring to see their bulb beds.

So - since we're expecting more snow in central IL - I thought you'd like to feast your eyes on some tropical plants & what is to come later this year!

Their Climatron is just filled with the most amazing tropical plants!  We have never been to Hawaii so this place is a little taste of what I think Hawaii is like.  It's just awesome!

Hand blown glass is all over the place - stunning every time!

A HUGE palm tree.

Gorgeous waterfalls and ponds filled with fish.

I don't like tomatoes, but even I could appreciate the huge size of these.

The size of their hanging baskets are amazing!

Another enormous hanging basket!

Displays on how to create beds around your mailboxes.

A huge hand blown chandy at the entrance - this thing is amazing!

Gosh - I never dreamed in my younger years that one hot date for Jade & I would be a day at the Botanical Gardens.  I don't know if this makes me officially old, or if plants are the new hip thing!  However, I'm digging it!  Abbie - I call one of your donated Abbie days to my kids to be this spring so Jade & I can go see some tulips - thank you in advance :)

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!