Gardening in Boise, Idaho

Oh, nooooooooooooooo! If you can, will you help?

2009-08-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

So, remember my hen, Daisy?

This absolutely adorable girl?

Guess who crowed today? Give up?

DAISY!!!!!!

I'm so upset, I hardly know what to do with myself.

DAISY, (since she is now a known 'he') shall from here on out be referred to as 'Day-Zee' (that's his rapping name I guess)and he needs a new home because zoning here won't allow roosters.

I cannot explain enough what a wonderful chicken Day-Zee is. He is friendly and gentle and loves to be picked up and held. He is dominant but has never pecked another chicken.

Please, if you can take a rooster, will you take Day-Zee and give him a good home?

I am so heart-broken, but I need to find a good home for a gentle and loving rooster with a wonderful and kind personality.

I never thought this could hurt so much. I'm going to go crawl under the covers now and cry my heart out.

I'm such a slacker.

2009-07-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

I think Heuchera, Tiramisu actually looks pretty good in bloom.

Foxglove

Hmm... this picture did not turn out as well I thought it had....

Jackmanni Clematis.

Honeysuckle

Daisy is so grown up! Here we are eye-balling each other. I've got to make sure she's knows I'm the boss or she'd take over the place. But she really is a great chicken. I love her. This was an extremely difficult shot by the way. :) But the only way to get a clear picture of her since she NEVER stops bobbing that poofy little head of hers.

Turning into such ladies. Iris is on the chair. Fern in front.

Try as I might, I could not get this to turn out any better. sigh.

The shade garden

Guara

Um... Blanket Flower, right? I don't have a tag!

Scabiosa, I think this is Pink Mist.

Guara, pink fountain.

My most favourite Hollyhocks, Creme de Cassis.

Monarda, petite wonder.

Rudbeckia, Indian summer, accessorized with a Daddy Long-legs.

Unknown Lilly. First one to open!

Boise Pottery is closing?!

2009-06-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

It's true. How sad. Buuut...... every single thing there is 60% off. Jordan and I got six medium sized pots for less than $40.

All you locals - you simply must take advantage of this.

Boise Garden Tour 2009

2009-06-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

You can see Jordan and I in the mirror on the fence.

Also, I fear there has been some confusion about this post. Ahem! :) This is not MY garden. This was the Boise Garden Tour and mine was not a part of it. The following is a collection of photos taken at multiple gardens around the Boise area. So there.

In no particular order.

2009-05-30T15:47:00.001-07:00

Columbine.

More Columbine.

My Iris bloomed this year!

The Chives sure do look good between these Heucheras.

I'd never used a potato bin before, but things are looking good so far.

And here's a surprise for you! Jordan and his father are building a pergola!

It went up so quick today that I didn't have much of a chance to take pictures of the progress.

By this time tomorrow, it should be done! yay!!!

And I would like to take a moment to explain where I have been lately (a few of you have asked) since I haven't really been posting. Today is the fist day in a long time that I have felt well. I've been just short of bed-ridden with pneumonia. But I am on the mend and things are looking up. :)

Thieves! Vandals! Hooligans!

2009-05-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

And there's two of them right here! Ok, so they're just squirrels, but I still don't like them.

Just look at how innocent they look, how cute they appear as they scamper right up to you, and in a moment of weakness you reach down to hand them a peanut and THEY PRACTACLY TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF!!!

This little jerk scraped off half my finger nail. Where's my gun?

Anyway!...

The Sedum Dasyphyllum is in bloom.

So is Geranium Nimbus.

Here are some cute little Violas.

The Sweet Woodruff.

The creeping phlox and a sea of vinca behind it. Please ingore our air conditioner.

Heuchera Caramel in front and Heuchera Ruby Bells in bloom behind it.

Despite the heat, the lettuce is still holding up enough for quite a few salads but there will be no more radishes till fall planting.

Golden Chain Tree

I thought this made a pretty little vingette. (sp?)

Say hello to my little chicken friends!

2009-05-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

Say Hello to Fern and Iris. Aren't they sweet little lady's? They are Golden Comets (sex-links)
8 weeks old.

Oh, and guess what? I have a surprise!

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

Taaaa Daaa!

This is Daisy! She's so wonderfully ridiculous looking! She is a White-crested Black Polish.

She is about 2 weeks older than Fern and Iris. She is also pretty dominant (I really hope she does not turn out to be a rooster!) , but thank goodness I haven't seen any pecking. They all seem to get along very well together!

Here they are on the patio, strutting their stuff.

I love them already <3

In other garden news, radish harvesting has begun. Yum!

The Blueberries are blooming.

Some of the Poet's Daffodil has finally decided to open.

And things are coming along quite nicely!

Plant sale at the Idaho Botanical Gardens

2009-05-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

The plant sale was actually last weekend but I've been having trouble getting up the motivation to post lately.....

This was last Friday at the members sale. Here are some tomatos in the front.

You can see part of the labyrinth in the lawn here.

There were lots of nice plants to be had.

Getting some cheese and wine.

Here's the haul. Not a lot, the prices were good but my budget wasn't too big :) I purchased one Heuchera 'Tiramisu', one Penstemon (in the very front), one Herbstonne Rudbeckia (in the back, this can get 96" tall according to the tag! I don't have the exact conditions it will need to thrive that well, so we'll see how big it gets this summer) and one Geranium 'Nimbus' (on the right).

I finally got around to planting a Dwarf Alberta Spruce and a couple Heathers that I have had sitting around in pots for a looooong time.

My new Heuchera and Geranium found homes in the new Witchhazel bed.

Dogwood is in it's prime now.

This is only the second year that my Liliac has bloomed. Nothing beats that fragrance!

This Centranthus Ruber (Red Valerian or Jupiter's Beard) is a rather new addition.

Here is one raised bed. Coming along nicely. The radishes will be due to be harvested in the next few days, yay!!!

Did you forget about this?

The chicken tractor is all ready for it's occupants! I pick up my pulletts from the hatchery on Cinco De Mayo!

2009-04-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted to wait until the Dogwood was in it's prime to post a picture but I didn't want the Hyacinths to have faded. So, I will post another one when the Dogwood is at it's best. :-)

Here is Delphinium Aurora Lavender and the Buttercream Tulips. You can see the Rhubarb on the other side of them.

My Lady Fern came back! Yay! I had pretty much given up on it.

Here is Heuchera Plum Pudding and just on the other side of the chives is....

Heuchera Stormy Seas.

Here is the flower bed on the west side of the yard. You can see in the foreground here, a little cage around my new little baby Hellebore. There is a cage around this, since this tends to be a high traffic area for Songo as she chases squirrels that come down the tree and onto the fence. She does much less damage than squirrels, so she gets perks here.
Where IS Songo?

There she is! Songo, pay attention!!!

Good girl!

Here are my lettuces, radishes, beets and carrots, things look messy since squirrels got there grubby little paws in here. But I have since put Songo on garden patrol and this has not been much of an issue since.

Here is my new asparagus, root clusters planted just 3 weeks ago! Well, you'd never know that I took 4 years of photography in High school. I thought I was paying attention in class.

Growth

2009-04-19T18:22:00.001-07:00

Tulips, Buttercream

Bleeding Heart

Hyacinth Blue Jacket

Strawberries are starting to bloom

Up close and personal with the vinca minor

Mass plantings of vinca minor

My little project from last weekend. Sedum

Peony

Come on already.... Bloom!

2009-04-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first Hyacinth to open. Blue Jacket. This is the first year for all of my bulbs. But I must say, this one looks likes it must think it's a pansy because it sure is wussy. I hope the next few put on a better show than this.
But it still smells wonderful!

This is how much rain we got yesterday, almost an inch.

Snow Glories, elfin thyme, a Heuchera 'Caramel' to the right that sure does blend in with the mulch and in the back, my Hellebore. That's 'Pink Beauty' To the left of that is Heuchera 'Citronelle'

I planted the candytuft 3 years ago and this will be the first year it's going to bloom. It looks like it will be a great show!

Here is one of my clems. Ernest Markham. I planted him last fall, I hope to see some blooms!

The lemon balm is doing what it does best. Get huge real quick.

Some exciting happenings in my raised veggie beds, Lettuces and Arugula.

New planting bed.

2009-04-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

So this was the project that I completed last weekend. I had to make a place to put my birthday present (my beloved witchhazel, Hamamelis mollis 'Pallida'. :-D Which should be leafing out soon now that it's finished blooming.

I added 3 cubic feet of soil here since there was what I considered to be quite a drop-off in ground level from the maple to the lawn. Now, it's a nice, gentle slope.

I'll admit, I was shocked that the digging in this spot was so easy. As far as I know, the gound here hasn't been disturbed in years and I thought for sure I was going to have to do battle with plenty of tree roots, being that close to our enormous maple. But I didn't encounter one root!

I have been quite thrilled lately that my mother has fallen-out-of-love with her rock-gardens and has been begging me to take all these rocks out of her gardens. "Thanks, Mom!"

I am very pleased with how it turned out. Now what am I going to plant around it? This spot gets sun till about 1pm, from then on it's almost total shade. Plants with moderate water requirements would do well here. Any suggestions?

More progress

2009-03-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Violets as far as the eye can see.

I love Snow Glories, I hope they multiply well in this spot.

Pickwick Crocus.

Bleeding Heart is coming up.

Ice Princess Tulips and Blue um... Blue... Jacket? Hyacynths.

I don't think I will ever get over how weird Rhubarb looks at this stage.

Strawberries are bouncing back quite well this year.

Horseradish is making an appearance.

And old-fashioned dark purple Irises from my mother's garden that I really hope will bloom this year.

Early flowers

2009-03-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hellebore again. :-)

Pickwick Crocus

I could not get the macro setting on the camera to cooperate with me for anything!

So close to Spring.

2009-03-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

I can finally say that my Hellebore is blooming :)

She sure is a beauty.

Snow Glories.

Pickwick Crocus is getting closer to opening everyday.

Sedum Autumn Joy

Delphinium Aurora Lavender is starting to wake up.

Tulips.

My birthday present!

2009-03-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is what Jordan got me for my birthday!

Bulbs and other early things.

2009-02-26T20:55:00.000-08:00

Here is my only Hellebore. I have three more coming from Burpee, or Gurney's... or is it Breck's? um. I've got plants coming from all of them...

I should probably trim off a couple more leaves.

I'm excited for all these blooms!

I am pretty sure this is a snow-glory coming up through the elfin thyme.

These are either tulips or hyacinths, or both.

Pickwick Crocus.

I planted 10 bulbs total and I've counted 17 shoots. Wicked-awesome! I should have brought in the little ceramic birdie for the winter, he has chipped something awful. But he was only $1.

Vinca minor. This is the side yard between our row-house and the neighbours row-house. It sees about an hour of direct-sun a day. It was nothing but dust and cheat grass in summer. Or sticky mud that could pull the boot right off your foot in spring, winter and fall. So, the first summer we were in the house, we layed down soaker-hose and planted THREE FLATS of vinca. I love that its evergreen. It is terribly hard to rake, though :-P

Raised garden beds

2009-02-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

We actually put these in the first week of November 2008. They have been sitting here all winter. I hope that all the compost I put in the there has decomposed a bit. Each bed is 4' x 4'

Facing South. I only have to add a little bit more soil and add some sand to the south sides of the beds for the asparagus roots that will be going in.

Also planned to go in: Mr. Stripey tomatos, cukes, lettuces, bush beans, radishes, carrots, beets, borage, nasturtiums. The potatos have their own space. More on that later, I guess.

Facing West. The ground froze before I could finish digging out the grass underneath the rest of the weed barrier that you see. And now, its all rainy so if I were to try and do it now, the whole area would just turn into a mud-bog from all the activity, so Iwill have to leave it alone a while longer. Which is going to be a while. March is two days away. That is the rainiest month of the year for Boise. I am praying for a dry weekend. Then it can rain as much as it wants.

Facing East. We have a pretty shady yard. This is the sunniest spot. Wish me luck.

Chicken Ark!

2009-02-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

We're going to get two hens!

Here is Jordan in the back yard starting our chicken ark.

I work on it, too! I've actually been doing a lot more than just taking pictures of Jordan working. I'm just usually the one with the camera. :-P

Here he is jig-sawing out the hole for the trap-door ramp thing-a-ma-jiggie.

Holding the main access door.

Upstairs, this is where the nesting box and roost will be.

We are still far from done, but we made excellent progress in just two days! The rain has started and now we have to wait until things dry out a bit before I can paint it. The plan is to go barn-red.

Spring is on the way.

2009-02-26T19:23:00.001-08:00

So.... Here is everything I'm going to be growing from seed this year. I'm proud of myself. This isn't really a lot.... I like to think it isn't, anyway. I would have to buy more grow lights if I wanted to be able to handle more than this....

These are the lettuces and greens that I'm going to start indoors.

And here they are. This settup is in the office, upstairs.

Yes, I know I have a lot of thinning ahead of me.

I really didn't expect this much so soon. The packages said that they germinate in 7 to 10 days. This was TWO days. I have NEVER seen something sprout this quickly!

Lettuces on my arms and my leg for you, lettuces, lettuces, lettuces..... (name that band!)

A rainy fall day

2008-10-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

A beautiful fall day.

The eastern garden bed. Just look at the colour on that Virginia Creeper on the fence!

Echinacea is still hanging on, some messy looking chives and the Sedum Autumn Joy has just passed the green stage.

This probably my most favourite colour combination in the garden. Huechera Plum Pudding and Nasturtiums Alaska Mix. Chives in the background.

The shade garden is looking a little dismal. The addition of the trellis added some much needed focus to this area. I got it for free from a neighbour, don't ask me why she didn't like it. Beats me. I am going to plant a Clematis Ragoochie on the trellis in spring. And I plan to fill in the foreground with a couple more huecheras in those dazzling shades that are available now-a-days.

The south bed. I finally found a spot to put those stepping stones. It's always muddy there anyway.

This squirrel barely escaped with his life today. Songo almost got him. They were running right around my legs so they were too close and moving too fast for me to get a picture of the harrowing battle.

This is the view over the fence on the west side of the yard. We are looking through my neighbours yard and into the alley. That's where the Aspens are. They are going to fill in the alley sooner or later. If you look closely, you can see red apples in the tree in front of the Aspens.

I started hearing lots of thunder and ducked inside just in time, we got 3/4 of an inch in 45 minutes. If you click on this pic to see it larger, you'll see just how pretty the rain is with the sun shining through it.

blooms and wildlife.

2008-08-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

I only planted this Rhubarb 4 weeks ago. It promptly dropped the two tiny (they were only 5 inches long) leaves it had. I thought it was going to die. Far from it. It's even starting a third leaf if you look at the base of the plant. These leaves are about 16 inches long. Impressive for such a young plant.

The hanging basket that Jordan's father gave us. Lovely combinations of color. Petunias and other things that I don't know the names of because... I'm just not that into annuals. Sorry :-P

This is actually the first year of three that I have been able to enjoy the Echinacea. All the years previous, the squirrels nipped off the buds before they got to open. Now with the combination of a spray that deters rodents and Songo having free-reign of the yard... I get to enjoy weeks of blooms!

Close up!

The Rose of Sharon has finally begun to bloom. I am under the impression that this is in the Hibiscus family.

This is who I refer to as, "Mama." She has had three babies three years in a row. She's been around a while. I can tell her from the other squirrels by four distinctive characteristics.
1) She has only one eye. But of course I can't get a picture of that side because she has to keep me in her sights... if I do ever get a picture, I'll be sure to post it. 2) She has a bite taken out of one ear, which you can see if you look closely. 3) She's HUGE. Mama dwarfs all the other ones. 4) She lets me get really close to her. The picture below... I did not have the lens zoomed in.

I watched her eat that entire walnut from start to finish. Probably only took her 3 minutes. I sure hope that I never get bitten by anything with teeth like that...

Houseplants

2008-07-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

So, this is about half of our houseplants. I'll have to remember to make another post about the rest of them scattered throughout the house. :)

This bay window is perfect. It's north-facing. Which provides what most houseplants like best. Bright, indirect light.

Those weird circles.....

2008-07-20T20:48:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering what those weird circles were that you see in some of my pictures... here's your answer.

They are stepping stones. I just can't figure out where to put them. No place seems right just yet. This one is a little hard to make out. It's a foot-print. Jordan made these for me almost six years ago. We had probably only been dating for two or three months. We didn't even live together yet. It's probably silly, but these mean a lot to me.

Hand-made. *snicker*

Re-potted my Liliac.

2008-07-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

I believe this picture was take in April 2008. This illustrates what the pot was like before. Jordan's father gave the pot to us.

We have had this Liliac for 5 years now. We dug it up as a seedling of one of Jordan's mother's Liliacs. It was just 6 inches high at that time. This is the first time its been re-potted.

I got this nice big pot for only $10! All because it has a little crack in it. Hardly noticeable.

Just lovely!

The new bed on the west side of the yard.

2008-07-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

And now it's time for another exciting installment of, "Hey, remember when?"

Um, so yeah. Remember when I was complaining about how long it took to make a new flower bed in a space where there was only turf before? Behold! It's done!

View from the north. Beats me why it's so blurry. At the time I just thought it was because I so tired. :-P

View from the south.

All done with the turning of the dirt with the spade-fork. Fork-spade. Whatever. Hand-tilled! And after the addition of a lot of compost.

View from the north.

View from the south.

All mulched and with the addition of a few more plants. It feels sooo good to have this done for the most part. It's going to take a while to fill it in with plants, but that's the fun part! :)

Bench!

2008-07-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

So, hey. Remember what this corner looked like two months ago?

Yay! I finally got the bench I've wanted for two years. I'm very happy with it.

But the legs kept sinking into the dirt. So I went to buy four pavers in order to put one under each leg of the bench. Well... four turned into 70.

So... no more muddy doggy feet on me. This took about two hours. 70 pavers. I didn't lay down any sand or anything. I may live to regret that but I figure with our clay soil, these will be staying in place for quite a while.

I think that the paver project was perfect success! And I did it all by myself!

Blooms

2008-07-19T22:20:00.001-07:00

Jordan's Hen & Chicks. Please excuse the harsh, slanting seven o'clock sun.

The Easter Lilly that Jordan bought for me Spring of 2007. Also, a lovely statuette that my mother gave to me for this last Christmas.

Drum-roll please! And for the second year in a row that I forgot to snap a photo of it while it was worth it, may I please present the dwarf pink monarda or bee-balm. Dammit.

Delphinium, Aurora Lavender. I love the individual flowers.

Liliaceae, Torch Lilly or Red Hot Poker.

Rudbeckia, Becky. It only gets 10 inches high! So cute.

Rudbeckia, Indian Summer.

Portulaca in the prettiest shade of apricot.

A little bit of seasonal change in the shade garden.

Jackmanni Clematis.

Purple Japanese Honeysuckle. It sure has filled-in nicely.

Blue Marguerite.

Geum.

Lamb's Ears and Geum behind them.

Here is Jordan's cobweb sempervivum. Isn't it just super cool?

On a sad note....

2008-07-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

There has been a regular at the bird feeder lately. A little, male, red-headed finch. With no eyes. I have no idea what happened to him. It was violent what ever it was. And the sheer accuracy of his wounds leads me to believe that other birds did it. Sigh...

And, its been quite a while since I've seen him. Probably a cat got him. Such is life. Survival of the fittest, I suppose.

Bird watching!

2008-06-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

This has been a fantabulous evening for bird watching!

There have been Western Tanagers all over the place! These are pretty rare around these parts. I wonder if they sticking around because of all of this unusual rain we've been getting? The rain gage says its another half inch!

There are five of them in the above photo, including one female. Can you find them all?

Isn't this fellow just picturesque?

And the ever-present little red-headed finches.

And then I notice that the light was perfect for some great photos!

But my hand was not steady enough.

And in the 2 minutes (literally, it was right by the door) it took me to get my tri-pod....

The light had completely changed!!! Wahhhhh!!!! sniff...

But I did notice this!
If you look closely, you can see its a double!

Floral arrangement

2008-05-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a floral arrangement that I put together today.

It's rather... large :D And a little wild.

The little red berries are actually last years rose hips off of the wild rose that's growing out under our willow tree in the front.

As for the white flowers... Anybody out there know? Its a pretty large shrub and it seems to bloom on old growth as well as new growth.

UPDATE: I may have figured this out! After reading a post at the Heirloom Gardener (see my list of garden blogs). It looks as though she has some of this growing in her garden as well and she has it labeled as Winter Honeysuckle. I would love it if some one could confirm my suspicion, though. ;-)

The vase is actually a gift from my brother. Its called a gurgle jug. It's a pitcher that makes a LOUD gurgling, bubbling sound as you pour out the liquid. It's one my most favourite things in the house.

Ah, progress.

2008-05-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

The garden is in full swing!

The Redbud is leafing out nicely and agastache is really taking off.

The Lemon Balm and the Thyme look happy together.

One of the sweet little Fern-Leaf Bleeding Hearts.

I am so proud of the Coral Bells!

I am really impressed with the Sweet Peas. 21 sprouts so far! I've never had any grow this fast!

Oh, Rain. How I've missed you.

2008-05-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's been raining for about five hours now! And it was really coming down for a while there, too.

And to think, I had just talked myself out of buying a rain barrel. I guess I'll be buying one of those soon. Just watch, though. I bet it won't rain for months if I do. Did I just un-jinx myself?

Everything always looks so lovely during the rain.

I feel so obligated to take pictures of the Lady's Mantle after a rain.

I love the shade of purple on this Columbine.

This a lot of rain for the Treasure Valley. Lets have a look at the good ol' rain gauge.

Yes, that's right. To us here, it's been raining hard for five hours.

And we've recieved half an inch of rain. Yup. Anti-climatic, I know. But this is still a lot considering what we've been getting lately. Which is nothing.

We did have a few visitors during the rain.

A pair of Red-headed Finches. I've noticed in other parts of the country they call them Purple Finches.

And as a parting shot, here's a view of the Weeping Willow that shades our drive-way from the up-stairs window.

New bed

2008-05-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

My latest project is making a new flower bed. I am sooooo motivated to get this done, but I am sure most of you gardener's know how difficult it is to make a new bed where it was just turf before. I HATE grass roots.

This is my progress thus far. This is to the left of the Clematis.

This is to the right of the Clematis. And as you can see, I still have a long way to go. I am using the mulch bags to kill the grass roots.

What is so frustrating is that it takes almost a month for this process to work. Everyone else I've spoken to says it should take two weeks but no. Not here. Not in this clay soil. After 18 days the roots are still alive and juicy. So I have to wait about another month before I can even finish preparing the soil for plants.... sigh.

But, this has turned into a small archaelogical dig, as it does anywhere you decide to dig on this property.

When I fist dug it up, I thought, "How am I ever going to get that tiny stick out of there?" Once I got it washed off the stick fell right out. But it's not a stick, its the brush for an old bottle of nail-polish. How fun!

Don't let my hand fool you (I have very small hands). This bottle is TEEENSIE!

Composting in a garbage can

2008-05-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, I have never composted before. Our property is very small, so I never wanted to make some big bin that would take up sooo much space. I want to use ALL my space for plantings! Also, cost is always an issue.

This garbage can cost about $25. Yes, that is a little pricey for a garbage can but this one is special. And maybe everybody else had already seen this type before, but it was new to me.

Its called an "Animal Stopper". It has a special lid that locks on to keep animals out. Or... to keep compost in while rolling it. I thought this was sooooo conveinient. I don't have to mess with rope or bungee cords to keep the lid on. The pictures speak for themselves as so how it works.

Now some people have told me that I should drill twice as many holes as this or I should have made the holes bigger. They may be right, I am new at this.

But if you ask me, this is looking like some mighty fine compost so far.....

Very first post!

2008-05-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

So this is picture of the yard in spring 2007. Most of these plantings were done in Fall 2006. I'll have to start looking for a picture of when we just moved in and there was nothing but grass back here. And here's some more photos of what it was like back then.

And here is what it looks like now!

Its not a HUGE difference, I know. But its coming along.

Here's what the side yard looks like now.

Here are the beginnings of my shade garden.

Two Golden Hostas, two Columbines, one Bleeding Heart and some Mint.

As you can see....I have added much more...

I've added one Hellebores (on the left) with a Lady's Mantle on either side of it. Two Fern Leaf Bleeding Hearts (varieties: King of Hearts and Candy Hearts). Two Coral Bells (Heuchera?). Lots of Elfin Thyme up close next to the rocks and some violas. Also, if you look closely... there is a Lady Fern to the left of the purple Columbine.

The hanging basket came from Jordan's father. He has some greenhouses out in Star. Forrest's Garden Spot is the name. :)

Free hardscaping materials are always a blessing. About 90% of the rocks in our gardens came from an old rock wall and barbeque that was in my mothers backyard that we demolished for her.

Next, we have what used to be the ugliest spot in the yard and the biggest waste of space. When we moved in this was actually a compost/trash heap that was up to my waist.

The next picture show's some progress.

And it is quickly shaping up to be the prettiest spot in the whole yard.

And here is what this area on the other side of our creek (overflow irrigation ditch) looks like now!

And now the list of what is planted here : Lambs's Ear, Easter Lilly, Geum, Purple Rain Salvia, two Purple Japanese Honeysuckles, Limelight Artemesia, two Blueberry bushes, one English lavender that's actively trying to die, purple Iris, Agastache, and a Redbud tree (lovingly dug up out of my mother's garden and transplanted here).

Since we are looking at this area, lets look at some more the "creek"

Here's the Jackmanii Clematis (after it bloomed of course) in 2007.

And now! It should be blooming soon. There are also two pink Dwarf Monarda in front of it.

Here is a picture of my Liliac bloom. Nothing amazing, I know. But I've had for 4 years and this the first year its bloomed. So, its very exciting for me! Its still in its first pot. This fall I plan on putting it in a larger one.

And with that, I think I'm all blogged out for this post. So, leave me some comments to let me know how I'm doing. I promise it'll get better :) I will try to highlight individual plants more and also let you in on some of my projects in future posts.