It Happened During Spring Break!

 Monday - this is where we started.

Tuesday - the room is primed and the trim is happenning... s    l   o   w   l   y   ...

Tuesday night - the rolling begins.

Wednesday - the second coat of paint really did the trick .

Wednesday afternoon - curtains are ironed and hung on the new rods. Thanks jcpenny.com!

Thursday evening - floors scrubbed, rugs placed, time to get the furniture.

Friday - thanks to grandmother for the bedroom set - this 15 year olds bedroom had a super makeover!

Hope she likes it!

Sunny Border on Friday

 From the sidewalk this is the view of the Sunny Border to the right of the house. There are several things I'd like to highlight for you.

The sea holly is really taking off this year. Last year it must have been settling in, because it just sat there all summer - never grew an inch. This year it promises to look a lot more like the pictures and description I read in the catalog.

It's already taller than the knockout rose.

The knockout roses are blooming all over. This is the redder one near the street.

This is the lighter pink - there are two on either side of the Italian Cypress.

the mandevilla vines are freshly planted, trussed up, aimed toward the framework, and over-dressed with black-cow. On your mark, get set, go!

This hosta is near the shady back part of the border. This area is under the magnolia tree branches and is shaded most of the day. Seems happy.

 Here is the left side of the entrance into the White Garden. From bottom to top are: the white peony, the Camellia - man sized, and in the planter guara, which Darla says will need to be cut back by mid-Summer - i believe her. Last year it was 5 ft tall easily.

I hope you guys have a great weekend - and thanks for stopping by.

New Water Feature

I love a good freebee. One morning a month ago I saw a sign in the copy room at school - free to a good home. The librarian had a wall mounted water feature to give away. She had envisioned a quiet reading corner on the patio behind her house. Secretly said that she couldn't read with the thing tinkling behind her - "it sounded like two boys peeing." She knows that sound, she has two boys. I have had the fountain stored away during pollen season trying to figure out where to put it. Yesterday i decided, in the front yard at the end of the porch near the dining set. I like it.

Wordless Wednesday ... from the kitchen window

Primary Colors and what's happenning in the Backyard

At the front of the Sunny Border I have an area that is turning into a study in primary colors. Below is a sea holly which has thistle-like blue grey flowers. I have it sitting with a rosey red knockout rose and stella-de-oro daylilies. If the sea holly blooms this summer I could have red, yellow, and blue.

Here' s the real name for the

sea holly, blue glitter - Eryngium planum

Here's the knock out rose - lots of promising buds.

This is the view from the sidewalk, at the bottom of the picture you can see the stella-de-oros, the knockout, and the sea holly named blue glitter. I am hopeful.

This is the left side bed going into the white garden. This is the spot I have chosen for the Camellia - Man Sized. This area gets shade until noon, afternoon sun until about 5 then the ground is shaded by the HUGE boxwoods. I think the camellia will do fine here.

Here is the view from the boxwoods looking into the entrance of the white garden. To the right you can see the peonies, daddy's concrete boy with his ivy topiary ball, and in the back you can see the new hardy ferns that I brought from the water garden out here in front of the mahoneia. I think it is looking better all the time. What do you think?

Now to the backyard - and some messier business.

This area is what I call my nursery. It gets soft morning sun and then shade the rest of the day. This photo was taken about 8 a.m.

The snowdrops have grown up through the pots - but from last year's air layering I got 14 out of 18 camellias and 2 out of 3 red maples. Which I think is pretty good for one afternoon of work.

Below you see the plants that were overwintered in the basement, they were dragged out into the rain and sun every chance we got. There are three asparagus ferns in front, three mandevilla plants for the sunny border, and 5 rabbit-foot ferns which were divisions from a seriously over-grown pot.

Here's a close up of the mandevilla's growth. I am proud of these - this is the third year I have had them, and one of them I grew from a clipping that I took late in the summer, which is apparently hard to do successfully.

Finally here is the Carolina Wren who greets visitors to the front steps. This Spring put the sun at your face, the wind at your back, and enjoy your time in the garden.

Thanks for stopping by.

David