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

A quick look at the Sunny Border and White Garden

This azalea is planted near the front steps - pardon the A flag.

The sunny border is slowly waking up. The border grass that was cut after MLK Day is energized. The knockout roses were cut to knee high are also back and ready for action this year.

Here are the peonies at the end of the Sunny Border. They are coming back so healthy. I hope they like hot and dry - because they are going to get a lot of that this July and August.

From left to right - White, Pink with yellow center, and Red

Below is the opposite side of the walk way. To the left you see the new white camellia Man Sized that we got in Washington, Ga. I think it might look really good there. What do you think?

Italian Arum - so beautiful - twice a year.

This hosta is in the White Garden - I like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Weekend in Washington, Georgia

     This weekend my wife took me on an over night trip to Washington, Ga for a relaxing stay at a Bed and Breakfast. We left Friday morning as school was out for a snow day holiday that we didn't have to use. We got there and both had scheduled a deep tissue massage at the local massage therapy place. One
hour of relaxation - I was done for the weekend -  everything else was icing on the cake.

     The Bed and Breakfast had wine and cheese for us on the veranda when we got checked in late that afternoon. We found several camellia arrangements in our bedroom.

We ate at several nice restaurants downtown and did a lot of shopping and found some treasures for the family. I found a white camellia for the white garden, and my wife found a maiden's hair fern that she really loved.

     Washington, Ga is rich with history and many, many beautiful homes and public buildings. We found out that the local library had Tiffany windows so we made a side trip. The original front doors were quite interesting.

The Mary Willis Library was built after her death as a memorial and gift to the town by her father. The Windows were made at the Tiffany Factory at New Haven.



Mary Willis is pictured in the central panel, St Peter is shown in the left panel, and William Shakespeare is shown in the panel to the right.

Below is the Maiden's Hair Fern

and Camellia Japonica Man Sized

... they're back!

This is the Circle Yard. I envision a white garden. A cool area, dripping with white fox glove, gardenia, white roses, and all sorts of dark green lushness. What I have is a dry, sun baked patch of scratchiness. At the bottom left of the photo - right above the little concrete edging you can see the peonies are coming back! I have never had peonies. I have a lot of hope pinned on two of them - they are supposed to be large and white forming the entrance to the white garden.

This is a white...

This one is pink with a yellow center...

These are deep red - the pink and red are placed outside of the white garden. I'm so hopeful I have already put the support structure up to hold all their masses of glorious beauty!

A trip around the backyard

This forsythia is at the turning point of the driveway.

This is the Pink Perfection Camellia that i have taken so many air layerings from. I am trying to build up enough to go all the way down the fence line. This camellia has an upright growth habit and has been very disease resistant since I have lived here.

This unknown camellia is down in the "waydown", and is overflowing with flowers.

This is a favorite of everyone who braves the trip to the "waydown". They call it peppermint stripe, i don't know its correct name, it's just a camellia that we inherited.

This camellia needs to be air layered and put into work along the fence line also. The picture seems light - the flowers really look red in real life.

The Linten Roses have put on a show for the Season of Lent. These are old hellebores from a famous local garden that was dismantled by a local doctor and then funeral home. This one is white.

I think these purple are my favorite.

These are kind of a mix - slightly white purples. Behind them you see the fence where i hope to plant a long row of camellias soon. That brick structure is the laundry for the house. Inside is a huge black iron "bowl" big enough to take a bath. Under it a fire was built and the laundry was boiled. You can see the little chimney there. The house dates to about 1882.

Here's a close up view.

Like my daughter, this little gal never tires of reading, she is usually shaded by hostas, but they haven't awakened yet.

Finally, here's a shot of narcissus, with Italian Arum coming right behind it to hide their slow dying that comes later.

Thanks for stopping by.

David