Digging in the dirt

That's what I did today for Memorial Day. I gardened. Which is something since my family isn't really gardeny. Anyway I started with this mess in the front flower bed.

And removed all the random plants and weeds. The ground was really dry so it was easy to pull the weeds out. They were struggling to survive.

Then I massacred the box wood. It had grown too tall and was blocking the sprinkler at the back of the bed. It was getting all the water and the stuff at the front of the bed was getting nothing. I didn't do anything to the random red bush. It's pokey and I don't like dealing with it. While I was at the nursery picking up the plants I ran across a Hydrangea that is hardy for my climate and I think would grow okay where the box wood and red plant is. So now I'm rooting for the box wood to die so I can go get a Hydrangea and plant in there. Anyway...

Finally, I planted Alysium and Impatients. We've planted those in this bed since forever. (Sometimes we'll plant pansies in the fall to winter over.) The nursery was all out of the tiny packs of impatients that we normally plant so I had to go with bigger than normal sized plants.

I decided that I wanted to try and grow some Peonies. The nursery had them on sale, buy one get one free. I think it's past peony blooming time, and they were trying to get rid of the rest of their stock. These guys looked healthy and are a nice multi-petaled, pink bloom. Hopefully I can keep them alive long enough to see them bloom.

I had a few alysium and impatiens left over from the front yard, so I added what I had left to the bed back here. I'm thinking about going back to the nursery and picking up a couple of white blooming peony. Not entirely sure where I'd put them, though.

I'd like to put some creeping phlox in all the nooks and crevices of the rock wall you can see leading down into the basement entrance. Since the area isn't irrigated, I'm not really sure if the phlox would take or if it would turn out to be a big waste of money. ... The photo reminds me that I need to get back out there and sweep up all the pine needles and garbage that blows into the landing

The last thing I got at the nursery were a pair of dwarf, double bloom, lilac bushes. I love lilacs, but I didn't want something that would grow to be too big. These dwarfs will only get to be about 5 foot tall. And they will bloom twice (as long as I remember to prune off the spent flowers). As a bonus humming birds love them. I wonder how long it will take for them to grow to full size.

I went over to Lowes today too and picked up the sprinkler bits needed to turn that white pipe into a sprinkler for the lilacs.  That way I don't have to water them by hand.  Hopefully my brother will get to installing the sprinkler this week. 

I'm thinking on getting some trellises to put on either side of the chimney and maybe plant some clematis or some honeysuckle below it.  S-I-L A was really excited about the idea of some honeysuckle.  I guess it's one of her favorites.  A climbing rose could be really beautiful too.  Something to think about.  I need to think about adding some annuals to fill this bed out some while the lilacs get settled.  Maybe some snapdragons for fun.

Hugs and Stitches
Kay