Tree "tops"

A few days ago, I lost track of one of my bathing suit tops.
You see, we generally leave our suites out on the back patio to dry after swimming, draped over a lounge chair on the porch to be specific.
I have been rather miffed by the recent disappearance but figured the missing top was somewhere lost in a dirty laundry pile.
I was relaxing in the pool after a swim tonight and was just kinda gazing up into the sky, looking around at the trees, just really enjoying the blessing that is my backyard paradise and imagine my surprise when I spied my missing swim top dangling off a limb high up in our cedar tree!! I busted out laughing so hard I scared the wildlife off...I think the crickets even stopped chirping for a minute, not to mention I think I snorted some pool water. Just not something or someplace I would expect to find the missing top. It reminded me of the shoes I see hanging from power lines from time to time and you always wonder how they got there?
I would have loved to have seen whether bird or critter when they were trying to haul my top off and what their plans for it were. I definitely have that moment in my celestial bookmarks now!!

Where a year has taken us

I can't believe we have been in our dream home for almost a year now!!!


I've been working hard on making it ours and still have so much left that I want to do. Good thing we aren't planning on going anywhere anytime soon!
I thought it would be fun to see the before and after's of the last year, so here we go!!

Before:



I was never a big fan of the "seusical" type topiaries but the poor trees do take a while to grown back to their natural form. The grass is still sad, but hopefully in the next year or two I will get the yard itself in a much healthier state. It's sticker city out there right now, can't wait to rid the yard of those pesky things!

And here is another shot of the bed I have started where the grass used to be. The "artistic" piece in the middle is the remainder of a stump of one of the trees we lost to the storms this year. I think I have come up with a creative way to incorporate it into the landscape, I will update a picture when I complete that project.


Before:


After: I am still working on what to do where the grass won't grow, but at least there is SOMETHING under the tree now besides dirt. I was very mindful with the mulch to keep a thin layer and keep the roots exposed where they already stuck out. I love this tree!



Before:
After: Some of the bigger changes can't be seen as well as I'd like. Of course the pool has been resurfaced and retiled and I have slowly started on the pool landscaping, mainly just expanding the little spot the previous owners had started at the end of the pool.


Notice my birthday palm tree has been added to the mix!!



Before:

After:

This is where I envisioned the memorial garden! As a matter of fact, I have an earlier blog about starting this garden. I had hoped to get farther with this bed, but with all of the beds I put in this year, I decided that this would be phase 1!

Here's another shot! I am happy that most of the plants I put in are making it in this crazy heat and drought. Oy vey! What a year to start establishing plants. Good thing I was aiming for all xeriscape! Just wish the stupid bermuda would quit sneaking in when I am not looking.

Before:


After: ARGH! I am still fighting the stubborn hackberry trees that are coming up everywhere. I must have pulled well over 200 sproutlings this year and right now there is a small grove coming up behind my wagon wheels. Unfortunately, I will have to wait til the end of the season to kill them once and for all. Little did I know that there is no organic way to kill those stupid trees and of course I am growing edibles in that corner too, So, alas, I will wait til winter to hit them with stump killer.

So there you have it! When I look at the pictures, it doesn't seem like enough, but boy, I am staying busy just maintaining what I have already put in. However, that won't stop me from plowing forward. I already have plans for the fall, although I think this time I will try to not bite quite so much off. The bonus is with so much more to maintain compared to the last place, I am back to my high school size in clothes. Can't beat that!!

A look back

It's been 11 years since I married the love of my life and I cannot imagine my world without him.
While our anniversary celebration was low key this year, last year's was beyond amazing. I guess that's why we were ok with not doing much this year, how could we top it? Of course that won't stop us from trying in the future, but for now, we are content just hanging out together in the oh so comfortable way that is us.
We honeymooned at Disney World and we were hooked the moment we stepped foot into the magical world that is laden with pixie dust. I could not have imagined a more magical way to start our marriage. It was no surprise that when ten years later, we finally had another opportunity to travel, Disney World was our pick once again.
It was an amazing trip and we are already planning our next one, hoping for spring 2012.
Now, a funny side note is that I planned our entire wedding around the Epcot flower and garden festival...yup, and my sweet husband went right along with it. The cool part is, the flower and garden festival is always going on when we go because well, that's our favorite way to celebrate being married.
When we made our video scrapbook, I tried to keep the pictures of the plants to a minimum since I know how boring that might be for some, but hey, here we are, on my blog, so take a walk with me will you?

I just love how Mickey is made of flowers....

And here is one of the reasons we decided we wanted a pool when looking for our house...love the tropical feel (the awesome hot tub on property didn't hurt either)
Oh yeah, we could get used to this...


I just love the topiaries at Epcot, one of my favorite reasons for going in the spring



And I'd love a spot of tea.....
And one of my favorites, the fairy garden


Our adventures in the World Showcase lead me to indulge in this temporary souvenir


On this trip, we discovered the world of hidden Mickey's, and there are ALOT, a whole book dedicated to them in fact. Now here's where you find out how totally disney dorkey I really am, because one of my plans for the gardens here is to have hidden mickeys. I've already been plotting my first placement.

One of the recurring themes that popped up on this trip was the presence of ducks. It became a game to us to take pictures of ducks wherever we were on the trip and have I mentioned my sweetie is a shudder bug? We have quite a collection of duck vacation pictures. These guys decided that they would hang out with us for the Illuminations firework show at Epcot, and they stayed with us the whole time.

By now if you've read any of my previous blog posts, you know that I have a wonderfully romantic husband. Of course he made sure to arrange that I got my towel animals when we came home from our anniversary day (Epcot).


Pixie Dust was definitely thick on this trip and I can't wait to see what awaits us on our next Disney adventure. How can it not be amazing? I'll be with my prince charming!

The Big 4 0 and an Easter Egg hunt Garden style

"Over the hill?? HA! You are ON the hill, planting flowers and digging up roots that go to China."
- the hubby

I tend to stay on the low-key side when it comes to my birthday celebrations and yet I just love my sweet husband and how special he made my birthday for me this year!
I decided to work that morning which unbeknowst to me, was when he put my birthday surprises into action.
On my way home, of course I had to stop and pickup some more mulch, haha, it seems that is one of my main goals anytime I am out and about these days. I've learned that I love sandy loam, but it does dry out faster and mulch is absolutely necessary if I am to keep my plants alive this summer.
No surprise that I may have picked up a few plants along the way and that I had quite a carload to unpack when I arrived home. He was quick to meet me at the garage door and help me unload, making sure I didn't make it into the backyard with any of my new buys.
Once unloaded, he lead me to the back and this is what I was greeted with.


Inside the box, a clue......Ohhhh boy, my very own Easter Egg hunt (the hubby had decided that was a perfect idea since my birthday fell so close to Easter this year, I couldn't agree more.)

So as I rounded the corner, I spotted my second Easter Egg...Yippee, our first palm tree for the pool area!! My sneaky little husband had driven back down to Northhaven Garden's (we went on a field trip there the day before as part of my birthday) and bought me a tree!! He wanted me to have something for the garden that we could always look back and say, "I got that on my 40th."

Onward with the hunt, I walked around to our side yard and spotted something cold and tasty
to sip on while hunting. Far be it from me to turn down an adult beverage on my special day.


Across the way, I spotted a new development on our Mexican Plum tree and went to investigate.
Since we are not going on vacation this year, my sweetie wanted to bring a little bit of vacation to me and has treated me to a tropical pedicure at Coldwater Creek . He was a bit perturbed when the day before I had decided to give myself a pedi, now I know why. Good news is, I will get to keep enjoying my birthday for some time to come.

As I continued on my journey around the yard, I spied another "egg" resting on the straw bale. It was a super duper weeder that didn't require me to bend over! I know he got it with the thoughts of it aiding my ongoing battle with the trash trees that are sprouting faster than I can pull them up. Amusingly, as I headed over to the next "egg", I spied several of my sprouting nemesis peaking their heads up as if to mock me. HA! Now I am armed with more than just a shovel! We shall see who will win the battle now.
Next to be found in the hunt was a firepot! I wasn't sure what it was at first, but it looks really fun to use and I will look forward to breaking it in this fall when the evenings get chilly and we want to sit on the patio with our fire!

Behind the little girl, was my next "egg." Of course Mr. Technology had to make sure I had some new technological device for my big day!
I didn't even know these things existed. How cool that I can document my garden in such a neat way.


Oh boy!! More plants! It wasn't until I found this egg that I realized the hubby had gone back out to Northhaven because this was definitely a plant I had oohhed and ahhhed over the day before, but couldn't bring myself to buy since it was a bit costly. It's echinacea "tomato soup," a bright red gorgeous coneflower. It will go perfectly in mom's memorial garden and hopefully I will be able to grow more from seed next year!

Just on the other side of the shed was another plant I had given serious consideration to, but decided not to purchase. I just love the salmon colored roses and this was no exception, not to mention, it's got a fun name to say, Oso easy paprika. Try saying that ten times in a row. I am still debating it's new home, but it will be forthcoming I am sure!

As we headed back to the patio, I spied yet ANOTHER "egg"....my sweet husband had really gone crazy with the gifts. Who was I to complain though? What girl doesn't like being lavished on? Hooray! Another "tomato soup!" Now I could plant one in a separate flower bed just in case I killed the other one. Not that I would on purpose, but I think all of us gardeners sometimes accidentally kill a few along the way.


And finally, my last and most precious "egg," my favorite part of any birthday, the card.

My very last Easter egg was the sweet words written by the love of my life, and yet cleverly hidden as a last and most treasured find.

A really amazing birthday celebration! Prefaced by a trip to Northaven, a great meal with dear friends at a unique dining spot, my super fun Easter egg hunt, lunch at a quaint cafe, and mexican food with my cousin, complete with a light show by God ( great lightning storm to watch from an indoor patio) and italian cream birthday cake, which I even had for breakfast the next morning.
I think it's a great start to 40!!

Blowing Winds

Chasing after the bunny and barbie was a whopper of a spring storm! It was the second major weather event we have experienced since living here and WOW, mother nature really knows how to dress up the weather. I was hoping for rain and got hail and 70mph winds. Thankfully, all of my plants survived but our poor fence was another matter. We knew we needed to be thinking about replacing it since it was old and not in the greatest of shape, we just didn't realize the time line for that project would be so close behind the pool remodel.
I remember looking out the window to see how our new french drains were holding up only to see our neighbors truck and alot of the park...blink, blink, wait.....that's not right. We lost about 80 feet of fence and talk about getting a more open feel to the yard, not that we needed that, but we got it.
On the bright side, now I can start planting my vines and perimeter plants that I had been holding off on as soon as the new fence goes up.







Our beautiful sparkly blue pool had quickly changed to a swampy shade of green and littered with a thick layer of debris and some large branches.


It was my first clean up project of the day and while it took several hours, I am proud to say that by early afternoon we were back to sparkly blue.

I've never been a huge fan of Bradford Pear trees, but they are pretty. Our house came with two of them and would you believe in the short time we've lived here we have now lost both?
One was a victim of the crazy storm winds, the other one didn't make it through the freeze in February.




All in all, it could have been much worse and I am thankful it wasn't. We got out without roof damage save a few dings in the whirly birds, but hey, it adds character right? And honestly, I don't know anyone else except an insurance adjuster that would notice anyways.
I am grateful for our generous neighbors that helped us cut the downed tree off the driveway and also helped us get up a temporary fence. I think that was another hidden gem of the storm, watching how our neighborhood stepped up and helped each other out while cleaning up the mess. We are so very blessed!

Now we wait for the new fence to be installed! As a bonus for the dogs, they have figured out that the next door neighbors love to give them cookies by the temporary fence. It's one of the first places they check out when going outside now.