Celebration and Remembrance

June 15, 2006 my world  here on earth changed forever....my mama went to be with the Lord.
I still remember it so vividly, as if it were yesterday. It was unexpected, it was devastating...but it was a blessing for her....as the Lord knew the exact right moment to call her home, and as much as I miss her everyday, I am grateful that she no longer worries or is in pain and knows no fear or anxiety. She is free, she is at peace and she is now our guardian angel...
Every year, my brother and I take a trip down memory lane and go visit the sacred spot where we scattered her ashes.
 
A place in the country on a hill by a tree....that overlooks hills and valleys




 
 and is a magnificent spot to watch some of the most amazing sunsets you've ever seen.

 
We talk about how much we miss her and about what she would think of where we are now, and that we are thankful for the blessing that she was in our lives.
This year, we did something that I have wanted to do since the first anniversary, but never have. We brought wildflower seeds to scatter.
 
 I realize that it would be just about an act of God for them to germinate with no love to give them once they are on the ground, but I figure a little faith and some cow manure might just do the trick. Alas, I will keep scattering seeds each year to come with the hopes of someday creating an ongoing living memorial.
 
We take a few pictures of the house we used to know as a special place for our family and discuss how if we ever won the lottery, we would buy it back and restore it to it's old glory.
 
We cherish the time together as brother and sister...catching up, sharing memories and enjoying the sacred time that is just the two of us.
 
Before we can leave, it is tradition to always stop for lunch at one of our favorite local haunts...and we indulge in some of the best comfort food around.

We celebrate her life and her legacy and know that God is good.

Working Hard

Not much difference to you, the viewer, probably, but I have been working like crazy! Mostly digging grass out of the flower beds and laying newspapers down and mulch. I still have to work on the back of the beds, but ahhhh, the front of one of my bigger beds is finally done. The big pile of mulch I posted the last time, gone!

 
 
I also finally got the old trellis up that I have been wanting to recycle! I liked the design, and if you
 look, it has Mickey ears! At the base, Climbing Pinkie! It should look great in a few years....she is strategically placed on the fence between two vitex planted a bit further up!






 
Last year, we had an abundance of Cardinals, this year, the theme is Blue Jays. They love hanging out and don't even seem to mind the Sam too much ( he is our little tornado).
 
Once I finally got the grass dug out of this little space, I discovered that my potato vine from last year survived and had come back, so I am glad I found my little chartruse treasure.
 
I love this daylilly!!
 
And these cannas!

Henry dalhburg

and my tropical Hibiscus!

This weekend entails whittling down the compost pile and you guessed it, digging out more grass! This time it's on to the memorial garden.

A Peek at May Projects

It seems as though I have not had near enough time in the garden this year, but I continue to make slow but steady progress on reaching the goals I set for myself this season.
One of my biggest goals has been to go back and make up for my haste to put in so many new beds my first year. I had forgotten how unforgiving bermuda grass can be if you leave even a tiny hair of root in the ground, so slowly but surely I am going back and digging out the grass, putting down a heavy layer of newspaper down and mulching around the plants.
 
Another goal is to get rid of all the grass surrounding the pool. Nothing like fishing it out of the water for days! I started at the end where a small bed had already been established and just expanded it. I finally got my palm replacement in, now if I can just keep it alive. I am hopeful that palm trees do not go in my category of plants that I kill ( don't we all have a few?).
 
I am a Disney Nut! One of my plans for the garden is to have bits of Disney throughout the garden. While shopping with my SIL and niece and nephew, we stumbled across this great decorative stone. It is especially dear to me because of Eeyore....my heart dog looked much like Eeyore, hanging his head low when I would not give him tomatoes from the veggie garden.
 
Here we see my new squirrel prof bird feeder that so far, the birds detest! I may have to trade it in for another platform feeder and just endure the squirrels.
 
I finally got the repairs done on my deck and have power washed it myself (that was a fun adventure). I still need to do some sanding in places before putting the stain on, but with these March winds in May, I may never get a chance to stain. I was dismayed to learn that growing roses up the pergola is probably not a great idea, as it was apparently not built sturdy enough for that according to my handyman. I had planned on climbing pinkie. I do have a fairy rose that is already going crazy on the other side, I am going to let her go and see what happens.
 
I finally found someone with a trailer willing to get me some compost and mulch from the city and spend a few hours shoveling and dumping. Now it will be fun to wittle the pile down. I have a feeling it will go fast.
 
These shots are for my cuz! I just had the great joy of introducing her to gardening and know that of course, she needs to have some of the family iris from our memaw's and my mother's garden.

Also, here are some of mama's daylilies that are blooming their heads off right now.

In a Day

That's marked for me
Left me smiling til my cheeks hurt.
A start with my Father
and then a talk with my dad,
a brand new playlist and music that stirred my soul.
Breakfast in the company of love,
pampering from my beloved,
Words from many who stay close to my heart.
Perfect weather and a stroll with my dogs,
Lunch with a cosmo
and my beloved.
More pampering and some dressing,
and dinner on plastic pink plates with my beloved.
Purple toes and pie,
Comfy clothes and hopes that rice will work.
And time with my beloved.
Off to bed and then back to the world.
A day of contentment and celebration.
Blessings counted and cherished.

Slow but Steady

Projects are going slowly this season, but I am plugging along as time and energy allows. I am thrilled that my Iris are blooming like crazy this year!!



These Iris are especially dear to me, as they came from my mama's and gramma's gardens. I had no idea what I was planting color wise and am excited that there are two lighter purples on either side of the little girl! I think mama snuck out from heaven to arrange this for me! I did get my passion from gardening from her!My Hot Lips Salvia is a happy camper! You can't really see it in the picture, but just behind the yarrow is my new baby vitex that I planted. I can't wait til it's gets big!
I had to abort working on the stone path for a spell as the hedge ( I think it's Cleyera) is blooming like crazy. We've never seen it bloom like this in the year and a half we have lived here. It's pretty but boy the bees are going crazy around it. We've watched countless bumble bees spar in front of the hedges and knock each other into the pool. With me having a venom allergy, I decided the path would wait until all the hub bub passed.
I have to admit, I've already hit the nurseries shopping. I have a wish list of roses that I want to get started this year and I am excited that I have found 3 of them locally already!! Below is a climbing Iceberg Rose. I also found Mrs. Dudley Cross ( yellow) and Climbing Pinkie as well!! As soon as I am able to get them in their new homes, I will share where they went!
I have told myself no new beds this year! I have others projects to focus on this spring and yet here we go. I just couldn't help myself. I really do want to work more on the front yard, it's just that my backyard is my paradise. However, just about everyday when I am walking the dogs, I see my naked mailbox when we come home and just had to spruce it up.

Welcome back to Spring

I spent the winter blogging about nurturing our puppy garden with our new addition, Sam, and as spring has snuck up on me, I find that I am not only behind on my garden chores, but sharing the ebbs and flows of my garden.
As usual, my project list is long and and my desire to accomplish less grass and more plants is ongoing. However, there are lots of hardscape projects on the agenda this spring.
First on the agenda is the pool area. There is a little strip of weedy grass between the decking and the flower bed I put in last year and it's been driving me nuts. More specifically, pretty much all of the grass around the pool, because every time I mow, guess where the grass goes? But around the pool is alot of ground to cover at one time, so I decided to start with the part that we see when we look out the window.
I have a new supervisor in the mix this spring and he's been very good at helping out. Not so good at moving when I get to his spot, but thankfully, his sister will get his attention elsewhere and eventually he will run off to see what she is doing.

He has also continued to hone his helper skills when I have a digging projects.

I got my first batch of flagstones home (400lbs.) and laid them out to see how my grading was and to see if I liked it. With all of the rain this week, I definitely need to regrade a bit, but I also decided I wanted to flank the flagstone with a river rock border. I already have the river rock, it's just a matter of getting everything in place. I should hopefully be completing this project in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for updates.Once again, our new addition has kept me on my toes. He was after a squirrel and just about knocked my wagon wheel over. I decided it would be better if I took it down until I could get around to reinforcing it a bit better for our rowdy boy who is a bull in a china shop!

I do actually have a few things blooming besides weeds right now...my unknown yellow rose that was rescued from a friend's trash is oh so happy and blooming away in the front beds.


And my goodness , I don't think I realized that flat leafed parsley could get this big! The curly leaf is really happy too.
Then there is the not so fortunate....you know that great post about all of the wonderful garden plants my sweet hubby bought me last year?? Including my special big 4 0 palm tree? Somehow, I managed to kill it. It survived all summer and most of the winter. I really did try to baby it, but it just gave up. I was really sad.

Thankfully my husband is not mad and actually, I found a great deal on a replacement that was alot more palm for the money, so I guess there was a sorta good side. As soon as the ground dries out a bit, our new palm will go in it's new home.Of course there have been a few goodies that I have collected over the winter. The wind chimes were a gift from my wonderful MIL. I just got them out a few days ago and I just love them! You can sorta see they are hanging off the pergola of my deck, which happens to be another of my hardscape projects this season. It desperately needs to be repaired and stained. The climbing fairy rose that I started up it last year is growing like crazy, so I need to get a move on before it takes over. I just love my fairy roses.
I still have not decided where this little gem will go. I just love the sparkly. It was an impulse buy from big lots of all places.
Still have alot of projects on the agenda. I will continue to share as the spring continues!

Me and My Shadow

Tasha and Sam have really become quite smitten with one another. It's just been within the last few weeks that they have finally learned how to play together and it's brought so many smiles to our faces. Here are a few shots of the inseparables.
Snackin together
Chillin together


Sharing ToysJust plain cute. The boo boo you see where she bumped her head on the doorway of the kennel on Christmas day. All better now.

Lovin destuffin the toyz