A few growing things!

The garden is happy with the warm weather we've been having. The squash and zucchini are starting to come like crazy, the tomato jungle behind them has dozens of tomatoes of all sizes - a couple will probably be perfect to pick on Saturday. The trellis in the furthest box will hold the beans. You can't see them yet, but there are several plants that just popped their heads out of the dirt and by next week, we'll have a bean forest too!

We weren't sure this tree would survive - it took some heavy pruning on the roots and then the winter was so cold lots of people lost plants and trees. But it's back and happy to give us shade this summer.

You can just see the gladiolus bulbs have come up and are growing well. I planted 60 bulbs total in different areas of the planter bed, and so far it looks like we'll have a 90% success rate. For a first time bulb planter, I figure that's pretty good.

Lots of rose bushes. These will be beautiful when they are grown. Already they've doubled in size - they are expected to grow to half their mature size this season. I can't wait! The ones I've planted here are: Back row (L-R) 2 Generous Gardener, 1 Glamis Castle, 2 Irish Hope; Front row (L-R) 1 Jude the Obscure, 2 Glamis Castle, 1 Crocus Rose. (http://http://http//www.heirloomroses.com/)

The Hydrangeas are coming up purple!

We've found that the hydrangeas (and other plants) love the North side of the house. When we're done, this will be the walkway that goes around to the pool in the back. You can see there's work still to be done!

Our "Shade Garden"

This is the previously dry and empty bed in front of the family room. We've planted hostas, calla lilies, coleus and some ferns. Everything but the coleus is small still, but thriving!

Does it look like a lot of dirt to you too?

You can just see the jasmine plants under the tree here. They are soooo happy now that they have been planted - they are all suddenly producing flowers.

The backflow preventor - the single most expensive piece in the irrigation project. But it keeps our drinking water safe!

Does it look like a bunch of weeds? Look again...there are 5 small rose bushes, 3 foxglove that are past their bloom and some lily bulbs that are coming up. It takes a lot of patience to start out small! :) The 5 rose bushes that are here are: William Shakespeare, By Appointment, Geoff Hamilton, Mary Magdalene, and A Shropshire Lad. You can look them up on http://heirloomroses.com/.

The driveway circle is barren, but you can see the two planters that we built. We will plant a dwarf magnolia tree in the smaller one. You can see the valve box on the left. Although the object of doing the irrigation correctly is that when you are finished, you don't notice the irrigation or its components, it is one of the things I am most proud of. I designed the system and have helped Ken put it together. Who ever thought I'd learn how to do this stuff?

View from the kitchen window

Standing at the sink, this is the view from the window. The curbing you see there marks the edge of the herb garden - it will be to the left and under the tree. To the immediate left of the stairs will be a border of lavender. Hopefully when you get back next year this will all be planted and growing happily.

View from the corner

As you can see - still far to go, but much better than before!