Last Revision (Maybe)

You may remember me making a birdbath HERE.  It went through many revisions as multiple parts broke.  The last straw was when we had a new roof put on last December.  The roofing crew backed over it and shattered the white glass lamp base.  Today I decided to try to resurrect it.  

It is not as elegant as before, but maybe it will be more durable. 

I used the same hubcap and weighted base that I constructed before.  I used some old lamp and ceiling fan parts, a doorknob, 

and an insulated plastic cup from Dollar General that I got for a penny a couple of years ago.  I don't know what I was saving it for, this I guess.  

To top it off, I used a bubble glass light shade that I got from the Big Bens Dealz Store on $1 day. 

                                          
 I think it turned out good enough.  Now  I need to dig down and bury the base a little bit for more stability and to make it look more balanced.  

Peak Purple

My flower border is at its peak purple. 

With this drought and run of 100 degree days, this won’t last much longer. I did water it today hoping to enjoy it a little longer.  I have...

Bee balm

Gladiolus 

Butterfly bush

Russian sage,

Salvia,

Drumsticks,

Sea holly, 

Phlox,                                        

                                              

Coneflower, 

    

And lavender. The boarder is starting to fill out.  My goal is a traditional British border.  I am getting there. 
 

Added Height

I had been briefly thinking about an adding some height to the flower bed next to the driveway. 

With the pear trees gone, the flower bed seems a bit short. 

Luckily, I had some wine barrel rings Mike had given me awhile back. 

 I decided to bolt two together then wire a piece of cattle panel to it to anchor it into ground. I think it will be perfect for some sweet peas to climb up this summer.

In Bloom At The 4Rs

We are still in a drought but have had just enough rain to keep things green. Plus, I have been carrying a lot of water to the flowers. 

Not really a bloom, but I moved my wine bottle bush out from the shadows to the stump of one of the river birches that we had cut down. 

The cone flowers are just starting to bloom. 

And can you see that electric blue in the background? 

That is the delphinium that I planted last year as a trial.  I had never grown it before so I wanted to see if it would come back, and it did!  I think I might have to get a few more now. 

The day lilies along the driveway are heading towards their peak. 

And for my flower pots, I decided to try different foliage plants instead of flowers. 
 Who doesn’t love a nice poke a dot plant and sweet potato vine. 

Snake!

Joe was mowing the lawn this afternoon when a black snake came slithering out from under the shrubs. 

It was a big one. Joe does not like it when they are heading towards the house. 

He killed it with a hoe. 

 I know they are good snakes but I don’t like it when I find them in the garage.  I also don’t like it when they are heading towards my bird houses. 

Big Mistake?

I either made a mistake planting them or cutting them down. 

The two river birches in front of the house had gotten too big.  We just had a new roof put on and I was afraid they might damage it at some point.  Plus, they shed limbs constantly and plug up the gutters with catkins in the spring and leaves in the fall. 

The Leland cypress trees were also getting pretty tall. 

So we hired someone to come top them and cut down the river birches. 

It was an all day job  

I don’t think it will miss the tops of the cypress trees. 

But the river birch that was on the right might leave a hole. It will take some getting used to. 

But I will have a big pile of mulch for next year. 

 

Buying More Work

I missed a year mulching so I have plenty of work to do to catch up. 

Today, I bought that work.  I had a dump trailer of mulch delivered.  Now I have until Joe buys hay sometime early summer to get it spread and out of his way.  

You can see there is a need for lots of mulch.  

I am trying the trench edging method.  Cutting straight down on the grass side, then at a 45 degree angle on the inside and removing the cut out part.  

Then I have a shallow trench to fill and can spread the mulch back from there.  I am hoping that by doing it this way I won't have to spray the edges with Round-up.  It is more work but I think it will be worth it in the long run.  I only got two buggy loads spread before it started to rain.  I will have plenty to do for awhile.  

 

Hugo and Daffodils

The weather was nice enough and I had some time so I decided to ride Hugo for a little bit yesterday.  

You can see that Hugo was not being a fan of getting caught, as usual.  After about 20 minutes of this, and Clyde never joining in, Hugo finally gave up and let me catch him.  He was a gentleman from then on.  

The last cold snap did in my hyacinths but the new miniature daffodils that I planted last fall were not far enough along to get damaged.  I have Minnow Rock Garden daffodils that have multiple flowers on each stem. 

I don't recall the name of this one, but it is stunning with it's white color and thin petals.  I don't see it on my order from the bulb company last year so I must have bought it on clearance and it probably had already bloomed.   I think it turned out to be a good purchase.  

And this daffodil that looks like a dandelion is called Rip Van Winkle.  It is very different looking.  But I am thinking that the flowers are proving too heavy for the stems.   A lot of them are pretty saggy.   

It had been fun watching all my new flowers pop up.  

In Bloom At The 4Rs

With temperatures in the 70s, the flowers are really starting to pop up. 

The daffodils are putting on a good show. 

I love how they look when the sun hits them. 

I am starting to get some crocuses.  The ones that I planted on the bank to naturalize haven’t started yet.  But these in the rock garden look nice. 

And these miniature irises were a nice surprise. I was afraid they wouldn’t bloom after I saw they had fallen prey to the rabbits.  I hope they keep enough foliage to be strong enough to come back next spring. 

These were the first miniature daffodils that I was given several years ago. I love how they look like a beautiful bouquet. 

Lastly, the rest of my potted daffodils are all blooming. So I moved them from the leaf pile where they were over wintering to the top of a barrel at the side door. They make me smile every time I walk by. 

 

Five Unfinished Projects

I have been working on a bunch of things but haven’t finished any of them yet. So I will just share my unfinished projects today. 

I decided to extend my back patio. In order to do that, I needed to move this spirea bush. 

But after I finally got it out of the ground I realized I didn’t really have a good spot to move it to.  I asked Virginia if she wanted it.  She did, but Mike hasn’t been over to get it yet. 

I took advantage of the warm spell to prune the grape vine. 

Every year I say I will prune it harder. I think I finally accomplished it this year. 

Now I need to take the vines and reinforce my vine globes.  

I also have been planning a gallery wall for the living room. I have asked chatGPT for help, taped up paper on the wall in the size of the pictures, laid the pictures out on the floor and most recently, cut out 1/4 scale patterns to make it easier to come up it an arrangement. I am sort of liking this setup.  But I need to frame so of the art first. 

I got this at a thrift store. I have taken it apart, added a strip of wood to the back to make it deeper, attached some fabric to a board and made spacers for between the mat and the fabric. Now I just need to attach the objects that I am framing to the fabric. 

And anyone that owns a horse knows it is a never ending project.