April Flowers

The thing about springtime flowers is that you wait for months for them to arrive, and then when you blink, they're gone. I've been taking pictures of all the new floral arrivals, but even as of this posting, they've changed. Oh well.

This is the border along part of my front flower beds. It already looks very different from when this was taken because several of the daffs are gone and more orange/striped tulips are open. Joe likes to pick the "grapes" off of the muscari, so some of those are looking a bit weak these days.

It's not flower season around here without some bright geraniums. I had intended to overwinter last year's geraniums but got sidetracked and left them out for all the freezes...they didn't make it. These puppies are at least twice the size (I found an awesome nursery in town that has the best plants hands down) and I SWEAR I will overwinter them. However, the pictured plant I found split this morning, and I wonder if I'm having some kind of root borer problem. I saw the same thing happening with some seedlings in the veggie garden, so we'll see.

Do you see those sunny little faces flanking the blueberry bush?

My sister-in-law gave me some bulbs from her garden club in Virginia last November, and I didn't get around to putting them in the ground until January. I planted them in between the blues in the berry patch for something to look at while I wait impatiently for berries, and they came right up.

Isn't this a lovely sight? My pergola, the hubs building pea trellises beyond the gate, the unfinished gate (it's now finished and pretty impressive), and new wisteria plants. I really know nothing about wisteria other than it vines and is good to plant on pergolas and arbors. These have pretty purple flower clusters that are actually starting to bloom, but these pics are a week old, so bear with me.

And finally, our new apple trees are blooming and leafing out. I'm glad the last freeze didn't really seem to affect them, and the blossoms are so cute.

Come onnnnnn, apples!

Changes at the WatRanch

So this weekend we decided once and for all to fence in the garden for several reasons. The two biggest reasons were the dog next door who, while very cute, likes to come and play in my lettuce bed, and to give the rabbits some protection from our own mutts. This was an all-hands-on-deck project instead of a Bill-hurry-up-and-do-it project. Which means I became very good friends with a commercial post hole digger and a drill.

I'm most excited about this pergola. I put it together all by myself and I can't wait to plant all kinds of lovely vining, flowering things at the bottom of it.

I also love that this is the gateway to the garden. It looks rough and messy now, but soon enough I hope this view is full of lush greens and vivid colors. This is the view from the inside looking towards the house.

The four quads are very clear in this shot with Quad 4 covered in grass in the immediate foreground, Quad 2 just above that, Quad 1 at 12 o'clock in rows, and Quad 3 recently turned over and rich brown to the left. The raised strawberry beds are also encompassed in the new perimeter as well as a large open area in front of the shed for Joe to stomp around in while I'm gardening.

To finish off the fence, we added garden wire to the existing split rail fence. I did all this myself, too. No doggies are welcome here.

Yes, the shed is STILL under construction, as are guest blog posts describing the progress. We're also planning a patio in front of the shed as an outdoor living/play space for the family. The work we've accomplished on the fence in one weekend has me very encouraged that we can make that happen soon, though there are still gutters to be installed on the house and a storm shelter to be built.

I can't help planning potential new beds, though. I'm thinking this will be a cutting flower bed. It's funny that by placing this boundary around the garden, we've created even MORE planting areas. The gate next to the future bed is for lawn mower access to and from the shed, and Bill put it together using a one of the sections of fence. After I hammered off all of the slats, of course. GRRRR.


Edit: Voting for the rabbits' names will stay open til the end of the week, I think. It's just starting to get interesting. Click here to cast your vote.