dig dig dig

It was very nice this afternoon so I went out and trimmed down (aka hacked down) the one bush that was out of control. Underneath/beside it is a flower bed so I cleaned that out as well. It was overgrown with lemon balm. I found some crocus, something that may be tulips and the peony I knew was there but was obscured by the bush. I didn't measure it properly but I'm guessing the flower bed to be 6x8 feet and it's a funny shape. I prefer perennials for their coming back year after year but there are lots of beautiful plants that don't make it through our winter. Affording a large amount of plants is another thing. One I'd love to have is Love Lies Bleeding. I think it's neat to look at and it has a great name. :) Japanese maples with the lacy leaves.. My mom would like to have blue poppies so I need to find more seeds. We had some last year but the seeds got drowned. I had some seeds of some very pretty pink poppies but the seeds got spilled in a place I couldn't rescue them from. I got those from the neighbor so I can get more later in the year. I think someone has a plant exchange.. the greenhouse at the college I think so I'll have to check. I have some yellow lilies I could share and I'm growing extra basil. I could trade some of my starts.. I'm really hoping to plant snowdrops in the fall and lots of crocus in the lawn :)

herb bed

In the spring of the first year we moved to this house, I took it upon myself to start clearing and reinventing the flower beds. In every house I've lived in the last 5 years, I've made some kind of an herb bed. The first time it was just a big pot.

Here I have a bigger space

Cleaning out the space. It was overgrown with irises. Huge clumps came out, all attached together..
All the big rocks were in or around so I reused them..

My grandma's garden gnomes stand guard.. :)

By summers end it had gone nuts! I didn't realize the silver mound would get so big so it took over the whole end of the bed. I will be moving it as soon as it's warm enough to make room for new parsley, basil and chive plants..

lovely weather

I was out in the yard today, listing mentally all the things that need to be done. The one stretch of flowerbed got completely ignored last year and the rose bush on the south end of it had what I'm sure is powdery mildew. The bearded irises are trapped in between overgrown oregano. Not sure what all is in there. We have only lived here 2 summers so I feel like I'm still getting to know the yard. I have found stray feverfew, an odd little rose.. the viola and lemon balm are everywhere. The one back flowerbed is all lemon balm and behind it, a hidden pink peony.