Rails to Trails Ride

After a long day of working in the yard, Don and I went for a bike ride on Rails to Trails.  The bugs were horrendous, but it still felt good to get the sweat going.

Pretty much done with Phase I of yard cleanup.  I want to keep working on removing the spreading lilies on the back bank.  I ordered  more ground cover to take its place.  There is a spirea that needs to be dug out.  I transplanted it last year, but a good bit of it is dead.

We also need to work on removing all the wild strawberries from the vinca...my most hated weed...it thinks it can take over the world.  Lastly, Don needs to finish painting the wrought iron fence.

Mom is getting ready to move on...maybe now she will find some peace and happiness she was never able to find on earth.

Beauty in Bloom

It was COLD today...only in the 40s.  We've gotten most of the mulching done, one more load should do it.  Spent some time yesterday taking pictures of the gardens.  Most tree blossoms are done except for the dogwood and redbud; but ahh, what a show they put on.

I enjoyed looking closely at some of the flowers.  The bottlebrush bloom on the fothergilla gardenii.  I have to remember to put some hollytone on them as they demand acidic soil.

The dogwood blossoms are in full bloom and are gorgeous.  The hellebore underneath add to the show.
 






And who can deny the beauty of forget-me-nots.  Legend has it a knight and young maiden were walking along a stream.  The knight had gathered a large bouquet of flowers when he fell into the stream.  Just before he drown from the weight of his armor, he threw the flowers to the young maiden and cried "forget me not."

The the late blooming ipheon inspired me to order more for under the weeping cherry tree and the redbud by the stone path.  As the starflower spreads easily, it should make a nice groundcover for these areas.

And finally, the white crabapple by the playhouse has more blooms than ever before.

What Happened to the Rain

Had lots of rain yesterday and last night, but today ended up being half decent.  This morning I saw some ducks in Miller's yard.  As I went out the back door, they were at the pond...2 males and one female.  When I came back from Lurgan they were in the back yard.  I scared them twice.  I hope they don't make a nest nearby as the kids next door will be their doom.

I made my second trip to Lurgan to get 3 hellebore.  The ones under the front dogwood are so pretty, I thought I would try to plant some under the back birch tree.  I thought maybe this fall I will try to divide the ones under the dogwood as they are getting pretty thick.  I understand they can be tricky to transplant, but still think it's worth a try.

Then....I decided I wanted to finish the foyer and had Don caulk around the woodwork.  I thought using painter's tape would make the job easier...BIG mistake.  When I went to tear the tape off, the caulking got all messy and had to be taken off.  Don't think I'll do that move again.

Last Ski Fling

We headed up to Stratton on March 22 for some last skiing of the season.  Wednesday at Stratton was so windy the gondola was closed as were some of the runs because of ice.  I lasted only lasted until 2 p.m. because as the day went on, the warmer it got and the hard stuff turned into mush.  Don skied until 4 to get his fix.

On Thursday we headed over to Okemo to try their slopes for the first time.   The first run down a greenie was just awesome.  It was a really fun run.  But things started to turn to mush quickly and I only lasted for about 2 hours.  Of course, Don was able to ski until 4 as I waited  for a loooooooooooong time in the lodge.

I didn't even try to ski on Friday.  My legs were tired from all the slushing around.  Don said the morning was very cold and icy but got better as the day went on.

Now back to gardening!

First Trip to Lurgan Greenhouse

Another beautiful spring day...worked on raking out more of the gardens, but I had to take the mandatory break on my swing for a cup-o-tea.  I probably got 2 more truckloads of cleanup for Don to take to the borough.  I think I want to move one limelight hydrangea in the back that isn't getting enough sun.  I'm also considering moving some Anthony Waterer spirea so they can be seen a little more easily.  But my bronchitis makes me tired and I didn't get much sleep last night from coughing so I'm done for the day.

And we made our first trip to Lurgan Greenhouse for primrose and pansies...not spring without them.  I also got some hyacinths to make the house smell good.

Allison's article appeared in the Sentinel online today.

The Swing is Up,..the Swing is Up

Spring is definitely in the air; Don put my swing up.  We sat on it together for quite a while just talking...I love when he sits there with me.

I had to go to the doctor's this morning with a bad case of bronchitis.  Spent a miserable weekend coughing so much my ribs hurt.  Starting to feel better already and hopefully I will be able to do some yard work tomorrow.

Don worked on patching and sanding all the digs in the wall from the old "wallpaper from hell" removal...dust everywhere.  Right now I plan on painting the foyer a dusty blue.

Country Gardens

It was like opening a Christmas present when the proofs arrived.  Rob Cardillo, the photographer, can make anything look good (except me).  We are going to pick one picture to have it enlarged for above the fireplace.

When Rob was here photographing my gardens he mentioned Nan Ondra's books and thought I would really like them.  I ended up ordering 3 books!  Well, it turns out Nan is the one interviewing me for the article...how cool is that!

 We had some unusually nice days in the high 60s so Don and I took advantage of it and did some yard cleaning--3 truckloads.  Well, today we are back to March weather...windy and rainy and not so warm.

Bound and Determined

OK, this is the year that I am bound and determined to update my blog on a regular basis. What better way to see what is blooming on a particular day, what I want to move to a better place, and where I need that "something is missing" plant.

I worked out in the front walkway garden yesterday cleaning around the birch tree so we could see the crocus that are blooming. Don thought the rabbits would be happy now that they could find them much easier. I was really dismayed at the broken branches on some of the shrubs. The viburnum carlesii has a large branch that was partially broken. I read in George Weigel's blog that sometimes if you tie the branch together with an old nylon, the branch may bond. I did this once with a foxtail spruce and it did work. I'm going to give it a try since I have nothing to lose but a branch. Some of the boxwoods had broken branches, but after trimming them they don't look so bad. I won't mention all the vole trails...that's another day.

No matter how severe the winter damage, the crocus blooms give me hope.