With the advent of mild spring weather and as our outdoor activity ramps up, it’s always nice to get the kids outside for some green exposure.
Helping out with watering…
Inspecting the newly installed hardscaping and mowed lawn…
Transplanting the japanese maple in its 65 gallon grow pot…
Despite all the excitement that 2 new furbabies introduces to the household, I did still get to witness some really cool blooms decorating our new front yard landscape. The tall red cypress, red columbine, Crimson Pirate daylilies, and Picasso callas are just some of the vivid sights now showing their colors. Even the waterlogged gardenia managed to push out some blooms…
The highly anticipated Pumpkin Pie Coreopsis in bud and bloom was slightly disappointing for appearing mostly like a typical tickseed, just with a little more orange in color:
Was rewarded by a visit from a hummingbird earlier this week, who honed in on the Bright Eyes salvia in the front garden bed. So pleased to know that the wildlife hasn’t been deterred from visiting the loud and noisy construction in my neighborhood. I snapped some pics of bee-, bird-, and butterfly -friendly bloomers.
Found this gorgeous lily at Walmart yesterday. It was mis-marked as Crossover, but a visual perusal of the lily listings at All Things Plants (my new favorite plant database) suggests this might actually be Tango Push Off or Tango Black Eye. The lily I purchased exhibits a very deep burgundy black eye and throat, and speckles slightly to the creamy tips. At time of purchase it is about 2 feet tall. I have it planted in the front yard bed where it will get morning sun and afternoon shade.
It was a back-breaking, sore-all-over labor to work the north-side shade bed and start the task of planting groundcovers and creepers in the stone pathway. But we accomplished a lot over the weekend, including our final tree selections @ Chambersville: a shantung maple and a Viridis japanese maple, both 30 gallon specimens. Due to the wet weather so far, Chambersville won’t be able to deliver our new trees until sometime mid-April.
Before pictures:
After pictures:
We mulled over the idea of adding blue glass to the marble rock river winding down to the path from the gutter. The man also wanted to add a marble rock feature to the front bed, but I’m not as open to the idea.
Plantings in the north bed: Carex Everillo, Hosta Fire and Ice, Astilbe (x5), Lime Marmalade heuchera, Foxtail fern, Cedar Sage, White Star caladiums (x3), White Splash geranium, green oxalis (white-flowered), Hort Couture Glitterati Ice Queen, wild red columbine, Sugar Plum heuchera, Japanese painted fern, Hort Couture Plum Crazy oxalis, Contessa Burgundy geranium, black mondo grass.
Plantings in the north path: Platt’s Black brass buttons, scotch moss, irish moss, variegated oregano, roman chamomile, Grace Ward lithiodora, Archer’s gold lemon thyme.
