Design Wall Monday - 5/23/11

So, there was no rapture on Saturday but even more miraculous is that there was nary a raindrop all weekend. And that means no sewing other than the button/hole job I was hired to do so I'll have to show you some of what I designed outside...I am bruised and sore and my hands are permanently stained with dirt and grass but the work just felt good!

The highlight of my day/week/month/SUMMER was seeing a pileated woodpecker in my yard. They are so rare to see - Dad having only seen "his" 3 times in 40 years (and his house is surrounded by nature preserve with tons of birds at his feeders versus me in the village where I have to fight for all 7 or 8 birds that comes to mine). I wasn't able to get my own picture but this is what they look like...these birds are crow size.

I attended 2 plant sales on Saturday. Love them! People pull stuff out of their own gardens, the money goes to a good cause and I know it will survive in this area. The second sale was for the local cat shelter. When Vickie realized I was the one who made the "Avocato" wall hanging she was raffling she wouldn't let me pay for plants. I only took 3 small plants altho she wanted me to take more.

This is flower bed has my Sum & Substance hosta - some day the plant will be 5 feet wide and each leaf will be 24". In the back is the yellow woodland poppy that just loves this corner. The new plants are Solomon's Seals - 2 each on left and right. They are a weepy plant that has little white bell flowers under the leaves. The poppy is from last year's plant sale. This bed will be expanded to the right along the foundation wall to include more hosta, sedum and Ladies mantle.

These are my purple clematis vines - with buds already! You can see where I stand in the mulch to trim or twine the stems around the trellis. I stopped on the way home from the plant sales to dig out a huge flat rock from the side of the road that will work perfectly here as a stepping stone. The day lillies and sedum are new! I pulled out a hosta that will go into the new hosta garden. I might need to move the coral bells. They are eventually destined for the chocolate garden that might appear this summer but I think for now they will be a little crowded with the new stepping stone.

The purple iris are about to bloom. I didn't get any flowers last year so this is twice as nice. The yellow iris' are already blooming - they were from last year's plant sale. You can also see the new brown-eyed-susan's in the background. I like to mix it up! Just outside of this photo are new purple cone flowers. Are you catching on to the color scheme here?! Purple and yellow! My columbine is nice and leafy but I am not holding my breath on flowers - there's weren't any last year - I can't even remember what color they are supposed to be.

This bed looks like a mess but it's a work in s.l.o.w.progress. I have a final shape in mind and I just keep working outwards as I get plants to fill it in. It will have a rock wall when it's "done". There is also this little weedlike bulb that I am dealing with - it gets lanky leaves that die off and later it blossoms with a pretty white flower. It looks awful as part of a garden bed so I am gradually pulling them out. This bed has new day lillies, b-balm and delphinium plus it already had jacob's ladder, phlox, bleeding heart, hardy geranium and my white azalea.

And because there is always more to do - check out this mess. This is the side porch that serves as the nursery. It just so happens that the porch deck is the perfect height for a "table". Middle tray is for the upcoming hosta garden (near the sum & substance), tray on right is veggies waiting until garden dries out and can be tilled and tray on left is misc. plants to find a home for. The bricks are for the start of a border I want to do around the pear tree, the green trug is for weeding and the USPS/pink boxes hold empty pots that need to go to the basement.

It's raining again....at least I won't have to water plants tonight!