Garden on the brain

I have a fabulous mother.  And a fabulous mother-in-law.

One has a great garden where she gets her own vegetables every summer (this is shared jointly with my fabulous father).  The other has an incredible landscaping job in her gardens and is a whiz at keeping things looking fabulous.

They seem to have both rubbed off on me.

I have gardens on the brain.

Flower beds and vegetables.

Andy and I have been doing some serious work in our flower beds, trying to get them in tip-top shape.  One huge section of our flower bed is full shade, and the rest is full sun, so it’s an interesting mix.  In the full shade we have a lot of hosta, a few shrubbery type things, some creeping phlox and some other bits and pieces that the previous owners planted.  Today I added two types of coral bells and I’ll soon have a few more hydrangea. 

  

 

In the full sun, we have a lot of day lilies, some more shrubbery and some various plants I picked up at Lowes last year whose names are currently escaping me.  I know there was some serious ground cover and some ornamental grass.  Basically, I grabbed what I thought what pretty.  Today I ordered some different lilies and some hen and chicks to add to that mix.  I’m so anxious for everything to fill out.  Right now, it all looks a little sparse….but I know that in three or four years it will be beautiful.  I may not be here to enjoy it, but it’ll look lovely

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Andy’s mom is going to give us some full shade bits and pieces to use as groundcover, and we are going to work on covering an area in our backyard that has previously housed a rusted out shed for 10+ years.  We’re hoping to eventually turn that into a deck area, once our backyard is peaceful and pretty (it’s far from that right now….we just planted some grass seed and have been working on that too).

Andy also tilled up my garden area.  Tomorrow I am hoping to get everything planted.  Here’s what we are attempting this year:

                        

These aren’t really vegetables, but I’m planting them too…because I want fresh flowers around the house all summer long:

  

And, last but not least my herb garden.  This year we’re going with: basil, rosemary, dill, chives, mint, oregano (and maybe thyme…we’ll see)

        

 

And I am so stinking excited!