What would I do without Marvin’s help in the garden? He’s my constant and essential companion out there. I consult with him on important design decisions and he assists in quality control. When he was younger he also helped me catch grasshoppers and bat dirt clods around, but we don’t do much of that anymore. Our garden is a quieter place these days.
In the first photo he’s pacing along the stone walk, helping me find a suitable space to tuck in a plant that can tolerate foot traffic. When we built this path a few years ago I planted Irish Moss between the stones, but most of it didn’t do well so it’s being replaced, a few plants at a time. Wooley Thyme is doing okay in the sunny spots, Baby’s Tears seem to like the shade. Today I planted…oops…I forgot to save the tags. Well, I planted a ground cover ferny-looking thing in a shady spot and some mat-forming ornamental grass-like stuff in the sun. This view of the path is around the side of the house with a Southern exposure. The intensely pink flowers are those of an azalea shrub that spills out onto the walk.
Here’s Marvin testing the plush appeal of this grassy path. Rather than plant the garden in borders along the edges of the property, I laid out beds here and there and wove the paths between, around and sometimes through them. While the stone walkway is a main thoroughfare, this little side path leads to other parts of the garden that can’t be seen unless you venture forth. My husband and I are sometimes at odds about this concept because he’d like to view it all as one, whereas I enjoy the temptation of the smaller path and what might be found around the corner. As always, he indulges me and tends to his lawn, hedge and hardscaping because, after all, the garden is my baby. Marvin, by the way, found the grass to be satisfactory and then moved on to test another spot.
Now he’s making sure the sun warms the soil to just the right temperature in this precise spot at this certain time of the day. Marvin can be very exacting. He’s the only thing that will be planted here, though, at the base of this Butterfly Bush. Corydalis and ferns choose to sprout there on their own, but Marvin has claimed this spot for himself.
He works hard, doesn’t he? This photo shows the head of the walk where Marvin’s making sure no intruders enter our sanctuary. Don’t be fooled, he’s only pretending to be snoozing. The pink flowers are Armeria, or Sea Thrift, just coming into bloom. They’ll carry on most of the summer if I pick off the spent blooms. They grow well in a dry, sandy soil because they have a tap root that can be up to 30 feet long on a mature plant. My amended garden soil is actually a little richer than they prefer.
Poor old Marvin has worked hard enough for one day and he’s tucked himself away for a while in one of his hollowed out spots where he likes to nap and I never see him until I nearly step on him or accidently spray him with the hose. I’ll see him again around dinner time. Just a couple more pictures and then I have to do a few household chores and work on some swap cards.
Sometimes in the winter it’s hard to imagine it will look like this come spring time. This view of the garden definitely requires a trip off the beaten path and you’d have to stroll around a bit to really notice the Calla Lilies, Chain Tree, Columbine in blue and blush, and the tiny violets with their blooms atop a carpet of heart shaped leaves. The Honeysuckle arbor up by the house is the gateway to the back yard and garden which we’ll visit another time. I wish you could smell the Honeysuckle on a summer night when it releases its fragrance to attract night flying insects (moths). I could do without the leaf chomping caterpillars they produce but the Honeysuckle is worth it. This area is heady with intoxicating scents in late summer when the Phlox, Honeysuckle, Oriental Lilies and Alyssum are all in bloom at once.
This last photo, below, shows a variegated Weigelia which occupies a prominent position across the walk from our small patio. The patio is slated for enlargement this summer so that more than two people at a time can share space with the flower pots. It looks like just a bunch of bushes in the background, but a grassy path winds through Fuschias, Azaleas, Hydrangeas and all manner of low growing flowering plants, ornamental grasses and ground covers. In the past I planted a lot of Spring flowering bulbs, but we have so much rain in the Spring I was always disappointed that I couldn’t be out to enjoy them when they were in bloom. Now I have a few gems in the Spring time, but it’s the variety of greens and other foliage colors that steal the show and I happily wander among them, anticipating their yield of bloom.
Well, this is primarily a stamping site, not a gardening site, but I can’t help myself. I have two all consuming passions that offer each other some stiff competition. When I’m in the garden it affects me in such a way that I’m overcome by it. If I start a stamping project in the morning before I enter the garden I have a hard time tearing myself away from it. It’s almost impossible to believe I only have two days a week to really enjoy either. One more day and then it’s back to work for another week…sigh… BUT, I have a three day weekend coming up and I’ll take any crumbs Life wants to toss my way–and I’ll love every minute of it! Sometimes I think maybe I’ve got the whole darn cake and have just failed to realize it. I certainly do feel full sometimes. I truly hope you’re enjoying your weekend and I’m happy to have shared part of mine with you. Thank you for coming by for a while!
I used several of my had-to-have-its on this card. Well…isn’t every card made up of had-to-have-its? The trouble is, my had-to-have-its often turn into hardly-use-its. This cute little heart was probably what most attracted me to this set so, finally, I just had-to-use-it. I know this looks like a Valentine. I tried to avoid that, but it just started evolving into the Valentine look and I was wearing myself out trying to resist. I guess it just wanted to be a Valentine.
