a garden is continually changing...

I have a laundry list of things to do this spring, before it becomes too late.  I want to move all the Daffodil's to one area at the front of the property so that it makes more of a statement every spring.

I seem to have some Lungwort plants that could be moved to an area where they will thrive - along with that I have some Pachysandra that I've moved several times and I still don't have the right spot for them.

I want to trim the flowering bushes; Forsythia and Star Magnolia, before they start to build up their buds for the following year.

I need to trim my rose bushes...they are growing like crazy!

We went to Home Depot over the weekend to pick up some mulch, but instead we used our gift card to buy 24 Boxwoods for at the end of the driveway.  I still need plenty more and they are currently on sale for $4 a piece - almost $3 in savings from its normal price.

We went to Kroger to pick up some more gift cards for Home Depot, so we will buy the mulch later this week.  I need to get all the other things accomplished before we put down the mulch.

Every year we put down some mulch since it doesn't seem to last all that long.  This year we are trying to get the place looking presentable because my cousin from Belgium is coming for her first visit at the beginning of June and then we are hosting a "pre-nup party" at our place for our niece Erin and her fiance Chris.  They live out east and it won't be easy for all the Michigan family to attend their wedding in July in Plymouth Massachusetts.

Why did we buy gift cards for Home Depot at Kroger?  If you buy gift cards at Kroger, you get points toward Kroger Fuel.  Right now we are saving $1 per gallon on nearly every fill up by having purchased gift cards over the past month.  During the month of March, you were earning double the points for each gift card purchased.  Every little bit helps.  And, we're kind of double dipping.  We purchase the gift cards using our Speedway MasterCard and earn 10 points per $1 spent.  Once you get to 190,000 points, you get a $200 Fuel Card from Speedway.  We use our MC for all of our purchases and so we earn a $200 gift card on average every 4-5 months.

indignant...

I don't want to get all bitchy again about how the contractors are stepping all over my plants...but they are!

They are hard to avoid, I suppose...

But, in knowing how I am, I warned Vince (the cement contractor) when he came out to do the estimate, that I get snippy when I see that my plants are not being watched over by the workers.  He told me that they will be very careful around them -  as he kicked one of my tulips without knowing...

I don't think you can tell men that they need to watch out for the flowers.  Especially manly-men like contractors.

I was in the kitchen yesterday watching one guy walking up in my boulder garden (which I really thought was safe) to the upper portion of the yard.  He was moving a hose and threw it down the other side clipping  one of my hydrangeas.  I immediately went with my impulse and stormed out the door.  By that time, he had come down and grabbed the hose and saved the flower - lucky for him.

Then I walked around the house and noticed that they had "placed" one of their metal grids (for reinforcement inside the concrete) on top of one of my rose bushes.  I picked up the metal and moved it freeing up the branch which popped back up, thankfully.

I wonder how many plants this team will end up maiming?

clipped the last roses for the table...

last flowers of the season...

summer is winding down...

but even though it's coming to an end, I still have plenty of flowers that are blooming.
Here's a Trumpet Vine, or what the former owner called a Lipstick Vine.
I have a crazy amount of pretty cosmos.
The mums are out in "full force".

and the hibiscus...



An update. After the contractors (actually the cement people) stomped all over my Chicago Peace roses - I dug them up and planted them in yet another "safe" place - threw some banana peels (cut up) into the hole along with them and also put some peels around the outside - this is what has happened so far...

They are growing like crazy! So, they were not dead, but it's really good that I replanted them otherwise they'd for sure be goners. Guess I don't have to charge the contractors for these ones. Of course, I will not see a bloom on them this year, I'm guessing and over the winter I'll need to cover them so that they don't completely die, but anyway, it's promising.

garage demo is affecting my garden...

So, not only have I had to remove, store and rearrange many plants in my garden but the workers are stepping on, leaning heavy construction equipment against and killing some plants.

In an earlier post I had written about my Chicago Peace Roses - well, as of yesterday evening, they are GONE!

Yesterday the walls were being poured for the garage and they had a huge cement truck in the yard. I guess the workers either don't care or don't look where they are stepping - cuz BOTH of those rose bushes were stepped on and totally trampled.

We've also been told that more boulders will need to be moved, because they've had to move the location of the garage to the west another 2 feet, so that means that if I'm interested in keeping the plants in that area, I will have to move them to a "safe" place. I thought where I had moved the Chicago Peace roses WAS a safe place, but apparently I was way wrong.

They also moved my purple dahlia, which is in a container. But they moved it to a place where it was going to be really easy to hit as they move around the yard.

Our bill for this garage keeps growing - so I said to Jerome last night, "should I keep track of all the plants that they kill so that they can replace them at their cost?"

Am I being petty?

Sparky standing watch over the containers that we transferred a couple of the bushes and the russian sage.

Globe Thistle

I think this is a weed, but I like it. It's in the "weed" area of the yard. The "weed" area is right in the middle of the yard where there used to be two ponds . The year after we moved in, Jerome took all the rocks and put them in a pile behind the garage. We were going to re-do the ponds. Then we decided that it was not a good location for the ponds (right under the magnolia tree), so we will eventually move them out in the open a little more. So, for nearly 3 years, this area has been collecting weeds and baby trees - the bamboo is getting over grown, etc. A neglected area.

Update - I spent a couple of hours weeding the neglected area Sunday - it looks MUCH better now. I filled up a whole "lawn and leaf" paper bag.

Update #2 - This weed is called a Purple Loosestrife (thanks again Dynochick) and apparently it's quite invasive. It's supposed to invade wetlands and choke out other plants and wildlife. I guess this is why it's in the area where the ponds were located. Not sure if it's wild or if the former owners planted it. I still think it's quite pretty and I really don't have very many spires...so...the jury is still out.

summer blooms...

daylily

This rose (according to its tag) is called 'Chicago Peace'

Love-in-a-mist

I think this is called a 'mop-head' hydrangea.

I had moved a couple of these hydrangea's when we first moved in; four years ago. This is the first year that they actually had buds on them - and plenty! I hope this means that they will be budding every year.

It may have been the amount of snow that we had and the fact that they were covered with snow pretty much the entire winter - so no cold wind could get to them. I think this winter I will cover them, so that it will protect them. You can never count on the Michigan winters to be quite like they were last winter.

lots of pink...

astilbe x 'pink' (spiraea)

I had replanted these two astibles (spiraea) under the magnolia tree two years ago. They had been right in the sun and were being choked out by some property demanding hostas and other plants.

They didn't do well at first - this is the first time I've seen them bloom - and it's quite BIG! I'm very happy and hope they will continue to flourish under this big, shady tree.

There is a white one right next to the pink one that has buds, but hasn't bloomed yet.

As you can see, their neighbors are pachysandras.

carefree beauty (bucbi)

If you click on the photo above, you will see the scourge of the garden - a Japanese Beetle!!! Now all my roses and other flowers are going to start to look VERY shabby. These beetles are relentless and will devour the whole garden. They just started showing up this weekend.
Makes me sad :'(
A couple of pictures before they start looking ragged.

when we got home...

These were some of the flowers that were blooming when we got home.

I was very surprised to see that we still had irises...two years ago when we went to France at the end of May, I totally missed the blooming of all the irises and poppies. I think that because we have been having cooler weather, it's helped the lifespan of some flowers.

Oriental Poppies - these are really all one color, but when I took the picture, the sunlight made them look like they are variegated.

Roses

Dynochick calls this Purple Pavement

RhodieSalvia meadow sage ‘east friesland’

Can anyone tell me what the name of this is? It will have some pinky-purpley flowers.  (Update: this is some sort of Sedum).