Sign of the Times

May 6

I already told you that we've made great progress in the backyard over the last year, now I'll show you. Remember when the little bump out looked like this, then we planted and it looked like this? Yeah, it's grown.

If you look really closely you can see the wall of arborvitae we finally finished planting. In about 20 years we won't need to worry about shade - at least that's what the guy at Home Depot said to me after I finished packing my 3rd car load.

We're also in the midst of bordering the entire bed with lambs ear.

Being in the South now we wouldn't be a respectable yard without the addition of a magnolia tree. We picked up this little guy at the end of the season last year. He didn't do much over the winter but just now started sprouting - go baby, go. We also transplanted an existing boxwood and crepe myrtle to the corner and added new knock-out roses and lavender. We still need to mulch…but you know, baby steps.

The kitchen garden is all planted and fenced in for the season. We downsized to three beds, from four last year. In truth, last year just about did us in with all the work and no glory. We rejuvenated the soil and added bagged garden soil with each planting this time around. The largest bed is growing entirely from seed while the two smaller beds are planted with pre-established plants. Wish us luck, we'll probably need it.

I stuck with my white accent color theme again this year. What can I say, I like it. The main planter is filled with a snake plant, white geranium and sedum. Geraniums get such a bad rap, but they're pretty full proof. I like them so much I added them to the wall hanging planter and the basket on the back table, too.

Last year, this back garden was planted with lettuces, kale and spinach but this year we added catmint and ajuga and I couldn't be happier with the low maintenance combination. My three tier planter is full of new guinea impatiens in white (shocker) and hot pink.

Sadly our first round of seeds didn't fare too well due to cold and extreme wet, so I don't have much to share in the way of progress. But, we do have a lot of strawberries!

Because the front of our house is in flux, awaiting it's potential remodel, I decided to fill the pots simply. Ferns for the shade and pre-established hanging baskets just plopped into the planters. Neither of which are actually planted, which will make it easy to change out should our front plans change. Kind of cheeky, but good bang for the buck!