Signs of Spring

Along with waking to the sound of bird's singing, the robin's that grace our yard, and the few carpenter ants that have made their way into our home, signs of spring are sprouting up everywhere, even in my daily thoughts. My little patch mixed with tulips and hycacinths are even promising signs of blooming soon. The ants, however, I can do without as they tend to pinch every once once in a while should they crawl upon you. They are one of the reasons why I've hesitated to grow the "Queen of the Garden" peonies because they tend to draw them to them. Yesterday, I decided if I had to endure the ants, I may as well enjoy their beautiful flowers so I purchased a few bulbs to plant soon. I'm thinking they will look nice out in the yard, near the posts where my hammock once hung. And speaking of hammock's --- I'm thinking of either purchasing a new one or having a bench added to the yard utilizing the posts for its frame or possibly even adding an arbor there for climbing vines. It's looking rather bare...

I've been a bit hesitant to start planting but the urge is becoming a bit much to resist. I've seeds that need to be started soon if I'm going to grow them. So today, I thought with Don's help, maybe we'll get out into the carport and begin working on setting up the rear deck with it's patio set and pulling out pots and various containers for planting upon it. It will be a lovely chore to get them washed and ready for planting within. It will also allow me a chance to take inventory of what I have on hand and what I need to purchase once again... like a concrete bird bath top to fit the base. Mine didn't survive as we never sealed the concrete and years of use finally took their toll upon it.

We didn't make it to any of our local nurseries yesterday. In a hurry to get back at home in case Brian made it over to look at our hot tub, we ventured into WalMart instead and purchased a beautiful potted Azelia for her birthday gift. We stopped for a nice but brief visit with her and watched in amazement of the Golden Finches and Cardinals already gracing their property. Cindy has done an amazing job with their yard already and has been working to increase the size of a few of their flower beds. I was a bit envious of all the natural materials she's been gathering from the woods... Rocks, half-decayed logs to plant within.

Don and I talked more about our desires for our back yard and we've decided to plant more perinneals this year. The past several years, I've mainly focused on annuals for their color and ease of care but have come to regret the money we've spent, once here and now gone. I often think about how I want a garden but lack of money to do it all at once has interferred with me not starting to get serious enough about it. Then, it hit me that we've accomplished so much in short periods of time before... doing what we can, when we can... and our garden wouldn't really be any different. So, I took some inventory around the yard and discovered we've a lot that needs to be done. The water garden needs emptied, cleaned, refilled and chemicals added before any planting can be done there. Surrounding it, I noticed a few trees attempting to take root in its fertile soil --- those will have to be removed. My hostas and woodland ferns are beginning to sprout, and the waterfall section needs to be re-worked. So, we'll start there. I always thought it would look pretty to have a cement blocked in area near the waterfall end to plant in and a border of white blocks surrounding it, so I must take some measurements soon so we'll know how much to buy.

Anyways, we've plans to begin... I'll have to do some sketches and figure out what we desire where, remembering to take other things like a place for Chaos and Alexxis' "one day to be" tree house into consideration. Its a start!