Gardening "To Do's..." and some progress made..

I've been continuing to work on the changing seasons potting table. I've recently touched up the paint and scrapes and painted the top board with a nice fresh coat of white paint. I'm still loving the thought of adding a mosiac tile top to this table... I just need to get out hunting for treasures to use in the mosiac process and begin collecting the tools to work with. I, also, still love the idea of painting the slats on the lower shelving a pretty pink eye-popping color. Unfortunely, I've had no time to work on the new bench design, although I've done some browsing online at a few home-made style ones and the thoughts and dreams of creating one of my own and daydreaming of what it actually look like has proven to be thought-provoking.

In other news, the garden is doing wonderfully well. Mother Nature has been co-operating and playing nicely the past few days, even with the hot July heat. The petunias and angelonia planted within the lower level of the watergarden's basin have all but taken over and tumbled over the edges of the white cement bricks! I kid you not; it is a sight to behold! I promise some new pics, coming soon. In the wake of growing pains, the petunias and angelonia have all but pushed the hosta and lilyturts outta the bed itself; no worries about shading them from the hot summer sun, nature took care of them herself! but I figure why tempt fate? and have decided to move them today to the freshly create side yard garden! There's plenty of dappled shade and sunlight, they should thrive there! So, soon I'll move the hosta and the lilyturt from the watergarden to the side bed along the foundation of the west side of the house; along with the coleus from the header bed. I need to plant the two bare-root cinnamin ferns, then, I can fill with wildflower garden seed mix. I figure as long as the ground is warm, the soil is moist, the seeds should take root and maybe, just maybe, even bloom this year! Some of the flowers in this mix are perinneals, so it will exciting next year trying to determine what is what!

I, or should I now say, "we" ~ as Don's really starting to get into this gardening/landscaping/beautify-ing our surroundings thing along with me, made a return trip to Oakland Nurseries recently and I swear they seen us coming! We returned home with 5- one gallon pots of plants! So, now we need to actually plant the two new Densiformis Taxus in front of the house; One on each side of the front porch. I've checked the new placement of them so that they won't interfere with any future re-modeling projects to the porch and allow access for the summer time window air conditioning and fall removal.

Another new plant, which I didn't realize was a tree! is a Sweet Bay Magnolia. I'm not sure how well it will do here in our gardening zone, but hey! I'm willing to try it! I would have loved to have been able to plant this near our bedroom's windows, unfortunately, there is absolutely no shade whatsoever there, so I'm honestyl considering placing it in the center of the rear yard's "wetlands" section. I've read they love the moist, wet soil so perhaps, it will be happy there?

We also picked up a Chicago Lustre Virburium, which I'm thinking I'd love tucked under the shade of the Maple tree along the west fence row; close to the area I that desire to create a new seating area. It's in a beautiful shady location under the branches of two neighboring trees and will provide a perfect spot for a rest after working in the vegetable garden or provide a quiet place to wander off to and sit, relax, and enjoy the fruits of all our hard labor of love.

But, it was finding a Limelight Hydrangea that really touched my heart. I cannot wait to plant this and watch as she blooms beside the wishing well. She'll display her light bright green blooms in mid-summer and they'll fade to a soft, pastel pink in the fall. They'll be a beautiful addition to my "some day bouquets" of pretty pink knock-out roses, peonies, and a few fronds from the silver frost butterfly bush!

Off to continue planting, hoping, dreaming.......