The days have flown by since my last post - so much going on! The end of the school year brought a flurry of activity, especially since this was also the end of high school for my youngest and she now prepares for the next adventure - college.
I've been trying to work in the gardens, but between the late cool weather we've had, the rains and winds, then the graduation festivities, hosting a grandson's birthday, the sudden illness and death of a friend's husband, and several unexpected drop-in visits from friends and relatives of late, the gardening simply hasn't progressed like I had planned. And then one of the big dogs got into the garden - again - and made a mess of some peppers, a tomato and a cuke. I'm about ready to throw in the trowel...so, it's time to step back, take a deep breath, and make some changes. I have to revisit how big my garden will be this year and what will grow there. My grand plans for increasing are going to have to be scaled back - for now.
How is it I let the very thing that had become such a great tension-reliever become a huge source of stress? Because it really isn't the garden - it's me - and my obsessive goal-setting, complete with frustration and self-imposed guilt when my goals can't be met! So time to focus on what is good - we go on vacation to Savannah, GA soon...I have some gorgeous broccoli and cauliflower growing alongside dill, hyssop, nasturtiums, radish, green onions, komatsuna, lettuce, garlic, and more. I got a couple of yellow crookneck squash set out today, and the sunflower seeds I started just last week are about ready to be set out into their permanent spots next to the cellar. The runner beans are growing extremely well and already twining on the support that will lead them up the cellar wall. We got the two dwarf apple trees I've wanted for years planted this last week and my mini-roses are bursting with blooms and buds. Hmmm....the more I think of it, the more I realize that there is a lot more good than bad in my little world if I just readjust the focus. :)
No photos for this post - the weeds I pulled yesterday weren't that exciting. But the roses look much tidier now and I'll post pictures as soon as they start blooming. Shouldn't be long now with the many buds that have appeared recently.
The weekend was good - just too short as usual. Took my mom, daughter and sister to breakfast for an early Mother's Day on Saturday, then puttered around the garden and flower beds between rains in the afternoon. Sunday was extremely cool and windy so I stayed indoors and did laundry and other necessary, mundane stuff.
I stopped at a nursery on the way home from work last night and spent nearly $30 for only enough plants to do 2 planters - yikes! I have at least 4 more planters I want to buy plants for, so I'm hoping I can hold out til near the end of May when they will start cutting the prices. Of course the selection will dwindle too, but I usually can come up with some nice mixes still, so it's all good. This first photo is the grapevine plant stand that I will set next to the front door, on the porch. I have a plastic container inside it filled with a "Golden Moon" torenia (see the yellow flower?), a "Blackie" sweet potato vine, some vinca vine, and a "Violet Moon" torenia. It looks a bit small just yet, but in 2-3 weeks it should start filling out nicely and hide the container. 2nd photo is the huge planter that sits just off the east end of the porch. 
It also has the dark sweet potato vine, then clockwise from that is vinca vine, "Giant White" Bacopa - will have tons of small white flowers on trailing stems, next is the "Silver Mist" licorice plant which has interesting yellow-green foliage that matures to a silver-white-green color, more vinca vine, then the bright "Cabaret Yellow" calibrachoa (also called super bells or million bells). Again, once this fills out and grows up, it should look very nice against the pale yellow backdrop of our house.
The last photo is the final picture I took of my chinese wisteria before the beauty of the blooms started to fade. 
I love the old-fashioned feel of this view, with the blooms hanging over the window of the old cellar.
I've been trying to work in the gardens, but between the late cool weather we've had, the rains and winds, then the graduation festivities, hosting a grandson's birthday, the sudden illness and death of a friend's husband, and several unexpected drop-in visits from friends and relatives of late, the gardening simply hasn't progressed like I had planned. And then one of the big dogs got into the garden - again - and made a mess of some peppers, a tomato and a cuke. I'm about ready to throw in the trowel...so, it's time to step back, take a deep breath, and make some changes. I have to revisit how big my garden will be this year and what will grow there. My grand plans for increasing are going to have to be scaled back - for now.
