The Garden from Julia's Viewpoint

This is the view of my garden that most people don't see. With my Wheelchair tilted up and back I live to stare up into the treetops when I take a break from working around the place.

A few minutes here watching birds or an occasional helicopter just puts your mind in a lighter,brighter mood. Besides that you can't see how much weeding needs to be done.

Back at work I'm trimming the perennial sunflowers down so they don't overwhelm the flower bed and crowd my path to the driveway.

I can only reach partway into them so my sister will come tomorrow to trim the ones on the street side.

The pink of the seedum is really welcome as the only other thing blooming here is the marigolds on the other end of the yard.

On the other end of the flower bed we've cleaned up and trimmed the roses for next year.

too hot for pictures and too busy to take them

The last few days only the shady corner where my table sits would be good for the camera and there's been far too much work to do in other parts of the garden to bother with it.
It's surprising how fast the plants that you don't want can spread while you struggle to get the plants that you do want want to grow started.
There seem to be volunteer trees everywhere and some of them are getting pretty tall. I've tried to find people that want the bigger ones while I remove the small ones when I can.
Lunch yesterday included lettuce, radishes and pea pods from the garden in salads.
The last of the sunflowers have finally been planted. I had thought they were all in but found a handful of seed left in the kitchen where I'd been shaking it out of my pockets at the end of the day. Yesterday we removed a tiny strip of sod next to the flower bed at the front of the yard so I planted them there.
There are an entire pound of sunflower seeds planted here, there and everywhere in the front and back yards. I can't wait to see how many of them bloom this summer!

Plants run wild

 These are under the kitchen window. I'm considering moving them and building a planter box here like the one we built for the hosta on the side of the house. I may put these back in it. I love the color and they're free. Boxing them up will keep them from running a;; over the yard.

What you're seeing here on the back of the new trellis are sunflowers, weeds and grass around the climbing roses we transplanted. I'll pull the weeds and grass but leave the sunflowers. I planted an entire POUND of the seeds all over the place here and can't wait to see how many bloom.

The strawberries are having to get pretty tall to compete with the other plants but everything's looking pretty happy and healthy in spite of the mess.

As you can see this box is REALLY full and surprisingly the peas in this box are three times bigger than the ones in the cedar box. It's less about what the boxes are made of than it is about the soils that I'm using. this box has a mix of regular garden soil plus one bag of cactus and citrus soil. That seems to make all of the difference.

Among the tangled mess behind the studio are a surprisingly hearty bunch of black raspberry bushes. I had cut these nearly to the ground last year hoping to get them moved this spring. I never got to it and now they're so full of blossoms that I figure I'll wait, make a lot more jam and try moving them next spring.

The mess in front of the fence is a tangle of several different varieties and types of roses and what you're seeing across the top of it are grapevines. I've been trying for YEARS to deal with this and loose the battle every season but I've got to say the roses look great while they're blooming and I  don't mind it all so much.

Meanwhile in the back are at least 3 different species of volunteer trees that I'm trying to find new homes for.

I give away a LOT of plants every year but they just keep coming.

 It's kind of funny for a city kid who grew up with NO front yard and a front step that was right next to the sidewalk, don't you think so?

A walk in the garden

There's a lot to do around here this season and  I want to get this hosta moved before it leafs out too much more. I'm planing to divide it and start a border under the big trees in the front yard. The weather is good for it all I need is a little energy, a shovel and a post hole digger.

It depends on your health or level of mobility if this is something you can do or not. We've found that if you've got problems with your legs but still have some upper body strength, you can use a post hole digger to make the new holes for the plants.

The purple tulips I wrote about earlier were out behind the woodpile. I'd apparently dumped some old planters or soil back there at one time. It was nice to see them again. Now that I know where they are I'm thinking about moving the bulbs to one of my flower beds next spring.

 That lilac bush is looking good this year, don't you think so? It started out as a sorry looking little twig on clearance from Wal-mart a few years ago and has out survived everything else we've tried here since then. Proof positive that you don't need to spend a lot on plants to have good results.

I transplanted 2 black raspberries at the end of the season last year, one made it and the other isn't looking too good. Not everything survives but there's always something else you can plant so don't let it discourage you.

 This photo gives you a little better idea of how the plants and trees are arranged here. Yes, we've got some big ones. That's why shade and hours of sunlight are such an issue here.

As you can see around the base of the lilac bush there are a few small ones I should be able to move to the border I'm creating along the side of the front yard.

Improved Design with Eagle

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An old photo inspires a new watercolor painting

 An old photo we took at a lake in the next town about 20 years ago

I still need to add some details but I think it's off to a pretty good start, don't you?