Gardens, Paths, and Rusty Finds

Saturday afternoon we laid a small rock ‘patio’ for an old bench of my grandmother’s. Bob still hasn’t chosen a color for the bench. I rather like it the way it is.

It was definitely an afternoon project.

Bob dug out the soil and laid a sand base. I pulled weeds and cleaned the beds in the surrounding area, taking some of the soil he dug and filling the boxes that had settled.

We moved a couple of wrought iron window boxes to the ledge behind the bench. I’ll plant those with flowers, something fragrant in a couple of weeks. The garden boxes behind are slated for the addition of juniper. Bob wants a couple of Japanese maples added to the two large boxes behind the juniper. He will add some sort of climbing thing on either side of the bench.

We’ll plant these soon.

A garden is always in flux. We rearrange every year. We add new plants and clean and discard the ones that didn’t work out for us. Our biggest problem is the Bermuda grass. It invades everything.

One year I dug a small trench around the center bed and filled it with vinegar and salt. It helped. But Bermuda grass is tenacious…it digs in deeper and will still breach your barriers.

Some days I want to kill it all and start over. I imagine some sprig would survive to taunt me.

The hyacinths bloomed.

The daffodils followed.

The camellia had blooms all winter but now they are big and beautiful tucked away among glossy leaves.

Spring is slowly moving in. Its tentative greetings are a welcome sight appearing against the refuse of fall’s demise and winter’s storms.

The clean-up has begun. Finding these gems in my garden is satisfying. My gray thumb gets a workout trying this and that. So does my wallet.

The pecan tree was looking a little…uh, well you decide. I thought he looked rather sad. He’s very old. He no longer bears pecans of any use. I can’t let him go.

Lastly,  I found this in the yard.

We routinely have to retrieve the forks, knives, spoons, and spatulas they take out of the dishwasher. On one occasion Bunny dragged a bed pillow through the doggie door. We’re not sure how she accomplished this herculean task. Where there’s a will, there’s a way I suppose.

Damn Dog.