have a beautiful garden

on this goal! It seems I’ve been gardening nonstop for the past 10 days. I got new azaleas for the front and they are gorgeous! I ended up ripping up tons of the English Ivy (invasive! and ridiculous to remove!) and putting in a bed of perennials. This was the first time I’d attempted to plan and execute an entire bed from scratch. Usually I was filling in holes for the last 8 years… So I got my azaleas, yarrow, russian sage, salvia, garden phlox, creeping phlox, dianythus, catmint, and transplanted a few hostas from the backyard (I have about 100!?). SO it’s mostly blue and pink with the yellow accent from the yarrow. We’ll see when things progress how I did on figuring out the relative heights!
I’ve also gotten some stuff for my “woodland garden” as I call half my backyard which is pretty shady. Some different hostas (Halcyon), heuchera, creeping jenny, astilbe, and pachysandra to fill in parts where no grass will grow. Here is a woodland corner with my ferns, an azalea, and one of my birdhouses.

Here is the back side of my yard: more azaleas! You can see my peony about to burst into bloom behind it, and then some alliums and some starting-to-bloom irises.
I also rejuventated my “herb garden” which has been totally overtaken by mint. I had to dig up much of it to create room, so I had to make mojitos :) I put in some basil, sage, rosemary, and cilantro.

Well, after the siding guys crushed 2 out of 3 of my new azalea bushes, then the gutter guys crushed the third :( :(
And now my poor daffodils which bravely stuck up their heads got 7 inches of snow on them!
No worries though: temps will rise to the 60s this weekend…hopefully to stay somewhat mild. That means I can finally do some bed cleanup! I also got my ginormous forsythias hacked back so they can’t take over the universe.
I ordered a few things: some ornamental grasses for along my foundation. Some “Illumination” Vinca for my woodland garden where I’ve given up on grass. And two fuchsia plants to put over the grave of my poor kitty, Loki. I’d wanted to get something special for him.

The siding guys crushed two of my three azalea bushes I just put in this spring. Sadness! I was looking forward to them growing big and blooming copiously. They dropped a beam on them. J. thinks I should send a bill, but the foreman did a bunch of extra stuff for me so I think we’re probably even.

I put in an order today for stuff to plant in the fall for next year: some Bleeding Hearts and Lily-of-the-Valley for my shady “woodland garden” and some Russian Sage and Alliums for the sun. I want to do more in the spring with native plants and grasses and things. But I love my flowers too….especially the alliums. I’ve been wanting some of those for ages!