Mine!

I pulled the name for my blog out of thin air when I started it. When we first got here and went to Across the Pond I saw some goblin garden statues and fell in love with them. Unfortunately we always had a more pressing financial priority and I was never able to get one. A couple of weeks ago when I took my camera along I decided that I would at least take a picture for my blog header.

Since we got back from Florida yesterday and my in-laws don't leave until tomorrow I suggested that we go to Across the Pind so that they could see the Victoria water lily. They also like to garden and see plants so they like going there. While we were there I pointed out the statue to them and told them that's where I got the picture for my blog. They surprised me and bought me the statue for my birthday. So now it is at home in my back yard, and waiting for me to decide how I'm going to reshuffle my plants around this fall. Thanks Mom and Dad, it means a lot to me. :)

New Resident

It was my birthday a few days ago and this was my present from

my very good friend One Heart, One Hope. She is now a resident in my shade garden that is under construction (the fairy that is, not my friend!). I plan on picking up a couple of new shade plants while I am at the nursery this weekend. Maw is going to get a haircut and shave and Quickbeam and I are going to go to the nursery for some unsupervised shopping. Here's to hoping that my bank account survives the shock. :)

Froggy Bottoms

Before we left from North Carolina my best friend Mel gave me some stepping stones for our garden. She is very well aware of my frog obsession, and the stepping stones are pictured above. One of the best things about them is that they feature some..bottoms on the frogs. I didn't want to put them out just anywhere, it was important to me to wait until we had our backyard fenced in and a good place to put them. I know that there probably aren't people lurking around ready to steal stepping stones, but I'm clingy with my possessions. ;) So after we got our garden area finally finished I wanted to set them out, so here they are, finally at home. :) Thanks Mel!

Gardening

We were able to get out this weekend and work on finishing up our gardening efforts for the spring. It might seem that it's a bit early to be finishing up since it's only mid-April, but today's 80 degree weather is an indicator of what we'll be getting soon. We want to get the heavy lifting and work done now while it's still pleasant outside. Through the summer I'm sure I'll still be picking up plants here and there, but no major landscaping efforts.

We started out the day by going to Across the Pond and getting some fish for the little pond that we're putting in. We picked out two Sarassa Comets and two Calico Fantails. I picked up a couple more plants at the nursery by our house - some purple Sweet Alyssum and two more varities of thyme. One of the thyme is a light variegated one and the other is Elfin Thyme which has tiny little leaves. I also got the bigger plants that I got for around the pond put in. We have an Umbrella Palm, Dwarf Papyrus and some Horsetail Rushes. So the pond is basically finished for now, we just have to let it grow in.

Mawavi spent his time working on cleaning up the beds in front of the house. I had planted a lot of perennials there last year, but they just didn't look right. A lot of them tend to look a bit weedy, and it makes it look like we haven't been taking care of our yard. So we moved most of the perennials into the back yard flower beds and put down some new mulch in the front yard. Coincidentally while I was planting the perennials in the back flower bed I almost stepped on our backyard visitor pictured at the top and almost gave myself a heart attack. He didn't seem to be too concerned about me though. We also got a new trellis and moved my Betty Corning clematis back to grow on it. It had started totally dwarfing the little trellis that it was on and growing all in the rose bush. So now it has plenty of room to grow in. So overall the front of the house is looking much better now.

So that takes care of our major gardening efforts this spring. Now we get to have fun with the challenge of keeping them all alive this summer. :)

Stage II

We've been working today on the garden and making pretty good progress. We had rain on and off throughout the day so we had to work around it. We got more done after the picture above was taken but it was too dark to take a picture. Not only did we work on this, but we got Mawavi a birthday present. I know that some of you will question my sanity, bu I agreed to get him a fire pit.


Hopefully the fire will stay inside the pit. :) I got the plants planted in with the pavers so we'll see how they do. They are going to get a trial by fire literally. They are going to be getting a lot of sunshine with no protection. So we'll see who makes it and who doesn't.

Rain

Alabama has been in a drought status since las year, so I should be grateful for the rain. But how can I be when it made me miss out on a trip to Bennet's Nursery?We woke up this morning to pouring rain, thunder and lightening and hail in some places. The wind was gusting up to 40 mph. Alas, so much for planting things today. I did wait for a lull in the storm and ran outside to take some pictures.

In other news I have finally been able to attract the elusive garden gnome into my back yard. I've tried to carefully cultivate the proper habitat, but was unsuccessful. Imagine my surprise when I found this sturdy specimen under my rosebush.

Normally I am not much of one for garden ornamentation, but I've always liked the campiness of garden gnomes. My ultimate quest is to find one reading a book. Maybe if I left a few small tomes laying around in the back yard....