Sunday, Sunday

Yesterday, Brian and I spent half the day driving around looking for half wine barrels so I could plant my raspberry bush in it. A few years ago, you could find these everywhere, but we just couldn't fine them!! We ended up driving to Denver to visit Paulino Gardens and finally found one. It's been a few years since I've been to Paulino's. Great place to stroll, but can we say holy expensive Batman! I had just told Brian I wouldn't spend more than 50 bucks on it, and we saw one for $60. I caved and then we went to the register and it was $41 and then tax. Yay! It's a nice, big one that will allow the raspberry to acheive a good size, but won't take over my garden. Have you ever grown raspberries? Yeah, it's a weed out here. I've never tried growing them in a container, and not sure how it will work. The hard part is keeping it alive until next year so I actually see a crop of raspberries! (It takes year two to yield any fruit)

We then spent the latter half of the day working on the sprinkler system so all of my newly planted shrubs and perennials wouldn't bite the dust. It was a lot of work for Brian, but it sure helps in the long run. I was iffy about how much water my shrubs took, so we might have to tweak the water usage a bit later in the season.

I still haven't found a spot for the clematis. The particular kind I got likes more shade and I just don't have a lot of shade. So...I might take it back and exchange it for a little hardier of a vine. I am in love with all clematis, I don't think it will be hard to find one that I like.

I had a couple stop by and look at my gardens. They live a couple of streets down and the white iris caught their eye. It almost glows in the dark!! They recognized me from Picadilly, and I told them my yard should have a sign that says, "Provided by Picadilly". lol. I got a side job looking at their yard and telling her what she has growing. They just moved into their house a year ago, and she's not sure what is a weed and what is a flower at this point. I think there should be a business that allows people to come to clients' houses just to tell them what they currently have growing. Hmmmm.

This is the last week of school for the boys. I'm going to Riordan's kindergarten graduation ceremony on Wednesday. He is so excited to be going to first grade next year. Corrin will be starting high school. It boggles my brain!!

I hope you all had a great weekend. What did you do?

It was...like Christmas

I was following my Bluestone order and knew it would be coming in today via Fed Ex. I kept checking outside, hoping to see the Fed Ex driver, but then went to my kids' field day and then was hoping the box would be sitting on my porch when I returned. As I was coming home, I saw the Fed Ex driver leaving my street and I was thinkin, "Hooray!!" Nothing. Nada. I rush in asking if Corrin had heard the doorbell and he said no. I was in a huff wondering why wouldn't they just leave the flowers on my porch?

Well, it was because they didn't stop by my house yet. LOL. They were dropped off about and hour and a half later.

I've never ordered from Bluestone before but had heard good things from a garden forum (gardenweb.com shout out!) and also from my father, so I wanted to try them. I was pretty impressed they were able to stuff 8 plants in such a small box. Some of the plants were pretty bent which I wasn't happy about, but all seemed to be slightly damp and the sizes were bigger than what I was expecting. All in all, I was happy with the purchase.

So what did I do? Went to Picadilly and bought MORE plants. I know, I've got a problem. My friend Lena thinks I need to tell my employer to tell ME I can't get anymore. Like a bartender telling the drunk, "you're done".

I am happy to say that after buying an outstanding 'Claire De Lune' clematis, Aronia melanocarpa 'Autumn Magic' Chokeberry (my mission this year has been to keep the birds happy...and they will with the chokeberry and serviceberry), Indian Summer raspberry, a replacement coreopsis (this will be my third try in this location, but a different type so wish me luck), Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Avalanche' - Variegated Feather Reed Grass (we sell Karl Foerster, and I wanted to be different with the variegation...ha), and the much anticipated St. Mary's broom that I talked in a previous post. Add this to the four types of plants that I got from Bluestone, guess what I did today??? I wanted to get them in the ground so then Brian and I could work on the misters and drip lines so I don't have to hand water my backyard gardens anymore. I think I'm pretty much done buying this year unless something catches my eye that I can't say no to. I bought the clematis thinking I had a cool foot spot, but when looking more closely, the iris that I have planted haven't quite made the shade that I thought they did. I'll hold onto it for awhile, hoping an idea comes to me later. I will be returning 'Love' Rosa. It was supposed to be a red and white rose, but as it bloomed it's this electric pink. No thanks, it just doesn't belong anywhere. It's a pretty rose, but hardly any smell, and without the red, it's not meant to be.

Working tomorrow, hopefully we'll be busy so the 10 1/2 hours go by quickly!!