A real weekend to myself!

After a dismal weekend before with my stiff and aching back, which has gotten A LOT better, thank goodness, I refrained from doing work for my clients and made some "me" time this past weekend to get my vegetable garden together and mostly planted, the front entrance to Landwave revamped, repotting some ailing plants needing to be "bumped" up because NO ONE IS BUYING THEM! GRRRRRR...., and, heck, I just needed time to sit and marvel at the explosion of new growth that's occured over just the past few weeks. We've had no rain for the last 24 days (we're looking to maybe set a record, I hear), but turning on the sprinklers combined with this heat and things just POP!

So, the garden is still a mess, but I made great progres in terms of weeding and getting the edible garden planted up. A formal layout is very new to me, but I'm appreciating the lines and the "bones" I've begun to create with the Sorbus pallescens trees I grew from seed, my 5-combo Asian pear tree, my rows of Lavendula 'Hidcote', and a quadrant of golden Arborvitae that will probably get to big, but I'm willing to move them later on.



I still need to finish up the paths and find some other plants for edging (I'm looking into dwarf boxwood, but it might be too pricey).


Another area that I JUST DECIDED to redo is my Tropical Bed. Believe it or not, my hardy Musa basjoo (Hardy Fiber Banana) didn't make it this past winter so, another windmill palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, took its place. Instead of having one main bed for all my tropicals like last year, I decided to make this section a little more like a room so I am digging out a cicular space surrounded by the beds so I have a somewhat enclosed area where I can set up a small table, umbrella (until the palms get large enough...lol) and chairs for an intimate gathering space with close friends
this summer!



For any garden, the front should have been the main priority because it's the space that EVERYONE first sees and all, but I've been fussing around with different ideas and I'm still not set on what to do. So I just started to mess around, shifting plants here and there and making use of a metal container I found on the sidewalk after a job at a client's home in Queen Anne, I put this together:



On my next "me" day, I will tackle this front area and make it more appealing. I like the idea of using containers here because the soil is a bit limited and not so rich. Instead of the black with chalk blue stain, I'm considering a set of bold red ceramic containers of a similar stature (I actually got inspired by a trip to Aw Pottery a few weeks ago). It should go well with the silver blue-grays that I've got going on and it should stand out as I've begun to notice that I have a lot of gold and yellow in my garden.

Oh, the plants are taking off! I will try and post some more pics on Flickr! later this week, but here are a few specimens that looks quite dashing:


Campanula 'Sarastro'. A most stunning purple blue that just to DIE FOR!


My stand of Cardiocrinum is in full bloom and ever so fragrant, especially at night when I back into the driveway if my windows are rolled down.

Speaking of fragrance, look what I picked up at Home Depot over the weekend:


Gardenia 'Frost Proof'. While it may be frost proof, after my disappointment with 'Kleim's Hardy', I don't expect this one to winter over or do all that well in the garden so I will try it as a container plant.

I had the house to myself all weekend: I cooked a lot, did laundry, tidied up my room a bit, but I still didn't get a chance to really sit and enjoy everything that's going on.

Maybe NEXT weekend! =P


Riz