First year garden

I was away from the house for a few days and when I came back I discovered that the gardens had really started to show off! Following are a few pictures of what I saw this morning. I'm going to try to get pictures of everything once they bloom to have a before and after.

Peony #1

Little pink azalea

Peony #2

Looks like it'll be a red azalea

Hosta, not very exciting to me but still pretty

More hosta and Banana Head and Blueberry Head and their little bunny friend. I gave my gnomes to the boys and asked them to find places for them in the garden. Names by Carl.

LILACS!!!!! I thought these were viburnum and I was ready to take them out, so glad I waited. These are my most favorite flower and the far one is right outside our bedroom window. Can't wait to have the window open once they bloom!

Full of so many buds! I can't wait!

Peony #3

Lovely iris

Dogwood

An unnamed friend in the juniper, Jack was so proud to have found such a perfect place for him.

Spirea, should have some pretty little flowers soon

Another lilac! Jack said we need to trim it back because it was over the sidewalk and I said no sir, you can walk around it. They were definitely planted in a space that is not ideal, they get so large!

Jordan was working on my new garden in the front while I was away. We're not digging except to put the wall in, we'll build up so we don't disturb the tree. I have a number of partial shade plants I will put here. Hydrangea, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, anemone and hellebore to name a few. The plan is to have most of the front of the house as gardens and meadow eventually. The back will be yard for playing, the front will be a bird, bee and butterfly haven.

My chonky squirrel I got from a local cement place. It makes me smile. They had a huge selection of items, it was hard to leave with just one.

Phlox and rose, I'm waiting to see what type of rose it is. If it's a knock out I'll be rehoming them, but if they're more interesting I'll find a new home around here for them as this garden is in the way of the basketball area. The sticks in the back mark the lilac babies we planted that will eventually make a bit of a hedge if they take. 

Pretty sure these are apple trees. Plan to add more fruit trees behind them and make a mini orchard.

Eli chose some snapdragons at the store, he also chose the bulbs in this planter earlier this year.

Eli loves picking out flowers and helping plant them.

Lavender, rosemary, an upright red phlox, deep purple iris, creeping thyme, lambs ear and red clover all waiting for a place. Trying to decide if the intended spot gets enough sun. 

I hope you enjoyed the little garden tour! Any flowers you would recommend? The more interesting the better. My good friend gave me a gift card to Brent & Beckys bulbs, so I have been marking up the catalog. I also have been looking at some iris sellers, I want a selection of interesting iris. I would love to eventually have a garden that's a blend of Aunt Marys and Granmas. I have to keep telling myself to slow down so I don't go crazy and get burnt out!

 

A few recent pictures

Hello family. I thought I would post a few pictures of what we've been up to, at least what we've been up to when I've had my camera. :-) We went to Texas in June, so there are some pictures from then as well as a few others from this month. I hope you all are going great!

San Antonio River Walk - Our car was 111 degrees when we got back to it that day...

Mexican market in San Antonio

Dinner at the river walk

This was the Hard Rock Cafe, I liked the guitar railings.

The one thing Carl wanted was a cowboy hat, so we found it in the first stall we got to at the market. Everyone else took a river tour but Carl & I had to miss it, so we found the candy store. I have a picture of myself with this same bear when Jordan & I came for our first anniversary 16 years earlier. 

They had Blue Bell Ice Cream, of course we needed a pre lunch treat.

Our hotel had a pool, the boys were so excited! Aunt Donnas room looked right over the pool, so I was able to stay dry and cool while watching. (Others were down there with them)

We went to a drive through zoo and it was pretty cool but our most favorite part was the aviary. So many birds!!! The boys and I have decided that we will be getting birds once we move.

Carl was scared at first, but he got a little more comfortable after a bit of time.

Jack was the bird magnet!!!

Granpa had a stroke (they think) and is in assisted living. Most of the doors of the other people living there had wreaths on them and Granpa said he wanted one for his, so I made him one!

Headed home to Virginia.

We decided to celebrate zero cavities for all 4 of us with a trip to iHop and...

...our first time seeing a movie in the theater in years! We saw the Minions: Rise of Gru. It was also the first theater movie Eli was old enough to be aware of what was going on.

I have a dear friend who is a wonderful artist. I've been collecting her works through buying and bartering for the past few years and I decided to dedicate a wall to her lovely pieces. I have two others but they live elsewhere in the house. I was taking a picture to send to her and Eli wanted to be included.

We decided to take a spur of the moment trip to explore and see where the road took us last weekend. We meandered through West Virginia and Maryland. This picture was taken in front of an artist co-op in Lost River, West Virginia. Pretty cool bench!

Thomas, West Virginia. This is near where Jordan grew up, he went to the orthodontist in the next town over in fact. This was a lovely little riverside town that we spent hours exploring.

We of course had to find a hotel with a pool. Not only did the boys get over an hour in the night we got there, but they were also able to get over an hour the next morning since check out was 12pm. First hotel I've stayed in with such a late check out!

We had a lovely time and saw so many beautiful sights. West Virginia is a gorgeous state. We were able to visit Jordans Grandmom in her assisted living apartment both coming and going. We might do it again, we saw just a fraction of those beautiful states!