progress in the front yard

Not helping, just being cute!


before shot...




I've been doing a good bit of digging in the front yard, when it is not raining that is! We got 9 inches last week! The rivers are overflowing their banks and the peepers are peeping in the yard! I put some shrubs in front of the porch
- Kalmia "snowdrift" nice big leaves for a Mtn. Laurel, compact 3'x3' heavy white bloomer
- Sambucus "black lace" purple leaved Elderberry
- Lonicera fragrantissima - Winter blooming honeysuckle
- Hamamelis "Arnold's promise"
- Calicarpa "Athens"
- Rhus - A chartreuse staghorn
- A deciduous azalea "Golden lights"

bud to cloom

Peonies! One of my all time favorites... At work we have several patches of them planted in the front yard and everyday we cut a huge bouquet to put on the counter. They smell delicious and if anyone asks we force them to take a bloom away with them! No one has objected yet, absolutely makes for a better day!

I love seeing the seed heads in the centers immature... then after all of the petals fall off they slowly ripen and burst open...

wisteria gone wild!

These bad girls are rampant in the edge of the woods behind the nursery! They are at least 4 stories tall! Climbing fearlessly through many trees, taking no prisoners! I must admit, it is beautiful!!! This is the invasive Asian wisteria. At the nursery we sell the native, Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls'.

We are super blessed to have Fraser Magnolia (Magnolia fraseri), a large leafed native deciduous magnolia, on the land! It blooms so briefly and so gracefully! Huge buttery blooms give way to unusual seedpods in the fall...

Spring is EXPLODING at the nursery! Here are some shots...


Apple blossoms


Kwanzan Cherry


Rhody about to bloom


Nothing like fiddleheads!


Columbine

Columbine blooming in one of my hyper-tufa rock gardens.


Another trout lily in the backyard.


My faithful friend & petal head!




Birthday gifts of rhubarb and saved seeds: California sunflower and Blue Hubbard squash!

A pretty image

'Nature Girl' by Graham Carter

what's growing on

in my gardens...





Celandine Poppy! A shade grower and sign of spring.


The rosemary has been blooming for weeks!


Honeysuckle is ready to bloom when the temperature gets just right!

My new job!!!!

I have started working at A Garden on the Hilltop here in Brevard NC. It is a beautiful garden center with a full plant nursery! We have a shop with garden related tools and gifts and the yard is all shrubs and trees right now, but soon the perennials and annuals will be coming in! I have already used my "tab" to buy a Vitex Agnus-Chastus! Danger... let's see if I actually make it home with a paycheck! I am working holding down the fort for my boss, the owner John, a very nice man and have a lot of leeway as far as arranging plants and planting in our permanent gardens, and I will also be doing landscape design for our landscape company! YAY!

LAying stone

Thanks to a kind donation from my friend Keenan who works at the stone yard, I have begun a beautiful path from the driveway to the walkway/ front porch. It's a lovely Tennessee sandstone leftover from some big job that ended up in the "free" pile... It was quite a bit of weight for the old Subaru, but she brought it home! (After we put some air in one of the tires!)



Starting the dig in...


The other side of the front yard...




I found tons of these big nasty grubs & squarshed every one! (with the shovel! not my bare hands!)



Handsome fellow!

Emergence

Some seeds starting to poke their heads out of the soil... germination station in full effect in the basement!



Sunflower!




Cucumber

Happy Vernal Equinox!!!

OH JOY! THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING! I am beside myself and will be spending a large portion of today planting stuff in my garden... I have some misc plants, who have survived the winter, left over from closing up the nursery last year.


This is a shot of our kitty Soloman, sleeping in the sun up against the rosemary shrub (must smell heavenly!) I spottedd him through the greenhouse window, therefore not the clearest photo!


Wild cherries gracefully sweeping against the edges of the woods....


Grape hyacinth


An incredible treasure... the entire back of the lot is covered in trout lilies! They're amazing!