ENJOYING THE YARD

When we bought this place, the grass was literally knee-high, the flower beds full of weeds, and what should have been thick with lush vegetation was nearly barren, while what should have been spare was overgrown. Still, the yard had potential. What a playground for a plant lover mike myself--half an acre to landscape. DH and I, over time, began to have a vision for our property.

It's been seven years, and I've planted more every year, with some failures, and some remarkable successes. Plants I loved died, like the euphorbia griffithii



Euphorbia Griffithi "Fireglow"

and plants I don't like at all have run rampant, despite my best efforts to dig them up, weed them out, such as the weird one that has leaves shaped like caladium, without the veining, that goes from a leafy ground cover to something that looks like a candlestick made out of orange berries. They are not attractive, and they seem to be everywhere.

But oh, it does look like we're making progress, and this time of year I look outside and sigh for the wonder of it. I took a few pictures today, mostly of the foxgloves, which self-sow so freely, and flourish with no attention at all. Look at this one that found itself growing at the base of a dry (it leaks all the water out) birdbath:




And look at these! The arbor is over my head (I'm 5'6") by quite a bit, and if you look closely, you'll see that one foxglove has grown up through arbor, clematis vine, and is getting ready to bloom above it all.



This is taken from alongside those same foxgloves, looking in the direction of the swing, with its covering of wisteria, which still hasn't bloomed, ever:



And a last shot, of the Canterbury Bells Connie planted last year, and didn't tell me, and so I didn't know they were even there, until they burst into bloom late last week.



I'm beginning to love this yard, even when I have to get out the lawn mower, or maybe especially when I have to get the lawn mower. It gets to e more beautiful every year.