Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

June 15, 2011

How does your garden grow?

So I am not a gardener, but I do like flowers.  I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that, but if you are a garden pro, I'd love some tips!

We have an ugly and giant cedar tree growing in our front yard, I wanted to cut it down, but it is big and old and does give some privacy to the front of the house.  Plus it's a great landmark for when people, come over, "we're on the right, the house with the giant cedar".

So since cutting it down was off the table I decided to try to beautify it a little.  First I trimmed off some of the lower branches to make it look more like a tree i.e. show more of the trunk.  Next I planted a ton of tulips (my favourite flower) around the base as well as a hosta and juniper, which were both donation plants from friends.

Everything was planted in the fall and then I waited patiently until Spring hoping that something would happen.  And then it did.  Green stems came up from the ground, it was like magic, I felt so excited I was like a kid again.
Look at them all!  And the best part is that the pink tulip was the first to bloom... amazing!




 We also did some planting along the front path, which was just all grass before.  It's so much more welcoming now.  I love the little boxwoods and there's more little bulbs that are just starting to come up.  We planted some decorative grasses from our old house, I hope that they survive the move.  Of course Teddy wouldn't get out of my shot... sorry about the furry backside.



We have heavy clay soil here so the digging was hard work, but I think it looks so much better.  I'm excited to see the garden fill out and learn more as I go along.  Who knows... maybe I'll grow a green thumb afterall.

So, do you garden?  Any tips for me?  We'd love to plant some bushes/trees around the perimeter of the backyard... any suggestions?




April 25, 2011

Spring is here

Happy Easter!

It's been a crazy couple of days... I have SO much to tell you about.  I am just itching for some showing off... but as usual I have not downloaded any lovely pictures for you lovely readers.  I AM SORRY.  I'll make it up to you I promise.

Over Easter we were visiting family and generally enjoying ourselves and the lovely warmish weather (5-10 degrees Celsius).  We had snow last week (no joke) so we'll take what we can get.  The plants are enjoying the weather as well, and it seems that Spring has really arrived.

Lately, I have been having so much fun watching my tulips come up in the front garden; it is SO exciting.  Tulips are my absolute favourite flower.  In our area (we are Zone 5 for you gardeners), we plant bulbs in the Fall and then cross our fingers all winter and wait expectantly in the Spring for the little green leaves to poke out of the ground.  Of course there are some that get eaten by squirrels (little buggers!) and other animals before they have a chance to grow, but when they start growing out of the ground it's like magic.

The front of our house used to look like this.
Yup, just grass... how boring.  In fact, it's all pretty beige.  We planted a garden along the front path and around the giant cedar tree that you can see in the bottom right of the photo.  It looks so much more homey now.  The tulips are not blooming yet, but for now the little green leaves are excitement enough.  Happy Spring!

I hope you have something growing!  I'd love to hear about it if you do.  Are the flowers out in your city?