Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Yard Work

Now that Spring has finally arrived and our plants and flowers are making the transition from winter to spring, I'm sure we're all spending more time outdoors working in our yards. I spent some time in our courtyard yesterday planting some flowers and washing pollen off of everything in sight (a losing battle at this point, I'm afraid, but I couldn't stand it any longer).

And speaking of pollen, I captured this close-up picture of a pine tree's seed pod the other day and although they cause allergy-prone folks a lot of misery this time of year, you have to admit that they are pretty.

It seems that our hard winter here in the Deep South affected the supply of flowers and plants available to the local nurseries. I was disappointed in the selection of large hanging baskets and larger size annuals, but finally decided to try some pretty red Temari Verbena plants around our waterfall area. Although they don't have any blooms on them right now, the plants look healthy and, hopefully, will have some bright red blooms soon.

You can see them in the bottom left corner of the picture below (under "Harry," the blue Heron).

The winter also took its toll on our water plants, as you can see in this picture. Those brown "sticks" are all that's left of a gorgeous Umbrella Plant, that didn't survive. Unfortunately, we'll have to replace it and a few more of our water plants.

Here is the way it looked last Spring ...

I did find this pretty Verbena hanging basket for the waterfall ...

And this pink Geranium ...

Our courtyard is where we spend our time in the spring and summer months, and it is always a "work in progress." Right now, I'm (not so patiently) waiting for all the plants around the waterfall and pond to leaf out and bloom. We had to trim them last month to get them ready for their new spring growth, so some of them look pretty stark now.

I was pleased with what I accomplished yesterday, though, and am looking forward to spending our Easter weekend in the courtyard.

Confederate Jasmine vine growing around our front doors, with baskets of Azaleas.

I hope you're enjoying Spring in your part of the world, and are having fun working in your yard.

2 comments:

RachelD said...

Janie, How Lovely!

You're so far ahead, I won't catch you til August!

What are the lovely purple things in last year's picture which look like a hydro-version of elephant ears?

I could sit all day on that beautiful bench, just taking it all in.

Stacey said...

You have everything looking so pretty already! No flowering plants purchased here...well I take that back. I bought my big geranium pots for the front porch. They can be pulled in and out as needed. Bought some ferns too that are in a protected spot.

We are having a new fence put in this week and it makes a huge difference. A much prettier backdrop than the old one. :)

I'm so glad spring is here!