Spring is in Bloom!
The cherry tree is blooming, the strawberries are growing, the daffodils are sending up their smiling faces. It’s awesome.
The view out my Kitchen Window:
The cherry tree is in it’s early stages of blooming.
The Rhododendron is budding out. I guess he likes his new spot after being moved last spring.
The daffodils are blooming
My sad cut-down lilacs are sprouting again!
Strawberries are leafing out in their protective cage.
The view from the back deck makes my heart sing. The grass is green, the trees are pink, and the sun is bright.
Spring is finally here and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it’s here to stay!
Happy Spring.
Sarah
Birdhouses in the Backyard
A few weeks ago, I put up a couple birdhouses in the back yard. No birds yet but if they could house bats, that would be even better. These are just some craft houses from AC Moore that I got for less than $5 each.
One I mounted on a pressure treated post that was in our scrap pile and stuck it in the ground almost inside the rose bush. If I was a bird, I’d like the nice protection of a rose bush.
The other ones is screwed directly to one of the norway maples on the property line.
It has a nice view of the yard and I know some birds like to be able to lookout from their nest.
I’m hoping the birds will come but if not, the houses themselves lend lots of charm to the yard. I really like them.
Also on the list is a blue-jay nesting box (click on the image below for free plans from 50birds.com) in the yew behind the shed. Blue jays won’t nest in houses but they do like a roof to keep the rain off and a perch to nest on. We have some blue jays in the area and I’d love a couple more to keep the grackles away!
I mentioned wanting bats. Since they don’t have our roof to live in anymore, some bat houses would be great for keeping the mosquitoes down. I’d like to add a bat house up on that tree above the birdhouse. I’ll need to get out the big ladder but I think it’d be a great spot for a little family of bats.
This one from Home Depot is less than $20. I may have to order one!
We’ve had robins nest in the cherry tree both years we’ve been here. None made it to egg laying though 🙁 I’m hoping for noisy baby birds one of these days.
Have you ever had any luck with birdhouses? I remember the baby birds in a birdhouse in my Great-Grandma Dillman’s backyard in Iowa. I’ve been fascinated ever since but in Texas, the wasps are more likely than the birds to take over your birdhouse. I’m hoping I’ll have better luck up here in New England!
Sarah
Arborvitae hedge
The Arborvitae plants I ordered from Burgess this winter aren’t doing to well. I’m hoping they’ll come back but one in particular seems to be in shock.
(It was a windy weekend..hence the random grocery bag :))
I’m not sure what I can do to put him in a better mood. Any ideas? I’m keeping him well watered and it hasn’t been super cold. Just transplant shock. He could still make it.
To fill out the hedge, I planted these arborvitaes along the fence.
I desperately need to get rid of that gate. The little bit of fence isn’t too bad but I’m thinking I’ll pull that down as well. I also added one to the right of the 3 I already planted.
I’m thinking we should do “densly spaced hedge” down to the spirea bush. That means 2 more little arborvitaes. Alternatively, we could put in one more lattice screen. I need to flesh it out with Stefan. My initial thought was 3 privacy screen/trellises and then dense hedge everywhere else. 4 might be better though. Hm.
This is the inspiration photo:
But, I think we’re going to use something a little more screened than the metal rods. I’d like to use them to grow my annual veggies on since they are in great full sun but, that means they’ll be empty all winter.
I’m excited to see these arborvitae grow. They grow fairly quickly so I’m hoping they will be neighbor-blocking in just a few years.
Happy Spring!
Sarah
Landscaping the front yard
If you recall from my Foundation Plantings post, this was vaguely the plan for the front of the house.
On Thursday, I took a trip to Mahoney’s Garden center in Winchester to pick up the holly bushes. This place is HUGE!!! It deserves it’s own post. I’ll be back to do a full review.
The first order of business is to plop down the plants where I’d like them to go.
Then I dug the holes and planted them. Easier said than done. There were giant, ancient yews in the front yard when we bought the house and the roots were everywhere.
So I clipped them with garden snips.
It made for slow going but eventually I got all 4 big holes dug.
UPDATE: As fate would have it, my blog bestie, victoriaelizabethbarnes.com is doing a giveaway for an awesome tool that would have come in soooo handy while I was digging these holes. I mean, look at those snips! Rusty and they barely cut! If you would like to win a super awesome not-rusty shiny garden trowel, hop on over to her blog!
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I also moved one of the boxwoods over. I had planted them last fall with the expectation that I would move them once the water main was replaced. He moved really easily since he hadn’t been planted for that long.
And voila, planted:
After planting, I seeded the lawn. As you can see from the pictures, the yard was in desperate need of help.
I watered everything well and came back the next day to lay down landscape fabric and mulch.
I edged the bed with bricks. I’m not sure how I like the mixed painted/unpainted bricks. I may go back and switch them out. It does look nice edged though.
Did you notice the other change? I’ll give you a hint.
Saturday Morning:
Saturday Evening:
Yes, I painted the porch! Whoo. Knock that off the list! The step rails still aren’t painted but they need to be tightened up and caulked so I put that off for another time.
I’m so pleased with the progress we made this weekend. It was a busy weekend to be sure but I’m so proud of all the work I did!
Sarah
