I haven’t posted about my garden since last fall, and I have three seasons worth of pictures to share. I’m absolutely amazed by the changes in my garden, especially in my front flower bed.

I’ve tried all kinds of plants in my front flower bed. This is the bed where I typically plant annuals because it’s small and easy to maintain. Last year, it looked fabulous in the spring. It was full of snapdragons, pansies, violas, nasturtium, calendula, and dianthus. See my previous posts for pictures.

This fall, I decided to hold off on the annuals and to plant hardy perennials instead. Why? Mostly because of lack of time. My full-time job keeps me busy enough. Another reason was to make sure that by the summer, I only had Texas-tough plants in the bed (to avoid the disaster that happened last summer.)

Also, I wanted to spend most of my gardening time on planting trees in front of my house. Tree planting can take a full weekend, by the way. I’ll post more on that experience later. For now, here’s what my front flower bed looked like during Fall 2006 (around October):

The only plants that made it through the summer
were the purple heart (center), the katie ruellias (around the edge), the dianthus (lower left), and the daylily (center–under purple hearts.)

I planted a few Turk’s caps in October,
and you can see those poking through the purple heart. I also planted some calendula seeds and nasturtium on October. You can see the calendula seedlings in the lower right and the nasturtium seedlings on the top left.

The only annuals I planted were the snapdragon plant (lower right between ruellia and calendula), and the violas in the front. I also found a bulb (don’t know what kind) in another area of my yard, and I quickly threw it in the ground above the daylily.

I left all of the leaves on the bed so that they’d provide a good winter blanket (mulch) for my plants. That’s partially why this garden looks like it’s being taken over by the elements.

During January, a heavy freeze came to town and killed almost everything in the front bed. Check out the disaster:

Hideous! The leaves on the katie ruellias are now gone. (Since they’re perennials, they’ll grow back in the spring, thank goodness.) The purple heart plant is essentially dead. The nasturtium and calendula seedlings are no more. This is not a sight for sore eyes.

Feb 2007 was when I decided to add tough summer/spring perennials to the mix. Pictured in between and around the bed are shasta daisy plants. I also planted two coreopsis plants (one is pictured on the lower right), and lots of alyssum plants, which I knew would die off in the summer–they were an impulse buy. I also replanted calendula and nasturtium seeds. I also planted lots of larkspur seeds in January. My winter garden looked terrible, and I placed all of my bets on the spring.

And what happened this spring? It rained, rained, rained!! How marvelous! Spring 2007 was lovely. The weather was mild and perfect for growth. Within weeks, my front bed was back in action. It was like magic! Check out the difference:

The above picture was taken in March, and the picture before that was taken in February. What a difference a month can make! By March, the nasturtium seedlings were back (left.) The daylily was full and healthy (center right.) The purple heart was growing strong, and the shasta daisies had made it past their 4-inch pot stage (around the tree, but especially lower left in this picture.) The ruellias started to produce new leaves, and the dianthus (pink and white flowers) began to bloom like mad. I was relieved.

By May, the plants were flourishing. The first hardy perennial to bloom was the coreopsis:

I thought, and hoped, that the shasta daisies would bloom first. Since I have more of them, and since they surround the crape myrtle tree trunk, I wanted them to bloom first. They did the opposite, however. The coreopsis plant on the southern side of the bed bloomed first, and made the bed look lopsided. Eventually the coreopsis plant on the northern side of the bed bloomed, and things started to look more symmetrical. I also had plenty of larkspur plants shoot up around the coreopsis by the end of May. (The tall plants with the purple flowers in the above picture. They made a nice companion plant with the yellow/orange coreopsis.)

Eventually, all parts of the bed began to grow with enthusiasm. By June, it looked like this:

The shasta daisies (white with yellow centers) have arrived!

Here’s a wider shot of the bed:

As you can see from the lanky larkspur on left, things are getting a little hot for some of the plants. The larkspur have had their moment in my garden, and they are starting to die back. They reseed easily. The nasturtium plants (lower left) are starting to look leggy in this photo. They’ve also bloomed (lots of fiery reds, oranges, and yellows.) I have yet to use their leaves in a salad, but I’d better do so quickly because they may not last much past June. (Depends on the rain and heat.) The Turk’s caps are starting to show their potential for height (wide leaf plant in top right by tree trunk), and the purple heart (center, by Turk’s cap) is here to stay. (I had to cut some of it back already so that it wouldn’t take over the entire bed.)

My plan is for the Turk’s caps, purple heart, katie ruellias, shasta daisies, and possibly the coreopsis to be alive and well during the entire summer. I have my hopes on the purple heart, Turk’s caps, and katie ruellias. I don’t know what will happen to the shastas or the coreopsis. The shasta plant I had last summer didn’t bloom, but it stayed green. I hope that will be the case this summer for my new shasta plants. Go, plants, go!

To see some photos of the event, check out our Flickr site:

www.flickr.com Mitch & Donna’s Rugby Weddings photoset

He started the walkway during the last week of 2006 when he had a week of vacation. We both wanted to replace our cement walkway because it was badly cracked. Also, it had shifted in such a way that water flowed toward the house when it rained. Because we scored some thick stone rocks from our generous friend Stacey (thanks, chica!!), we decided to replace the front walkway and to add a walkway from the front porch to the driveway.

Mitch was very excited about renting a jack hammer to destroy the cement path. Although he thought it would take several days to rip the cement out, it only took an afternoon because the cement didn’t have rebar in it. After only a few hours, Mitch was done and on to the next step. I wish I had pictures of Mitch with the jack hammer, but I was at work when he started and completed the job.

One of the hardest parts of the project was clearing out all of the old cement. I’m pretty sure this took a day itself. Once the cement was cleared, Mitch created a new pathway, and leveled the ground to be sure water would flow away from the house when it rained.

Here’s all of the cement:


We’re still not sure what to do with it all. A friend suggested that we post a picture to Craigslist in the “free goods” section. Perhaps someone will need it badly enough to haul it away for us for free? Please?

Here’s what our new front walkway looked like after Mitch cleared the cement:

Here’s the side path before Mitch cleared it out and leveled it:

And here’s what it looked like when Mitch cleared it out:

A view from the front flower bed:

Check out that big pile of gravel and sand on our driveway. We still have a little left, and we’ll probably try to give it away on Craigslist too.

Needless to say, a couple of months passed between the above picture and the below picture, but Mitch finished the walkway just in time for my book club meeting during the last week of February.

All things considered, Mitch finished the project very quickly. He got it done and out of the way just in time for spring. Thanks, Mitch! You rock!

For those of you who haven’t heard, Mitch’s father, Jerry, passed away on January 14, 2007. He is greatly missed.

The picture above is Jerry and Mitch in 1972. When I first saw it, I thought the grown man was Mitch. Over the years I have learned that Mitch and his father share several things in common besides looks. They also share a love of adventure, laughter, wit, and Sooner football. They both have large social networks, but they both also enjoy their introspective moments. They share a patience for figuring out how things work. They both like to dream big, and they motivate others to dream with them. They’re certainly both stubborn, but this quality also comes across in their loyalty–especially to the ones they love. For all these reasons I express my profound thanks to Jerry for giving Mitch the opportunity to love and admire who he was and who he continues to be–in spirit and in memory.