The Backyard: 5/6/15

I was going to wait until I had the section where I tore out the concrete pad completely done before taking pictures, but, I didn't.

I'm gonna start with flowers, because, flowers, then I'll show ya what I did.

My new 'Leprechaun's Gold' Columbine is blooming.

Isn't he cute?!

That whole area is so bright and pretty right now.

On the south side of the house, a sage that a neighbor gave me is blooming, the snap peas that I started from seed are getting their first flowers, and I snapped a few more pics of the 'Sunset' Clematis.

I went after the lilac in the back corner, as threatened.

It looks a little pathetic right now, but it'll be better in the long run.

And yes, in the interim, we have a fantastic view of the neighbor's lovely garage, that's falling apart.

The tall green, that looks like it's part of the lilac, is actually a tree in the other neighbor's yard, leaning over the fence.

Who wants to come deadhead that rhody for me?

Speaking of rhodys (rhodies?), our sick one is blooming so pretty, and that whole corner is filling in.

My giant hosta over there is one of the last to come up.

I scootched the rock boarder forward just a little bit, which is why it looks like there's fresh dirt.

I can't help myself - any way I can make room for more plants.

You can get a glimpse of my crap pile corner, that I mentioned needing to hide if we take out the rhody.

The 'Knockout' standard rose is just starting to bloom.

It smells soooo good.

Won't be long and it'll be a solid ball of hot pink.

So do you have any of those, what the heck is that, plants?

I never dump my pots in the fall, 'cause you never know what'll overwinter.

This started coming really early, and I had no recollection of what it could be.

Then, as the leaves got bigger, I thought it looked like a fuchsia, only the sticks coming out of the dirt weren't fuchsia-like.

Now, I have NO CLUE what in the heck it is.

Time will tell, I guess.

It's happy, whatever it is.

I'm almost wondering if it's a Cuphea.

Dunno.

Okay, so on with the big, concrete slab removal, reveal.

Like I said, my initial plan was to just extend the flower bed forward.

But I like to move things around and try things out, before committing.

So I hauled the bench over that has lived under the Rose of Sharon tree FOREVER.

It was too big for the slab, so that's why I never had it there.

With the concrete removed, it fit in the empty space perfectly.

I put pieces of the broken concrete back in the spot, made two trips to a house in the neighborhood that was giving away free dirt, filled a total of 14 buckets, then used that to back-fill, and get it level with the flower bed.

It was a mucky, muddy mess when I took the photos, but you get the idea.

So my plan is, to fill in between the concrete "pavers" with Blue Star Creeper, which I will steal from my mom's house.  :)

I just haven't been over to dig any yet.

(Update:  I went over and got some today.)

And you know me, I took 101 photos of the same thing.

I love that it's the framed, head-on view from our master bathroom window.

And it makes WAY more sense to me, than that stupid old slab that I could never figure out what to do with.

Plus, now, if I get another wild hair down the road, and decide to move the bench somewhere else, it's set up to just extend the flower bed out.

I always felt like anything I set on the slab blocked the plants in the bed behind it.

I like that the bench has an open back, so the plants show through.

It just crossed my mind that I received the bench as a house warming gift - in 2002.

Crazy.

The falling down fence as a backdrop isn't ours.

It's the neighbor's behind us and they said they'll be replacing it this summer.

The Dad has offered to help build it.

Fingers crossed.

Now that that's done, I get to decide what to do with the area that I stole the bench from.  :)

I moved a small bench there, just to see.

It's nice to have a shady spot to sit in the summer.

I don't know yet, though.

I may take out all the flat rock, Creepin' Jenny and Baby Tears, get some more Rock Farm rocks to fill in the border, and fill it all in with plants.

Decisions, decisions.

What would I do if I didn't have a project, or twelve, to work on?!