the flower beds

I just spent Monday and Tuesday tending to our primary flower beds in the front yard. Now that the frost danger has passed I felt like I could get things ready for the summer. Last May I expanded the planting area in our front yard to include a piano noble type shape (s-curved bed) and it turned into a bigger job than I had expected. Thought that bed doesn't look very large it can actually hold a boatload of plants. It was very gratifying this year when the Stella d'Oro daylillies, purple cane, and salvia came back up with the daffodils. They are the first sign of spring and just seeing them gave me ideas for what plants to add into the bed. Somehow the job didn't seem quite as big this year.



I weeded and cleaned the bed, then went to the plant nursery on Monday with ALL THREE KIDS. (Do I get a medal of honor?) They didn't kick us out even though Grace was howling about wanting to get out of the stroller by the time we got to the cashier's stand. By the time we arrived home I was unable to do anything but eat the take out that Dave offered to bring home. (Hanging my head in shame...there goes that domestic goddess of the year award I wanted so badly.) We made all our regular appointments on Tuesday morning. After putting Grace down for her nap I was ready to plant all the new flowers. I made great progress as I moved through the process. By the time I stopped to pick up Jordan from Chorus practice (3:30) I had moved through most of the larger plants and chosen the slots for the smaller flowers. When we returned from Jordan's school I then had everyone awake and busy....really busy. After about 30 minutes trying to plant the same plant I realized that I had to call in the calvary. I picked up the phone and called Dave's Dad. Pop-pop was here within ten minutes (Hooray!) and he did the kid wrangling while I planted at a fenzied pace. Two hours later I was done.



See all those little red flowers on the left side? There are actually 144 of them. Add that to the other flowers and I put 155 plants in the ground on Tuesday. I needed motrin that night...and the next morning. There is a lot more to be done, but at least I've gotten a headstart. In fact, I added that hosta near the tree so I'd have one more plant come up next spring. Every little bit helps!