Wednesday, May 28, 2008

It All Went Crazy!

WOW! We came home from our trip to the beach on Monday and the landscape around our house went CRAZY!!! It's finally spring in the Pacific Northwest West Corner.
We came home to the front yard being full of Rhodie, Azaleas, Lilacs, and a bunch of other stuff all bloomed out. Nothing was showing when we left. We were wondering if the bushes were going to do anything this year.
The front door urn of flowers went crazy too. I have some big flower shooting up out of the middle of my planters. No clue as to what it is. The front of the house has my stump garden blooming. This would be all the Azaleas I trimmed back to stumps last year after finding them under two huge Juniper bushes we ripped out. I also pruned back (not text book regulations) and old lilac tree that did nothing last year. This year it's full of blooms.
We cut down two 80 ft fir trees last year because the house was turning green and nothing was growing.
WAHLA!! This year the Lilacs and Golden Chain on the property line have gone nuts. They are so beautiful.

This one of the many varieties of Lilacs that we have planted around our property. I have no idea what kind it is but it is GORGEOUS and smells wonderful.
We also have many different varieties of Peonies planted on the property. Again.............no idea what they are but damn they are lovely! This is the part of the property I love. Spring when all these variety of flowers start blooming.

Now let me back up a little ways so you don't think I'm a total idiot................The Hubs and I moved in to this house a little over 2 years ago in the fall. The previous owners owned a plant nursery and the yard was beautiful (the house very neglected inside and out) when we started looking at the house. Now mind you, it was in November so the 1 1/2 acre looked pretty manageable. Well let me tell you the first spring and summer we were here it was lovely and we enjoyed it until we soon found out ........We didn't know what the hell we were doing! We learned that we didn't know enough about gardening or did we have THAT much desire to learn about gardening for what it was going to take to manage this place in all it's glory.
I also think The Hubs had some funky fantasy he didnt' tell me about when we moved in that was about us wearing matching outfits in the garden and enjoying gardening together hand in hand! F*&%$ THAT!!! I hate working in the yard! I'm all about container gardening and mowing. After I had a major meltdown in the middle of weeding yet another flowerbed he finally gave up on the fantasy and quit inviting me to the local fancy nursery to buy me my very own pair of spiffy gardening boots.
So last year we started cutting down trees, ripping out flower beds, and using a lot of Round Up. This year the flowerbeds look worse then they ever have and I'm sure if the old owners drove by they would die when passing by. However, the landscape is finally getting to a manageable amount for us. The pictures you saw are just the front beds, there are 8 other huge different kinds of beds on this property that really look like crap that we haven't even gotten to yet. When I win the lotto...............I'm gettin a crew and levelin this bitch! Starting over!











I will be the first to admit that I hate working in the yard but love love love love the benefits that come from The Hubs doing it! Tonight I was able to cut a huge bouquet of Peonies that look LOVELY in my living room in their Milk Glass vase and a big smelly bouquet of Lilacs that are FABULOUS in their silver water pitcher in my sun room.
For those of you who wrote me wanting know about the beach weekend garage sales and why it wasn't blogged about yet.............I'm gettin to it! I keep getting side tracked with contests and flowers. I swear my next post will be all about it with pictures of my treasures.

4 comments:

WSU Laura said...

All of your flowers look GORGEOUS! I love the smell of lilacs and the red on those peonies is so vibrant. It all looks so lovely and makes me just want to spend the day outside.

Timi said...

Thank you! The Hubs has done a lovely job keeping everything alive. I think I'll be nice to him 3 days in a row! :-)

Laurie Anne said...

I LOVE lilacs. I have six different ones and I'm planning to add a few more. Your peonies are gorgeous!! Mine are finally getting big enough to kick out more than one lonely flower. I'm jealous of you 1 1/2 acres, but I must admit that idea of a big yard is a lot more fun than the actual work of the big yard.
As far as the big flower in your urn, I think it is a moneyplant. It should pop some deep purple flowers and then those white round papery pods :0)

Timi said...

WOW! Laurie Ann you need to come to my house to tell me what this stuff is! I know some of them but for the most part I know nothing!
Those Peonies are actual bush/trees. They are big and don't die back. I whacked them back last year and this year the white Peony came up next to it. I think it wasn't getting any sun before. The others I have are pinks and white. I love them. They are the kind that die back to the ground.
I'm going to keep you posted on my plant in the urn. I'll let you know what it does.
Timi