It just feels good...

...to get your fingers in the dirt!

After a summer of practically neglecting my flowerbeds, I finally got in there and tackled the army of weeds that had overtaken the soil. It's difficult to justify spending good money on landscaping the yard of a rental house, but I simply must do something to the flowerbeds that greets visitors at the entrance to the front porch.

Yes, we mow the grass and trim bushes, but I crave beautifully landscaped beds with carefully placed shrubbery and strategically planted flowers. Here are a couple of shots of my parent's back yard. It is a beautiful place to escape to...

In the back of this picture you can see the fort/swing-set my dad built me for Christmas when I was 2 and next to it is the playhouse (now mom's storage room for gardening supplies) that he built me for my 4th Christmas. "We" (he) have actually moved them from two other houses.

This is one of my favorite spots. The picture was made in late spring before most of the summer flowers were blooming, but the larkspur and hydrangeas were beautiful.

So, the other day I purchased a few goodies for our yard: snapdragons, pansies and rosemary. I am limiting myself to just these three since they will all live through the spring and will require minimal maintenance...and I can cook with the rosemary. Don't worry though, the flowerbeds will be far from boring. At some point a real gardener lived in this house and every year we are presently surprised by the lilies, tulips, and daffodils that pop up at the most unexpected times.




Right now some bulb is starting to spring up. I wonder if it knows it's about 5 months early? And since I live in the what seems like the hottest place on earth, plants that are annuals in most climates zones are perennials here, i.e. lantana. Last year it bloomed until Christmas.