Blast from the Past!

I absolutely cannot believe it's been 2+ years since I posted last!  Life's been the way life is - busy, hectic, sometimes wonderful and sometimes heart-rending.  I'm going to try to post again, now that things are more stable.

What have we done in the past 2 years?  We've certainly spent plenty of time with the cats.

Karma, still doing well, still enjoying the porch and sun.

Well, Sir Lancelot the Feisty (he has his own Facebook page) remains in remission from lymphoma, which is amazing!  April will be the two year anniversary of his remission, and he's been off chemo since November 2013.  We had a rough summer with him last summer, as he got an opportunistic fungal infection in his nose, but that's almost resolved, finally.  

Tummy!

More gardening!  No big surprise there, right?  We're currently under a cover of snow from this winter - I think we got about 4', for reals.  I saw the very first snow crocus peeking its little head up, though, finally.  

 Spring may yet come!

We finally remodeled the master bathroom and got rid of the pink toilet & bathtub!  I'll have to write a post about the remodel, although it was anything but DIY.  We hired a contractor, realizing that we wanted things done right and the scope of the remodel we wanted was far out of our capabilities.  It was so worth it!  We traded the tub/shower for a luxurious shower in the same space, and splurged on a heated floor.  Best choice ever.  It's been great this past winter.  Although the project wasn't DIY, I did make all of the design choices myself, so aesthetically, this bathroom is very "us."

Stewie sits in the new sink.  Also, new fancy shower!

We have lost some kitties, and added some.  Our sweet asthmatic black kitty Strider died very suddenly in January 2014, and we're still rather heart-broken about it.  New kitties Loki (white with orange) and Stewie (dark gray, adopted from my mother) have come to live with us, bringing our total to 6.  Oy!  We love them all so much, though, that we can't imagine life without them.  Naturally, I added a garden bed as a memorial to little Strider.

Loki!  He's as naughty as his name suggests.

I've done some more painting, but that's a little challenging without a good space to paint in.  

Unfinished painting of Glacier Bay, AK.

So what's on the horizon?  Hopefully, more gardening if the snow ever melts.  

Can't wait to plant these!!!

We also plan to build a "catio" in our back yard for our furry family to enjoy (and for us, as well!).  

Earl Grey

Stewie

Willow

Hopefully I'll also find a way to eke out some space for painting, as well, since it helps me stay sane.  I hope to do more cooking than I have in the past year, and I hope to do more home improvement! I've also changed jobs, and I might be switching to the night shift again soon, so I'm not sure what that will do to things, overall.

Posts with pictures from some of the projects over the past couple of years to follow, I hope!

xoxo
Mrs. Handyverger

The porch garden - containers!

At the start of summer, I bought some long planters from Home Depot, and tucked some cute little plants into them.  And they looked cute.

From top to bottom: 

coleus, verbena, petunia and 

a sweet potato vine. 

From top left to bottom right: 

Bumblebee petunia, cinnamon basil, 

ornamental millet, black velvet petunia.

 Same planter box, but here you can see how 

small the cinnamon basil is, and that there's another 

sweet potato vine in the upper right corner.

One more view, from the top.

 And from the side.

 As of late July, these had changed drastically.

Believe it or not, they've grown even more.  I'll have to append some pictures from this week!  The coleus is as tall as the railing now.

Online Garden Resources

Well, hidey-ho, there, good neighbors!  (Anyone remember Wilson, the faceless neighbor from Home Improvement? Just me?  Oh, ok...)  I'm keeping a running list of garden resources, from blogs to online nurseries.  If I've ordered from a nursery, I'll note that and add a brief review.  If not, I'll note that too!

Blogs:

A Garden for the House - Let's just say I'm completely jealous of Kevin Lee Jacobs' stunning garden - and acreage, though it sounds like it's been a labor of love, since part of his garden used to be a parking lot!  Lots of great tips, and lots of garden eye candy.

Tending My Garden - Theresa has been gardening in Virginia for over 35 years.  She grows organically, and with minimal-to-no extra watering!  I believe Virginia grows most of her own food, which is just awesome.  She's a big proponent of soil health, and it's a fascinating read.

Nurseries:

Garden Harvest Supply - I've ordered from GHS multiple times.  The first time I ordered, I ordered a Black Velvet petunia.  They'd run out and shipping a Phantom petunia in its stead.  When I emailed them asking about it, they offered to send me a free plant for my trouble.  Now that's good customer service!  I ordered a golden cherry tomato, and although it got off to a slow start - thanks to chipmunk thieves - I ended up harvesting cherry tomatoes into October of last year.  I also have ordered sweet potato vines from them.  They started out looking sort of small and sad, but in no time, they were ready to take over the world.  Just how I like my sweet potato vines!  They definitely grew better than the sweet potato vines I got from Lowe's this year, and equal to those I got from my favorite local nursery (whose plants are the best I've bought).   Great selection of petunias, and they appear to have a good selection of mums - if you can get them before they've sold out.  :(  I have yet to be able to purchase any mums from them, much to my extreme disappointment.  Their prices are generally quite reasonable.  They carry mostly live plants, though they do have a few seeds.

Marguerite sweet potato vine from GHS.  This one started out in a 3" pot. 

 Pinstripe petunia from GHS.

 Phantom petunia from GHS

Sweet potato vine, ornamental peppers and coleus from GHS.

Pinetree Garden Seeds - I've ordered seeds from Pinetree for the first time this year.  I have yet to plant them, but I will say their shipping was prompt and although their website's search function is a little painful (really?  I can't just hit enter to search after I've typed my search term?  But I'm lazy....), the website is easy to navigate and they have a great selection of lettuces, ornamental kales/cabbages and herbs - particularly any variety of basil you could imagine!  Decent prices, as well.  And I have a thing for basil.  I'll update with how things have germinated once I plant my fall crops.  Largely seeds, rather than plants.

Johnny's Selected Seeds - Seeds, not plants, as you might guess.  Have not yet ordered from them, but I plan to.  Veggies, fruits, flowers, herbs.

Swallowtail Garden Seeds - Again, seeds. Haven't ordered, but I plan to.

High Mowing Organic Seeds - Seeds, but organic.  I can't wait to try some of their tomatoes next year!

Summerhill Seeds - Seeds.  Haven't ordered yet, but I plan to.

Michigan Bulb Company - Unsurprisingly, bulbs!  Also some perennials.  Not a great selection of live plants, but holy irises, Batman!  I've ordered from them, and I'm waiting for my order to arrive.

The Cook's Garden - Lots of unique vegetable seeds.  Some plants.  I haven't ordered yet, but I am dying to try some of their Kaleidoscope Carrot Mix. 

Wayside Gardens - Not cheap, but an amazing selection of hydrangeas and other shrubs.  

Great Garden Plants - Great prices, but I suspect the shrubs and perennials start out on the small side.  Lots of hydrangeas!

Bluestone Perennials - Great selection of daylilies, I've noticed!  Prices seem reasonable.

Old House Gardens - Heirloom bulbs.  I can't wait to order some!

Pippin's Garden

The infrequent updates continue... hopefully I can motivate to post a little more frequently, since we've been doing lots around the yard and house to keep making it a home.  

This spring, we redid the landscaping in front of our house.  One of my new, favorite little spots is what I've come to think of as Pippin's Garden.  I chose a single plant - a Rose of Sharon - in his memory, and built the little spot around it.

This is earlier this spring, before the Rose of Sharon blossomed.

And it is, in bloom.  Stunning!

And here it is, with the Rose of Sharon in full bloom.

If you're curious, I picked the Rose of Sharon for Pippin because of a song called Rose of Sharyn.  Don't look it up if you don't like heavy metal. ;)  But these lyrics are why I chose a Rose of Sharon for him.

What would I give 

to behold the smile, 

the face of love?  

You never left me;

the rising sun 

will always 

speak your name.

Landscape Overhaul - Front Porch Garden

At the start of the spring, Mr. Handyverger and I decided that we were very tired of the dated, overgrown shrubs that surrounded our house.  Here are some views of the front porch that's near the front entrance to the house.

Holy bushes, Batman!  These yew were way overgrown. This is what you used to pass after walking up the steps from the driveway and around to the front door.

And when you rounded the corner to the house, a giant, Christmas-tree shaped yew blocked all sun and joy from the right side of the porch.

And this was the view off of the porch.  Youch.

And now?

An amazing improvement, isn't it?

I'm loving the cheerful pops of yellow, red and turquoise.  Of course I've added some more plants to the porch.  I'll share those pictures soon.

To give you an idea of how much of the front yard our bushes took up, check out the artemesia in the picture below.  The bushes very nearly overgrew it.

She's the largest artemisia in the new garden - the one right in front of the rock.  The one that's just a little left of center.  Everything to the left of that was huge yew bushes!

That's the very same artemisia, not moved an inch, with lots of room to breathe!

This is what used to grow in that triangular area between the walkways.  Lots of wildflowers gone, well, wild!

Now, some simple, colorful plantings: Coralbells 'Caramel,' a hosta (might be 'Golden Prayers'), some Silver Mound artemesia (added to the one I've had growing there for five years), some coleus and celosia.

There's Walker's Low catmint in there, as well as another coralbell 'Huckaberry.'

And this oregano patch that's taking over the world?

It's like something out of Little Shop of Horrors.  Feed me, Seymour!

It's a neatly manicured oregano plant once again.  

Unfortunately, we lost the catnip that was growing next to it to an aphid infestation.  I'm terribly sad!  (And for reference, the silver mound artemisia that's just to the left of center in this picture?  That's the very same one that was encroached upon by bushes I showed you above.

Some quickies of some of the plants we used...

My beautiful, original Silver Mound artemisia.  I have babied this plant for five years, and at long last she has room to grow.  

 Another view of the coralbells (Heuchera 'Huckaberry')

A nice shot of the green foliage veined in purple.  Stunning!  I love that the green has a slight silver undertone.  It complements the artemisia nicely.

Itty bitty dwarf mugo pine!  This is planted at the very tip of the triangle between our walkways.    He's so cute!

 Celosia, AKA Cockscomb. Insert juvenile tittering.

Coleus, Stained Glassworks 'Copper.'  Fiery!

So, that's the transformation of the front porch garden!  We had a fantastic landscaper helping us.  We worked together to come up with plants that were both low maintenance and that we loved.  He really managed to bring my vision to life, and since then, I've tucked a few more little plants in to fill things out, mostly annuals.

Next up?  The newly created garden for my beloved angel-kitty Pippin.

Cheers!

Mrs. H.




Linking up at:

DIY by Design's Swing into Spring

Stop being a pansy!

Actually, wait, don't.  I like pansies!

I may have gotten a bit carried away when I went to Lowe's the other day - I loaded up on pansies, and finally, yesterday, I got them all planted in various containers.

This is the view looking out the front door.  

And looking back up the other way - you can see that we need to power-wash our slate steps!

These are the front steps leading to the sunroom, seldom used.  Previously, there were hugely overgrown rhododendrons to the right of the stairs, and other rampantly wild bushes on the left.  Gone!  We're working on figuring out lovelies to tuck on either side of the stairs.  I'm considering Little Lamb hydrangeas.

Image from http://www.plantplaces.com.

You can probably see that I'm working on prepping the railings for their new paint job.  I can hardly wait to get the railings done - they're going to coordinate with the landscape lighting that I dressed up.

I used these lights from Lowe's, along with a little Martha Stewart craft paint (in Rust), to make something more custom-looking.

 They look fantastic lit-up at night!

Before we had all the bushes removed, the front porch was blocked by an overgrown arborvitae and shaggy yew bushes.  The porch looks so much more lovely without them!  (And note, there are more railings to be cleaned, sanded and repainted... I've got my work cut out for me!)

Have you been doing any spring planting?  Are you lucky enough to live further south than I do, and have all your planting complete?

Cheers!
Mrs. H.