By Golly, It Bloomed!

Earlier this spring, as soon as the leaves peaked through the ground, I went and dug up a slew of iris bulbs that we inherited when we bought our home. As though being in full shade wasn't enough, they were also in high dog traffic areas of the yard. As I'd never gotten any blooms from them in their original locations, I decided to move the bulbs despite it not being the best time to do so.

After having spoken with my mom and a local Master Gardener, I understood that the transplanted irises would probably not do spit this year but was told, repeatedly, to not give up on them because in a few years they would be SO very happy with their new full sun location...hopefully. Patience, by the way is NOT one of my best virtues, especially when it comes to gardening.

Well, by golly, I got a bloom THIS YEAR! It is a lovely light purple and I'm so excited I can barely stand it. Okay, so that may be the only bloom I get because the rest of the iris look a little puny but I got a bloom! Of course, as I only noticed it this am as I was leaving for work..

Speaking of irises, my water iris that Naomi gave me went nuts recently. First one, then two, then something like ten blooms at one time adorned the plant. Last night I deadheaded the plant and have two full blooms and about 5 about to pop open. Gorgeous deep purple blooms... WOW! Seeing that gorgeous display of color has made all the work we did on the pond worth it.

I LOVE playing in the dirt!

Presenting (again) My Nephew!

Can you tell that I'm a wee bit of a proud Auntie? Hee hee..

Recently Court had his baby pictures done and oh my goodness they are BEAUTIFUL! What a handsome little guy my new nephew is. We can't wait to meet him end of May when he and his parents come through town. And if you think I can't wait to see him again (I took a road trip and got to see him the day after he was born!), my kiddos are beyond excited over the opportunity to see "THEIR" baby Court. LOL.

Anyway, what was I writing about? That's right, my nephew's beautiful baby pix. Well, I don't have room to share them ALL here but I did want to include a few of my favorites. Enjoy oooohing and aaaaahing over this handsome little guy.

The Addition of Tiki-Man

Just because I didn't post anything in April doesn't mean I was being lazy. In fact, quite the opposite was true.

We were very busy working in the pond garden and I must say that I'm extremely pleased at how well it is all coming together.

To watch over the fruits of our labors and to serve as a plant stand, I introduce to you - Tiki-Man! I was fortunate to receive Tiki-Man from someone who was tossing him out (code word: FREE) and every time I see him I smile. I especially like his "hair-do" which my DH notes makes him resemble the Chiquita Banana chick. HA! Of course, the time between when I took this photo of Tiki-Man and my entering this post, I've changed the pot on his "head". Same plants but a raffia rope type basket pot that looks much more "natural"?

I'm hoping to get some pix of the pond posted sometime this century. Keep watch!

Welcome to the Family, Little Guy!

Court Jackson was born at 1:58 pm on Friday, March 28th. He was 6 lbs and 15 oz and 20 in long. He's is BEAUTIFUL! My brother (the new daddy) can't stop beaming with pride and joy. Both mom and baby are doing well. My kids can't wait to meet their new little cousin. When I told my DD that Aunt Ashley had given birth to Court, she asked me if he was "tiny and cute like Sunny's baby puppies?" to which I could only respond, "CUTER!". "OH! I can't wait to meet baby Court!!!" she replied.
Although I couldn't ditch work on Friday to be there for the blessed event, I was lucky enough to buzz up on Saturday to see my brand-spankin' new nephew. We are SO BLESSED to have this little guy as part of our family. Hi, Court!!! We love you more than you can imagine.

PONDerings

The goldfish have, for the past couple of weeks, managed to stay alive in a cooler while we have been working on the pond we inherited when we bought the house. (You can see a BEFORE pix of the pond in "My Little Eden" blogged Oct 19, 2007 in the archives of this blog site.) After a bit of work, we got the bulk of the cemented jagged rocks sawed/chiseled away. Small photo shows only a small bit remaining to cut/chisel. After removing the shrub, we dug a small trench which was filled with some drainage material and then a nice top pad was poured so as to provide a sound footing for the limestone we're using to border the pond (see 2nd pix).

The puzzle of putting the border stones has begun and we are hoping to get this completed soon so that the plants and fish can soon return to their home. Actually, for the fish, this is sort of an Extreme Home Makeover when you consider we emptied the pond, pulled out tons of "sludge" (don't think it'd EVER been cleaned), power-washed and sealed a few potential cracks, providing some nice shade areas while giving the pond more sun as a result of cutting out some in-bad-shape trees and the little shrub. Yes, there is MUCH left to do but at least now I'm seeing the end result in my head...ALMOST. Maybe...someday, I'll have a pix of the finished thing to share!

Garden Hoes March Work Day

Recently we had our March work day and I was the fortunate one to receive the fruit of our labors. After a short breakfast and going over the "action plan", we set to work breaking ground for a new flower bed. The site selection was actually easier than I thought. We have three crepe myrtles that are a bear to mow around, plus there was the big rock that was a bit tricky to get over. Now we have a lovely new bed that incorporates the rock as an "architectural feature" (ha ha) and will make mowing that corner of the property a little easier and, IMHO, just looks "pretty".

Unfortunately, my "from seed" plants weren't ready to go in yet so we were only able to put in a few plants on this day. Included in the bed at this time is a Nierembergia (Cupflower), Malvaviscus arboreus (Turk's Cap), Salvia Mystic Spires Blue (supposedly a dwarf version of Salvia Indigo Spires), and a couple Amaryllis bulbs (thanks Naomi!). Also going into this bed, hopefully soon, will be Zinnia "Envy", Cerinthe (Purple Bells) and Monarda (Bee Balm). Probably a few other things will find their way there but that is the idea thus far.

In addition to the primary flower bed, we tilled up another area for turning into a bed. The area between the veggie garden and the drive-way was a full-sun area but pretty neglected looking. We laid edging for this area and got the primary till done. This past weekend, I tilled in some organic compost to raise the acidity level of this extremely basic patch of soil. All the iris bulbs I'd dug up from scraggly areas/beds that I was reinventing went into the new bed. A nice layer of mulch on top and she's done...well, almost. I still need to put down a few steps and then finish mulching the other end, but I'm quite pleased with it. Even if the poor plants don't do anything this year, I believe they will be quite happy in their new home and I'm hoping that next year... kaPOW! In the meantime, I've got a few potted plants in the bed as well. My Bulbine frutescens (Orange African Bulbine) has begun to flower in one of the pots. I still need to thin out the second pot. My Hilo Beauty Elephant Ear bulbs I was given have yet to start sprouting...

The last little bit of tilling I did for that day was over near the pond garden. Going to put a few things in the little crook of the fence and needed to soften up the ground. Have yet to decide what will go here, but...

In a "Family Way"

Any day now we are expecting the stray Labrador Retriever we "adopted" to have her babies.

"Holy crap!" was pretty much the reaction when we realized she was pregnant. We finished building her whelping box last night and barely escaped a trip to the emergency room when DH shot his finger with the nail gun...and he says I'M dangerous with power tools....

I invite you to check out what we have going on at the blog my DH created for the occasion at www.sunnyandherpups.blogspot.com

You can learn how we ended up with Sunny, how she got herself in a "family way", a little about her and what we are going through as a result of this process. Fortunately for the dog, my DH knows a little about this. When he was telling me about all that was going to be involved and responded to my "huh?" with a remark about not believing I was ignorant on the subject, I merely told him, in my best Mammy voice, "I don't know nuthin' about birthin' no babies, Miss Scarlett." Anyway, I ENCOURAGE you to check out the blog and pop over periodically in the coming weeks to see pix of the pups. According to our 3 yr old, "Sunny is going to have baby puppies and they are going to be SOOOOOOO cute and so tiny like baby puppies."