Finally Got the YARDLady to Work~

It has been a hectic few days in the yard, finally got the slack-yardlady( moi), out to work in her garden. Nice posed shot above , taken by my son, before we got to work kicking some weed-behind in my garden.

 Let me tell you folks, it's not pretty...lookee here,

Yes, this is an actual picture of my weed-garden. Sick right, and there is more...

Terrible, downright embarrassing.

Yes, a gardener does live here, but one that should be fired.

Tisktisk, but I do have a few good excuses. See if you buy these..

Torn rotator cuffs, yes TWO torn rotator cuffs( shoulder injuries) , courtesy of Maxine , whose leash is glistening in the sun, and also from packing large heavy paintings.

2nd excuse, bad back.

3rd excuse, chronic hamstring injury.

Do any of those make you understand or feel sorry for me? If not, don't worry, you are in good company as my garden is FED up with me.

I knew it, my garden knew it, my soul/psyche knew it. I HAD to get crackin' out there. And I did.

Plus I was really smart and hired my Hercules older son to help me again.

Thank God for youth and muscles.

Now look at it...

Not many flowers yet, but weeded, and re-mulched. Sore back, sore hands, happier with garden.

Sarah's garden is up front, and do you see the sand-heart I made in there?

Made with the heart rocks from my porch, Edisto beach sand, which was our favorite place, and seashells from Edisto.

I will buy flowers soon for here.

Still considering a new fountain, don't like this one very much. The trumpet vine bloomed a few weeks ago, let me show you how it looked...

Happy trumpet vine over the arbor, which is being invaded by a climbing rose that I can't get rid of.

This climbing rose has been growing ever so secretly inside my trupetvine. I thought I got rid of it 3 years ago. It used to get black spot so bad that I dug it up and got rid of it. Or so I thought.

Roses are sneaky.

Sarah's front garden here has some decor that many would think tacky, but they are ' things' that make me think of her, or make me think she would smile. So in the garden they go. the EB on the sign is for Edisto Beach, a magnet decal they were sold out of when we went here last together. I told her we would get her one next time we went,as they were sold out that day. There was no next time.

Seize the moment people.

Nice.

Better.

On my hands and knees weeding this path for a long time, Maxine was bored, but happy I was outside.

Listened to my fountain trickling while I worked around it. Saw so many of my perennials coming up, good thing.

Birds were chirping and singing all around.

So much more to do, but less now than before.

More flowers I need to plant in all my planters, front and back.

 It was close to 85 degrees today, with high humidity. Not much fun outside working when it gets so hot.

My garden likes me more again though, I can tell.

later gators,

Gina

Views of My Backyard GARDEN Accents

I wanted to take you around and show you a few accents I have in my backyard garden, which is my main garden that not many people ever see. Wouldn't it be nice if we all could flip our homes around so our neighbors could see our back gardens all the time ?

Here is a shot I took , before I decided not to wait for my husband to move the really heavy statues and fountain ( that never stopped bubbling )....so I took it upon myself, and my meager but adequate muscles to move a bunch of my statues around,

Like this...

I took Mrs. Top of bubbling fountain down , and carried her with the help of a dolly cart , to the back of the yard where I had my most favorite statue, my cupids. To do this , I had to semi-slide the 100+ lbs. plus basin out, and to the ground...and then cart it off. When My husband saw I did this , he did not think it was romantic as I did when he did it for me.

He considered it one of my dumb-impatient actions I do in my garden.

He was correct, but it is done. Look where I put my favorite statue...

I put it right directly in the shade garden, and I can see it from my picture window much better.

We had a good rain last night, and it is always nice to go out in your garden after a rain...and see the droplets still on your flowers and foliage. Just planted these caladiums in  my shade garden a few days ago.

Can you tell I just love this statue ? I told my little boy , when he is kicking balls, fighting bad guys..whatever in the back yard...he better NOT get near this statue or else ! I will bet that that went in one ear and out the other without any memory remaining, he gets that from his Dad.

 This was my make-shift birdbath for my poor birds , while the fountain was still bubbling. They did not like it very much. The roses growing beside it are some of the very few I have left in my garden, after having about 20 + bushes. Black spot destroyed my roses in this hot and humid climate.

 Here is a make-shift bird feeder my husband made me and he plopped a plastic container in the bottom and filled it up, nothing for days...even the squirrels didn't touch it. Then all of the sudden, two days ago...

the little guys found it ! I am worthless at taking pictures of birds, but here is one little guy. They all come here very regularly.

Plus, guess who else,

Yes, our squirrels, I told my husband they would. I went for a walk this morning, came back almost an hour later...and this fellow was lounging in the plastic container of food...sort of laying down...claiming it as his new pad I guess.

Look at the very back of this picture and you can see the large basin, my bottom of my bubbling fountain...that' s as far as I got it with the dolly cart.

Here is a statue/urn I moved to the top of our small deck and it's base from the shade garden.

 I like it here so far, but knowing me ...it may get moved . I use a wire hanging basket window box, sans the moss insert...to store my garden gloves.

Has a bit of an artistic look to it...if you squint your eyes. Speaking of that, No..the cute little hand-painted wooden paintings I have to the sides of the porch were not done by my son when he was in kindergarten.

I painted those one early evening, down in the dirt of my garden...to put them in some iron chairs as seat covers. I did use them for awhile, but it was very uncomfortable to sit in ( duh ), and so they have been relegated to the garage for years. I painted them about 6+ years ago. The top iron piece is from our first bed we bought about 20 years ago, and the two iron brackets are from an antique store. 
Remember to squint your eyes when you look at my paintings.

This is probably my favorite element on my back porch, my Art Deco mirror that reflects my yard.

Then I have some hand-painted windows and stained glass windows on one brick wall.

Here is Maxine demonstrating how to stand by the window-wall.

My screen door, every porch must have a screen door. Maxine has autographed it with deep scratches at the far right side. We considered a doggie-door, to let her come in and out...but then a grown man could also fit there as she is a big lab.
So,
No doggie-door.

My heart in my garden, pretend you do not see the weeds around it. I did just weed after this shot, and soon it will be surrounded by blue plumbago and salvia.

 Our gigantic river birch tree, stands approx. 40-50 feet tall, and is very happy when I water my garden to get the extra water. It is a messy tree, limbs breaking all the time, and little pods all over the place, but I do love it. We have another river birch to the back of the garden, not quite so big.

A window planter off the back deck, can you see the chameleon to the right ?

Now you can.

I see this entry is getting too long, so I will stop now...more later,
Bless you,
Gina

" How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God ! How great is the sum of them ! If I should  count them, they would be more in number than the sand ;
When I am awake, I am still with You. " Psalm 139:17-18