Maintaining our landscaping drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I feel a sense of pride just after we weed and re-mulch each summer, but I also feel quite embarrassed when it's neglected- which is most of the spring/early summer. Maintaining the landscaping feels like another dreaded thing on the never ending "to do list".
But it's not like we can ignore it; we see it every time we pull into our driveway. It's not like the neighbors can't see it- Hello! We are in a townhouse community- we've got NEIGHBORS! (Worse, we really like our neighbors, so when we slack on the landscaping, we slack on our good neighbor duties- oh the pressure! LOL!)
I should have taken a before photo, but I was too ashamed of the way it looked. Really, it was bad. Here is my excuse for what is happening in our front area: The problem is, we inherited every main plant when we bought the house. Making it look nice every summer is like trying to fix someone else's mistake, and it's difficult.
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| Before the gnome invasion |
Everything was already planted, except for the butterfly bush. The butterfly bush was my idea. It replaced a very dead and unattractive pine tree. I wanted to plant something that would hide all of the meters that are at the right of the door, so we needed height. Sam warned me about the butterfly bush and he was right. It gets huge and needs to be constantly trimmed, otherwise it ends up blocking our front door. And worse, when the flowers bloom, the bees love it. We've learned to coexist.
Azaleas. Not impressed with these, there are actually two side by side. They bloom in the spring, have beautiful white and pink flowers, but only for a week. Then, all we see all summer long is green.
Elephant Eared Hostas (I guess that's what they are called). They are HUGE! and take over. I thin them out every fall, but didn't this year, and I can tell. They are kind of cool, but they have short lived white flowers which means that most of the summer they are a wall of green too. Oh and by the end of August, most of the leaves look burnt from the sun (that's probably our fault for not keeping up with the watering, but once they declare a drought, we don't water.)
Clematis. It used to be beautiful and full of flowers. My neighbor, Jaime, has told me several times how much she loves my clematis so I never had the heart to get rid of it. It used to flower all summer. By the end of August we'd hack it down to the ground and it would re-grow and bloom again in October. You just can't justify getting rid of a plant that does that. Well, this year, it's only produced a few flowers here and there, and now it's mostly green. If I can't get it to be "pretty in purple" flowers by August, it's a goner come fall!
Today was the much needed weed and mulch day. I was the weeder and Sam the mulcher. I love black mulch- makes everything so graphic, just like the thick black lines of Pop Art- one of my favorite genres.
The Gnome connection...
A few weeks ago we rented Gnomeo and Juliette. I loved it, which was odd considering the main characters are garden gnomes. (Spoiler Alert!) But who doesn't love a happy ending twist to Shakesphere? As a teenager my mom had gnomes in our front lawn. Yes lawn. No landscaping in Yorkville, NY. I don't think people there even know what mulch is- okay maybe they do now, but I am sure that they didn't in the 80's and 90's. LOL!
My dad would complain every time he mowed the lawn about having to move all of my mother's "ceramics". Such a misconception now that I have a degree in Ceramic Arts. Remember "ceramics" in the 80's. When women would go paint bisqued forms in some one's basement, items like... turkey platters and Christmas trees and garden gnomes? Ummm... that's NOT Ceramics!!! I digress, back to my mom's gnomes in the lawn, they mortified me. I recall allowing a boy to step on one to break it.
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| Little girl's dress is solar powered, glows blue once charged |
I guess I have come full circle, the first sign was when I accepted a garden flag from my oldest sister Kelly. At first I was like- "No way!" and then I found myself buying seasonal flags for it. And now, I have garden gnomes?! I actually just purchased the gnomes, intentionally! Went to three stores for them, was really disappointed that the first two stores didn't have any. I never would have thought that I'd have seasonal flags and garden gnomes. Pigs must be flying! Or, parenthood does really strange things to you.
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| How cute are they! One for Jamsion and one for Logan |
Well, my desire for little garden gnomes was inspired by the movie Gnomeo and Juliette, but also my desire to achieve some much needed color to our front area. Driving home with my garden gnomes (and other garden ornaments as pictured- they are solar powered, can't wait to see them charged up) it dawned on me that I could also pick up some annuals to plant around... but after all of the work we did out there today, I am not in any hurry to dig. So for now, I am happy with a weed-free, black mulched garden inhabited by gnomes, I hope my neighbors enjoy the view.
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| Solar powered cat |
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| Birds!!! |
Enjoy your summer and all it blooms,
Tracey
Love it!!
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