April 1, 2012

April 1, 2012
Why is everyone so pleased about this early spring?  I’ll tell you why—it’s because they haven’t thought beyond to the mosquitoes that are coming.  I admit it, when it comes to summer . . . my glass is half empty.  I’m already looking for methods to do battle; building my war arsenal.  Perhaps you don’t have a difficult time with those little guys, but they are ferocious around our place.  Darren’s birthday was yesterday and honestly considered giving him a fogger.
We have been working in the yard a little.  Generally, that means I buy the stuff and Darren does everything else, but I did manage to pull a wheelbarrow load of weeds and trim back the dead stuff I missed last fall.  Oh, and I filled a couple of the planters on the front porch.  Darren has already saluted them and told them he appreciates their impeding sacrifice.  Funny guy.

 (Not much to see right now--I left my asters and pansies, but added the lavender.  The pot of wave petunias are new, too.)

We've enjoyed a meal or two on the patio, but we haven’t had a large group yet.  We need to do a couple of clean-up activities around the party patio.  I hope to add some new shade plants this year—a real challenge for me.  My parents and aunt are great with shade plants, as is my sister, Nikki—in Virginia.  I think it’s because they are in older homes with established trees and, out of necessity they learned to cultivate flourishing shade gardens.  While we’re in an older home, we still have a lot of sun in our yard; the patio area being the exception.  
While visiting with a client/friend, Debbie Underwood, last week, we took a brief walk around her backyard patio garden.  While she apologized for the things she hadn’t done, I marveled at the lovely relaxed feel I got while wandering the path.  She had all the elements I loved—pavers and bricks with moss growing in between, iron patio furniture and a sturdy pergola to support a large wisteria vine on the verge of exploding—just to name a few.  After seeing her Lily of the Valley which was popping up, I made a beeline for the garden center to purchase some for our garden.  She offered to share some her prolific old fashioned Columbine, which has an eye-popping shade of orange and I’ve already decided to where to add it to our garden.  
Their garden embraces the back of their home—it appears to be an extension of their home.  I love that!  Our patio requires a bit of a stroll, but geography dictated its location.

(The walk way to the patio.)

  Our patio allows for a seasonal view of the river (in the winter) and plenty of shade when most needed.  The western side still gets a fair amount of sun, so we have daylilies lining the sloping edge.  The rest sits comfortably in the shade of several hackberry trees, a struggling red bud and my beloved, but detested mulberry.  Such a lovely canopy, but incredibly messy tree!

(The offending tree.  With this view--I'm noticing quite a few dead limbs--with makes me irrationally sad . . .) 

It is finally leafing-out (usually the last one to get leaves in our yard)—shortly, it will be dropping its berries, which will attract more flies than the house at 112 Ocean Ave, Amityville, NY!  The berries will stain the chairs, feet and carpets (when tracked into the house on the bottom of shoes).  It will then start dropping its huge yellow leaves as early as August.  Did I mention the lovely canopy?