The Front Garden

After ripping the deck off the house last summer to fix the water problem in the basement, we were left with a huge bare spot that looked like a perfect place for a hummingbird & butterfly garden.  But since we were busy painting the house, it had to wait until this summer.

With spring quickly & surprisingly upon us this year, I was out in the garden in early March.  There was grass to clear, edgers to put in & weeds upon weeds to pull.

Before I knew it I was off looking for perennials at garage sales.  Monardia, daisies, honeysuckle, lamb's ears, butterfly weed . . .   I quickly realized that the space I made was large enough that I didn't need to be picky about what plants I added this year.  I could always remove & add plants that were a better fit for my butterfly & hummingbird garden later.

Our neighbor has a gorgeous garden & she graciously lets me come & take what I want.  I think she is trying to get me to take more ground cover as we have much exposed dirt.  But . . . I'll wait until I get more main plants in first.  She has blessed us with daisies & phlox & forget-me-nots.  There is more in her backyard, but that will have to wait for another day.

My dad brought me milkweed . . . which I'll save for a later post.  ;)

Even our chiropractor thinned thought of us as she helped her mother thin out irises.  The purple ones that bloomed this year are absolutely, delicate & gorgeous - not mention that they smell like grapes.  YUM!

I'm a sucker for peonies, so I have a peony . . .  now three . . . ;)

In addition, the black eyed susans that were trampled last year during the deck & rock removal must have been scattered throughout because there are baby black eyed susans popping up everywhere!

The kids & I also picked out at least half a dozen packets of perennial seeds.  Unfortunately, those decided not to grow.  I'll have to contact Burpee . . .

We did find some annual seeds in the garage (from where before that???) we planted & have some gorgeous Cosmos coming up.  Any little sprouts that I cannot positively identify survive - one of the seed packets was for annual wildflowers.  I don't want to risk pulling up a flower.

More recently I've added some annuals.  I love the instant & almost constant color they add to the garden.  :)

I almost forgot to add that the kids planted our leftover bush bean seeds in the front garden . . . They survived for quite some time w/o the neighborhood rabbit population finding them.  But I'm afraid from here on out they will not be so lucky.