The view gets better every year

Kitchen window view - AUG 2006

Kitchen window view - APR 2012

A lot has changed in the 6 years between these 2 pics.  The deck arbor has been completely rebuilt and I sanded and refinished the whole deck.

In the first pic there are no brick 'hedges' along the turnaround.  There are no beds other than the 2 that came with the house: the veg bed and a rectangular flower bed straight off the deck.  The rest was just lawn, lawn, lawn.

Oh the sweat, the aches & pains, the cash, and the occasional blood that has gone into this view.  *woof*

And worth every bit.  :-D

Bees bees bees

My lawn is a-bloom (much to the chagrin of a certain neighbor) with violas, henbit, lamium, and dandelions while there is something taller (15")  with white flowers blooming back by the golf course fence.  Add that to the mix of early tree, bulb and some perennial blooms this spring and the place is just crazy with bees!  Big bumbles, small orchards, natives and tons of hungry honeybees.  When I walked back by the golf course the buzz was remarkable. I've never seen so many bees so early in the season.  WOW. 

And talk about getting buzzed, I've been busy as a, well, you know... ;-D

Click to *whoosh* over to the posts about the VEG BEDs and  COMPOST BINs.  
And let's not forget the update on the PROPAGATION page.

More apple, less crab

The front crabapple had grown by 4-5 feet in the 9 years I'd been here, and it was getting in trouble: dropping lots of apples into the gutter, getting too close to the top of the chimney (fire hazard), rubbing against the roof shingles, and putting pressure on the TV and phone wires that attach to that side of the house.

Front crabapple in full bloom - 2010

After the tree bloomed in 2011, I had it cut back (pros) and shaped (me).  This year due to the warm winter and exceptionally warm March, this tree is blooming a good 3 weeks earlier than last year.

Front crabapple in full bloom - 2012

It's so much more manageable now.  It's trim and tidy and still shades the front bay window and looks fabulous from inside and out.  (Two different cameras lent 2 different colors to the flowers. Odd, that.)  I don't think there could be any more blossoms on it!  The bees are loving it!

Oh hey, speaking of crabapples.  Here is a pic of the crabapple trees I brought home 4/1/2010.

And here's what they look like only 2 years later.  These 2 are Robinson crabapples and I trimmed them back last year.  Now they are only 9' tall.  Can you believe how those little sticks in pots turned into something this big in such a short amount of time?  Wow.  But --- I'm going to have to move them.  They obviously will become entirely too big for this location.  I'm thinking back behind the privacy fence to replace the crabapple I took down last fall.

Meanwhile, back in the garage, there's more *fun* with the mower to be had.  Click HERE for the latest ridiculous adventure.

Oh, this is just ducky - not

This morning I caught these two under the bird feeder.  It seemed to annoy the crows no end and the cawing and squawking was quite fierce.

This evening I heard the cawing again and managed to catch a pic of these two who had returned to forage under the feeder.  I'm going to have to nip this in the bud because ducks can tear up a lot of tender shoots when left to their own devices.

I've already had to deal with ducklings in the garage a couple of times since I've been here and don't want to have to again.

*CLAP CLAP*    SHOOOOOOO!

Fertile crescent

April arrived carrying the same mixed bag that March left with:  Nights chill enough for frost, winds rough enough to rearrange plastic pots and dead tree branches, and cold days gloomy enough to send the most optimistic gardener into a funk.  (We really were spoiled during that odd spell of summer weather.)

Yep, must be Spring in Ohio.

The ground is still too wet to till up the rest of the veg bed or the northernmost segment of the bee ring bed that I use for vegetables.  I did rake back the leaves to let in any sunshine and dry air.  But not today.  Right now it's raining, a hard rain but, luckily, no wind.  (I'm really tired of picking up branches.)

It's been a busy week, nonetheless.  If you look to the sidebar on the right, you'll see I've updated ALL the other sanctuary blogs.  (The current post date is listed right next to the blog title.)  Click there for more pic and updates. 

Not liking THIS either.

Between the time I looked outside at the daffs, went into the kitchen to refill my morning coffee, then stroll past the same window, the view had changed.  Dramatically!  *#*(@$#!!

The warm weather slipped away over the weekend.  It rained Friday night and the clouds have persisted since then.  The temps dropped steadily and this morning it was barely above 32F (after highs in the 80s) and a stiff North wind (17-23 mph) is beating on everything.  I can see my breath before the wind whips it away.  Inside, the furnace is rumbling away after it's 2-week siesta.

Darn that tree!  Yes, yes, I KNOW it's dying.  But it was kinda okay when the only limbs that broke off were dead ones.  This is a lot of LIVE that landed this time.  I repeat, *$#*$!!

I'll have to have help cleaning this up. I burned too long and too bright over the past 2 weeks of wonderful weather and I'm exhausted.  Getting old is a b!tch, no?

But I did get a lot done.  Hobbit over at Bag End might even be impressed if I listed all my that has gotten ticked off my list within that time. ;-D

Not everything will have a post, but I did update 5 of the 6 sidebar blogs with some news.

Click these links for pics and details:

What's cooking in the kitchen?   CLICK HERE
What's new in the veg bed?  CLICK HERE
What did I do in the foyer?  CLICK HERE
Out with the old, in with the new in the garden.  CLICK HERE

And, finally, how am I dealing with frost & freeze warnings?
(It's going down to 20 Monday night.)  CLICK HERE

== Yep - Lots of frost and ice Tuesday morning. I wonder how everything in the gardens (and in the hoopster) fared... ==

I have a lot more projects I could blog about, but I'm about clicked out right now.  And I have to get back to all the things I've ignored for 2 weeks, like laundry, and grocery shopping, paying bills, visit some favorite, but recently neglected, blogs, clean house and (yikes - lookit the date) file taxes!.  Oh joy....!  NOT.  :-P

I'm not liking this at all

Here is a link to my Mar 17, 2011 post where a single crocus strove to bloom in frozen soil (and TOTALLY typical at this time of year).

Now compare that to this post of pics taken today.

And, as they say on TV - "But wait! There's more!"

Not ONE of these plants should be at this stage on this date.  Check the calendar.  It's STILL WINTER!!  Though it wasn't MUCH of a winter by ANY standards at all.  And now it seems since the ground never froze, we're leapfrogging right into SUMMER.  And MID-summer at that.  Heck, we didn't have weather like this last JUNE!  We are not amused.....

We've not been below freezing since Mar 11 and temps have risen every day.  It's been in the 70s the past couple of days. It's going to be in the 80s for the next couple of days.  Oh man.  When the hammer falls (seasonal temps return) I think there will be a lot lost this year.  There's only so much floating row cover to go around.

I just hope temps at this time doesn't forecast for 100s this summer.  Or snow in July.  I wouldn't be surprised at either.  :-/

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring.
Y'know, suddenly I'm not so looking forward to that now.  

(Left to right, top to bottom:
pieris, pulmanaria, hostas
crabapple, hydrangea, redbud
willow w/catkins, star magnolia, doublefile viburnum
clematis, catmint, spirea
phlox, daisy, flowering plum
daylily, butterfly bush, masses of daffs)

(pachysandra, lupine, myrtle
mock orange, columbine, astilbe
Johnson's blue geranium, yarrow, mums)