Exhaustion is Setting In

Time for a break from the action. I worked on cleaning out the lilac row some more, all yesterday afternoon until I was about ready to drop. I realized I was getting dangerously tired because I was getting a little careless. And after I snipped a triangle of skin off the tip of a finger with the pruning shears, I knew I had been lucky, it could have been the whole end of a finger. So that was definitely time to stop.

This morning looked like rain, so I went out quickly to gather all the clippings and bag them from yesterday, and before I knew it a few more hours had elapsed! I pruned more dead branches and cut more weeds and native grasses. Enough is enough... :)

It is ALMOST done though, and the effort is worth it. I'm finding I actually enjoy trimming the dead wood out of the bushes. I've filled at least half a dozen of those HUGE 55 gallon bags full of twigs, and weeds/grasses from underneath.





I know they're sketchy, but remember, they were not cared for before, AT ALL...! We've had 2 years to try to undo 6 years of total neglect. And it's slow going, you can only do so much at a time.



I discovered a mess under the five stray evergreens out in the ditch beyond the lilac row. (The former owners of this place had a strange sense of taste when it came to where to plant things, or even how to care for them.) So these five trees don't seem to 'belong' where they are, and are not evenly spaced or anything. My next project will be to go out there and cut the bottom branches away and get the weeds out from under them. Because right now, the weeds are so tall, growing up into the branches, and it's so prickly getting them out! Eventually those evergreens need moved 'into' the lot, instead of out there in the ditch where we can't even see and enjoy them.



Standing in the ditch, looking west...



Standing in the ditch, looking east toward the southeast corner of our lot, and the bend in the road that borders us on the south and east.

Maybe I'll even plant some hosta around the trees forming the corner of our lot.


Southeast corner of our lot, looking southwest...


Southeast corner of our lot, looking straight west...




While out at the end of Little Green Acres, I discovered the most precious litle thing... a blooming wild rose. I've seen them around our yard and always considered them a weed, but this was so precious! We also used to have blooming low-lying cactus out there, but I can't find them anymore. Don't know why they died after tall this time, theey are way too low lying to be caught by the lawn mower. (DH mowes so high it's almost comical.)
















I'm on my own this week as far as my young helpers... who are otherwise occupied.

The iris are about done blooming, and it's the beginning of the daylilies. There will be a riot of color to show you later when they really get going. Nothing impressive yet though. I have one that has started blooming, but it isn't one of the prettiest, so I'll forgo for now. And I've definitely veered away from my usual topic of quilty things... I'll be back with it though, never fear.