Progress -- Happy Mother's Day.

Spring is here. Progress has been made in the yard. Flowers are blooming, the grass is growing and the weeds are flourishing. Indian Paint Brush flowers blanketed the outer yard for a few weeks. David mowed around the denser patches. They are hard to capture in a photo.

May 1, 2010. Chris and Sara (nephew and new niece) were married. The young couple gave me a flowering bulb in a pot as a hostess gift back in March. I pirated the flowering bulb home on the airplane stuffed inside a shoe. I planted the Ornithogalum bulb in the island bed. I hope it grows and flourishes just as Chris and Sara will grow and flourish in their new life together.


More flowers, more flowers. I planted some Blanket Flowers, some Texas Rock Rose shrubs and Cherry Skull Cap in the west bed. Patricia thinned her iris and daylily beds, so I planted more bulbs in the island bed. As seen in the picture, the east bed has a few struggling seedlings. Happy Mother's Day was a busy and productive day. Jennifer and Tommy came on Sunday for dinner. While Jennifer snoozed, we worked in the yard. Flagstone was set to the edge of the veranda. Hurray. We had lots of help from Molly and Bella.

Tommy gave me a glass globe hummingbird feeder. It is a beautiful addition to the garden. I plan to leave it on the plant hangar so I can move it around the yard.

The lily bulbs are blooming. The white blooms opened first.

Gardens are full of wonder and delight; full of mystery and quandaries too. For the “wanna be gardener” who tries to do her homework, here is a dilemma. I purchased two pots of Salvia from the store. The label clearly states part sun, 4 to 6 hours and that it is an annual. I planted the lovely red bloomers in the island bed. Later that night, I researched the Salvia, which is a native Texas plant and the data on the Texas Smartscape page clearly states that the salvia needs full sun and is a deciduous perennial. Which is right? I’ll let you know next year. Perhaps I purchased a hybrid type or that the label is generic for most of the US. Who knows. However the red plants are a nice compliment to the orange marigolds.

The grass does show signs of sprouting. The unusually cold spring has kept the soil temperature below normal for this time of year but it is finally warming up. As the sun shines, the grass seed will sprout. David and Tommy are both engrossed in searching for signs of bermuda sprouts.

The melon patch is flourishing. I thinned the sprouts to three in each mound. The pumpkins have taken root in the sandy loam. Now to keep the weeds, dogs, pests and critters at bay and we'll have pumpkins in the fall.

After much debate, I broke down and installed a flexible composite plastic edging along the flagstone walkway. The grass and weeds were already invading the edge of the path and it will help contain the decomposed granite filler. It has rained and stormed this week, the moisture will help the grass take root and grow. The blessing of having a solid surface path from the front to the back is so nice when letting Molly in and out. No more muddy quagmires unless we step off into the abyss.

Next on the agenda for the yard and garden. More compost against the new path, more grass seed to plant and grading. We are waiting for some huge native limestone rocks to be moved. Then we can finish the flagstone around the edge of the veranda where the out door shower will be placed, then steps down to the area that will be fenced off along the north side of the house and more.

Always more, progress has been made but as we finish one project more just seem to crop up.