Landscape Elves are awesome.
Let me tell you, today has been one of those days. I’ve been thwarted at every turn!
There were the bed sheets that don’t actually fit; we have to tie the bottom sheet down with sheet fasteners and even that doesn’t really work. The sheets have developed strange runs in them. I have been cursing the darned things since the day we bought them. What the heck are they made of, anyway?
There was the ice cream. We are big into homemade ice cream and this batch is the first one we’ve made this year. However… the recipe makes a little more than fits in my very beautiful Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker. I held back some it but, as you can imagine, it still overflowed. I had a mess to clean up, and they don’t make the beater very easy to lick! (Wasn’t gonna waste it, yo!)
There there was the hose. We have some frustrating dry spots in our yard where apparently the grass isn’t getting enough water. Someone stole our hose last year and the replacement doesn’t reach all the way across the yard. Oops. So I have to hook one up in the backyard and run it under the gate. A nuisance, but not impossible. Unless I’m feeling really lazy. Well… the sprinkler absolutely refused to stay flat.
And then there’s the computer which, because I have a lot to do today, ran more slowly than cold tar. Even after I restarted it and (reluctantly) shut down some a few applications. Am I the only one to have five or six apps open? And 15 or 20 tabs in my browser? And this stuff is important, I tell you!
This kind of nonsense continues throughout the day. So right when I am thinking about throwing a temper tantrum, the doorbell rings.
It’s my son…
With hugs! And help! It was a good break. 🙂
BUT, I bet you’re wondering about the Landscape Elves, right…?
Wall-to-Wall Grass, or A Dreary Yard
When we moved into this house two years ago, we moved onto a blank canvas. Seriously. There was a tree in each corner of the back yard (still fairly young) and one tree on the side of the backyard. And two weeping mulberries—also in the back yard, and not centered on anything. There’s maybe twenty feet between them. About every other day, my husband threatens to rip them out. “But sweetie, they’re actually grown! They take up space in the utterly flat green carpet of fence-to-fence grass!”
We put in some Spartan Junipers, and they’re growing wonderfully fast. It won’t be long until they’re actually providing privacy, but they no longer look like funny little dots of afterthought. We also installed a couple of yews and put two trees in the front yard: an Autumn Blaze Maple (reputedly good in alkaline soil) and a Shademaster Honeylocust (ditto).
Landscape Elves to the Rescue!
This year, the Landscape Elves have been so busy! They added a lovely new flowerbed to the front of the house.
Before (March 2016)
During (April) — The elves hard at work.
After (Jun 2016)
There is a lot more we want to do, but it will have to come in stages. It is amazing how much this single flowerbed changes the feel of the house. Curb appeal increased by about a million percent!
The bed goes around the side of the house, where we transplanted some mums we rescued from the pathetic little bed near the front door. There’s now a lilac in the corner with lily-of-the-valley planted beneath. Every time I see them I think of my sweet mama and how much she loved them…
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What outdoor projects have you been working on this year?
What’s your favorite plant, and why do you like it?