It’s not going to chip branches, but I don’t need it to chip branches; I got it to turn last year’s flowers and butterfly bushes into mulch for this year’s cosmos flowers, and it does that just fine.

I ran a couple of last year’s scarlet salvia through just to test.

Not nice enough for my “fancy” flowerbeds, but certainly good enough to keep the weeds down around the cosmos at the back of the lawn, and it was kind of fun. In two hours, I cleaned up the perennial beds, and most of the Honeysuckle Horseshoe. What would have been a big pile of stuff that would take ages to decompose is about 1/3 of a kitchen trash bag.

The wind finally calmed down enough to hang my bird balls. I put one on the north side, near the bird feeders.

The other is in the crabapple tree that I don’t intend to cut down.

Crabapple flowers. Now, with leaves!

I got the scalloped concrete edging; I bought 29 and brought 18 home yesterday, and the last 11 today.
Poor HK does the work of a truck! I don’t know whether I’ll do that tomorrow, or work on getting the ground ready and some seeds in it. I do, however, know I’m TIRED now, and just want to shower and go to bed!

C picked up a couple of grapevine balls when she was at Hobby Lobby, and I finally remembered to bring them home. I wanted them to make “nest material balls” for the birds. I used 2-4″ pieces cut from dead ornamental grass that grows in front of the house, small sticks I’d broken off last year’s flower plants, some cut up and untwisted bits of super-soft yarn I had left over from two scarves I made last winter, fringes that I’d cut off a couple of woven scarves, jute garden twine (untwisted) and milkweed fluff that I’d saved when I cleaned seeds I planted this year. I started with the grass and sticks as a “foundation”, then used a thick piece of grass stem to poke in the pieces of yarn, scarf fringe and twine. I finished with milkweed fluff, and kept it near the top because it’s easiest for the birds to see there, and it’s silky soft, so it’s prized as nest lining material. Once the rain stops and the wind calms down (hopefully tomorrow), I’ll hang the balls out in the back yard and see whether anyone goes shopping; I suppose it’s sort of a Home Depot for birds. Anyway, I think they came out well.

OK did not let the fact that I was busy making a big mess deter him from perching atop his new favourite thing. He just hopped over my piles of stuff and landed neatly on the heater.

This morning.

P.S. Maaaaayyyyyybe have some aster sprouts. Not sure yet.

It rained most of the day and poured part of it, so I didn’t plant anything, but it’s warm, and rain doesn’t stop things growing!

Lilac, happier in its new spot.

Crabapple in full flower.

Pokey-ass Grey Sticks are making progress, as is the Cliffie Bush.

Hostas that I accidentally threw into the woods, then rescued.

Buds on the peonies.

I was pulling out bush honeysuckle seedlings here and there, and saw these. Can’t swear to it, but they might be jewelweed, though I thought it died last year in the heat before it could set seed. We’ll see!

I also found a few lily of the valley, but didn’t take pictures because they’re only little green points right now.

EDIT: I’d forgot what I planted with the bluebell, lily of the valley and bloodroot, but I remember now–Canadian columbine, and it’s coming up!

C let me leave for an hour today to go get my 20 bags of mulch. I’ve bought (I think) 48 bags of mulch, which cost me just under $96, including tax. If I’d paid the regular price, it would’ve come to just under $249. I’m a Sooper Shopper! Anyway, I have mulch. Hopefully enough mulch because they’re still on sale, but now they’re 4/$9.

I also win because I got the Bee Happy bed finished after work, and didn’t get rained on. I planted Blue Star borage, marjoram that I’ll have to pinch back, and some little flowers called goldfields that will probably end up replaced because they don’t last long, but at least it’s done. Now I just hope the seeds all grow.

I also put out the MLB feeders, but forgot the grapevine balls I’m going to use to put out nest material. Guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow? No MLB sightings yet, but they’re in the area, and I built it…they will come.

I kept saying it was too much work for one person, and between the goddamned crabgrass and the clover rooted in the earth’s core, it was, but I by god did it myself! My flowerbed is 20′ long by 9′ wide; it was going to be 10′, but I wanted to make sure there was enough room to get a dump truck through. Fuck crabgrass and clay, but at least the beetle grubs I found and squashed will never emerge to eat my flowers!

I went to Buchheit this morning to get 20 more bags of mulch, completely forgetting it was easter Sunday, and they were closed. I was very disappointed, but the greedy bastards at Walmart weren’t closed, so I consoled myself with four bottles of Deer-B-Gon (clearance, 50% off), and six lovely columbine plants, which were $3.33 each (regular price!) I didn’t get them planted today, but they’re in 8″ pots, so they’ll be okay until I’m not too dead to dig.

They had purple, too, but I got bright pink for MLBs.

My present to me was an overpriced Aglaonema. Not low light, but I’ve wanted this one for a while. Might be “Firecracker”.

I took a little tour of the garden, and found…a bloodroot bloom! There are more plants, but only one bloom for now. I’ll take it!

Crabapple flowers are opening, too.

Warm today, and sunny, but only about 60, so not too hot to be digging and uprooting grass, which is what I’m doing. Before that, though, this one is from yesterday, post-thunderstorm with wind. D is lucky he has a roof; this Osage orange didn’t miss by more than a few feet.

In better news from this morning, my Virginia bluebell has forgiven me for planting it in February. The plants actually look pretty good for being so new.

Wild phlox is coming along. Still looks a little spindly, but I’ll have a few flowers, at least. Assuming Charlotte doesn’t get hungry.

No blooms on the new spicebush, but it’s alive and will have leaves. I planted that in February, too; about the same time as the bluebell and phlox.

It rained off and on a little today, but was clear at 4, so I rushed home to start laundry and get something planted in the little corner of the Bee Happy bed that I didn’t have time for yesterday. It was close; it started to rain about 10 minutes after I’d planted the red phlox and put away my tools. No picture because it looks like…mulch. This is the phlox I planted; just annual.

When I forget what aster seeds (probably no good, but worth a shot) in that bed, it’s these (viewed standing facing the house.

They’re bordered by the evening primrose, purple salvia, pink salvia and catnip (I think).

Today, I left at lunch to pick up the 8 remaining bags of mulch. I bought 4 more, and a flat of pink annual salvia fell into my cart. They had red, but it grows too tall, I think. If it’s coccinea, it does…I’ll have to check. I came home, scarfed leftover pizza, then went to work. I planted the butterfly weed seeds I cleaned last night, plus I cleaned the bloodflower milkweed that I’d saved, and scattered it here and there. There was more than I’d thought.

Milkweed bed is finished, and mulched. Colour difference: dry, damp, soaked.

My ankle was killing me, so I walked a bit in an effort to make it stop. Didn’t work, but my yellow honeysuckle looks good. Tornado Honeysuckle is coming along, too, but I’ll wait a bit because it looks sort of ratty.

Daffy-down-dillies.

Very determined tall bachelor’s button. Through a deep layer of pine bark mulch, plus weed barrier fabric over “meh” soil.

I planted the salvia in the Bee Happy bed. It’s only an annual, so it’s not like I had to commit to anything.

Rain the next two days, so I’ll be staying at work all day. I’m too tired to dig for a little while anyway.

Since the seeds probably aren’t any good, I just stuck them here and there. Didn’t bother with photos because it looks like…dirt. Anyway, fingers crossed, but I’m not hopeful. I’ll try to do the rest tomorrow.

HK will hold 12 bags of mulch, 2 cubic foot. I know because I bought 20. On sale for less than half regular price, and I needed it. I’ll get the rest tomorrow. For now…

My patio looks like a garden centre, and this isn’t even all of it! I’ve already used two rolls of edging, four or five bags of soil, two or three of compost, and there are two more bags of mulch on the other side. My trunk is wet, but I have mulch!

I cleaned a bunch of butterfly weed seeds. Didn’t take long, they were a lot cheaper, and bonus fluff to put out for nesting blurds.

Left at lunch again today, planted for almost six hours. I’ll caption these later; too busy being dead right now.

Three lavender, four oregano, forty crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ about ten(ish) crocosmia ‘Montbretia’, three purple salvia, and a little clump of red bee balm that may or may not live. I moved a bunch of evening primrose and a clump of catnip to get stuff where I wanted it. Goddamned bees better appreciate this; I ran into so much clay that I literally had to custom make the soil. Did have an idea for the clay…might try that instead of buying a pond liner for lobelia cardinalis. Dunno.

My sturdy  (lonely, much-photographed) hyacinth. I love this little guy, and he’s in full bloom now.

First daffy-down-dilly is almost open!

About vinca, I’m largely indifferent, but its flowers are pretty.

Strelitzia nicolai! Finally!

Not sure who this is…some kind of sphinx, maybe. I potted him; if I remember to keep it covered, I might find out who he is. Found when i was digging up evening primrose.