News from Here

 We are back from a week's vacation in the Catskills.  [Those photos will have to wait until I've sorted them from three cameras.] It was a nice gathering with our two daughters, their spouses and our three granddaughters, one of whom we haven't seen since we visited them in Buffalo in April.

We returned Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning Dan and I tackled a landscaping project we could handle - seeding the bare spot created by shortening the deck by half.  Though that area had been covered by black plastic and decking for almost 30 years, the soil must have had dormant crabgrass seeds which quickly sprouted while we awaited the finishing of the deck by our slow carpenter. That happened the day before we headed out on vacation.

Do you remember my asking if anyone knew what the spiky leaf plant was that showed up among the iris I had planted at one corner of the old deck?

Turns out it was gladiola.  Since I had to move these and the iris there, I cut off several stems of blooming or nearly blooming stalks. Aren't they lovely?

My daughter insisted that gladiola don't winter over in NH, but these obviously did and have multiplied through the years.  I carefully dug up the bulbs to transplant to same depth.

They now reside in a new bed next to the deck.

Below is the scene this morning awaiting moving the iris, gladiola and Shasta daisies that were in the other corner. We had weeded out the crabgrass and seeded yesterday.

Against the fence the impatiens are thriving.

I did find a blue bird bath at Home Depot.

Next Sunday our mower guy is coming the remove this mound, some lilacs stumps in the back and the front yard.

Before moving the Shasta daisies I did snip off all the blossoms and fill two vases.

Here's another plant I asked about some time ago.  It likes this location whatever it is and ...

now has a yellow flower.

Here's the view from front yard to deck and beyond.  This area will be better graded on Sunday.

We started earlier this morning then we did on Sunday to complete our landscaping chore.  We got done by 10 am. All the plants moved and, with exception of iris, replanted.  I'll replant iris later. We mulched a new narrow bed along the deck and lined it with rocks.  The rest of the area there has been seeded for grass.

This bed next to house and deck is an eyesore right now. I didn't show much of it in this photo because it looks so bad.  I think I will eventually dig up the perennials there and move them elsewhere, then seed it for grass.  

The pots survived the neglect while deck was being finished and now are back on the steps.

See the brown paint?  We were considering painting the house that color but after testing it out we decided to go with a pale yellow with white trim.  Painter coming sometime between now and end of September.  How's that for a timetable?  We are still awaiting the concrete guy to pour the slab in the barn.  Once that's done the driveway can be graded and the barn whisperer can return to put on the doors.

That's the news from here.