Wednesday
After 30 years of building the house and adding outdoor improvements when time and money allowed, I think we are finally done with big projects that involve construction and major upheaval. The greenhouse and the reconstruction of my dad's grotto last year were the last of the many big projects that we've done here. I know both Mike and I are more than ready for it to be over. We will still have to keep up with the maintenance of everything, but not the extra time and money that have been poured into improvements.
Although the greenhouse and the grotto construction efforts are done, we still need to address the upheaval in the side yard. On the agenda now is cleaning up construction debris, regrading, making a gravel perimeter around the greenhouse, and dealing with all the dirt/mud. Mike is doing the regrading and the greenhouse perimeter. I'm making new garden areas and extending existing ones. Lots of physical work for me with spreading hundreds of bags of topsoil, composted manure, and mulch.
There are two new long berms - one is along the woodline for the new Epimedium Walk location and the other is beyond the current Gazebo Garden. I'm also adding a small garden area around the grotto. The existing gardens that are being extended are the Boxwood Parterre and the Gazebo Garden where they flow into the grotto and the greenhouse respectively. We are going to sod the remaining parts of the side yard when everything else is finished.
Yesterday I started tackling the area between the parking area stone retaining wall and the greenhouse. I had killed off the weeds a few days ago using my new sprayer. I made two trips to the local nursery to fill up my car with bags of topsoil and composted manure. I can get a total of 28 bags of top soil and compost or a total of 16 bags of mulch in each load in my Toyota Rav4. It was so hot and humid yesterday and that area was in full sun. By the end of the day I was overheated and beyond exhausted. Also yesterday Mike brought a load of railroad ties home for defining the greenhouse perimeter and for keeping the gravel in place. The plan was to work on those railroad ties all day today, but we only got a few hours in before the heavy rains started. Anyway, getting started seems to always be the hard part - figuring out how to do it, getting all the materials and tools together, etc..., so we are past that. Things are measured and the first few railroad ties have been set.
Lots of work ahead of us to get the entire side yard back in shape. Mike and I just look at each other, smile, and shake our heads mumbling "lotta work, lotta work" 
Many years ago my brother lived in a townhouse in Alexandria among mostly white collar Washington DC office workers. He had two overgrown spruce trees flanking his front door - you know those trees they sell at the grocery store and big box stores at Christams. He wanted them cut down so Mike and I went over with the chain saw, cut them down in seconds, and then cut up the two trees in small sections and hauled them to the curb for the yard waste pickup. The whole shebang probably took less than 15 minutes. Multiple neighbors came out to observe, all the while looking at each other and saying "lotta work, lotta work" 
OMG, that was the easiest outside task that Mike and I have ever done. Those people had absolutely no clue what a "lotta work" really entails. What a different perspective from the perspective of people who live on large rural properties!
Just a few photos before I got started yesterday.
Monday
We had a string of great weather days and I made the most of them. I've been working in the gardens for most of the day, every day. I know I am slow at it and I take quite a few breaks along the way, but I make steady progress. I've been tackling the huge to do list that I made weeks ago which had about 150 items on it. I update it with new tasks that crop up and mark off the tasks that get completed. The list is both overwhelming and satisfying.
Nearly all the containers are planted and I'm trying to keep to a schedule of once a week application of liquid fertilizer. I recently added big pots on the back patio for waterlilies and lotus. My friend Jill had lotus tubers to share and I also added to an online waterlily order she was putting in. Not much progress on those yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they do this summer. Part of the weekly regimen is to add mosquito bits to the pot water.
I got so incredibly frustrated with my weed sprayer last week. I have tried so many weed sprayers over the years and they always give me fits. After spending hours trying to get the latest in a long line of weed sprayers working, I headed in to town to see what else was out there. I bit the bullet and splurged on a heavy duty battery powered Dewalt one. It had good reviews and I have other Dewalt battery powered tools that work well for me. I read the instruction manual and then headed outside to use it. As instructed, I first filled the tank with water vs weed killer. When I turned it on, I could hear the pump but no water was coming out of the wand. I couldn't find any relevant YouTube solutions so I called the Dewalt tech support number. Turns out that it is pretty common to have to manually prime the pump out of the box. The manual priming didn't work the first few attempts, and I was getting even more frustrated after spending the $s for something that was supposed to make my gardening life much easier. I perservered and after the fifth go round, water finally started coming out of the wand. Praise the Lord and pass the gravy. I'm so pleased with the pressure and the spray nozzles that give a variety of coverage types. I can spray an area in a lot less time than it took me with the old sprayers. I hand weed the most mature gardens, but the spraying with the new Dewalt sprayer makes quick work of the dreaded stilt grass that quickly takes over the less mature ones.
I got all of my plant purchases from the spring road trip to the amish nurseries planted quite a while ago, but I've been accumulating a few here and there over the last month, and then was generously gifted about 35 pass along plants at our Mid Atlantic plant swap on Saturday. I spent many hours, and numerous breaks, yesterday getting everything in the ground. I still have a few stragglers left to plant, but for the most part, I'm pretty caught up.
The other areas I've worked on recently are the new Epimedium Walk location and my dad's grotto that I had reconstructed on my property. I've been adding topsoil, compost, and mulch to get these new garden areas off to a good start.
The expanded vegetable garden is progressing much slower than I would like. I'm really far behind with the planting due to all the rain we've had here for most of May. Kind of crazy to think about that when slowcala has had severe drought down in Florida.
I can honestly say that I'm quite happy to be putzing along day in and day out in my gardens. I'm so tired at the end of the day. It feels good to get cleaned up with a hot soaking bath and then fall into a deep restful sleep. Nothing like physical work to ease the mind.
Saturday
A few weeks ago on my daily garden walk about, I noticed a clematis growing on the trellis at the corner of the front elevation of the house. I had to smile because the clematis 'Pink Mink' that I planted in 2015 must be making a comeback. I hadn't seen any trace of it in years.
Surprise, surprise - it just bloomed and it isn't 'Pink Mink' at all. It is 'Jackmanii' that I had planted in the early 1990s! It was among the first plants that I purchased in those very early gardening years. I planted it along with clematis 'Hagley Hybrid'. They bloomed at the same time and I absolutely loved the combination of the light and dark purples and the contrast in flower forms. Those clematis survived for about 10 years, but died out in the early 2000s.
Now after being asleep for decades, the 'Jackmanii' has returned. How does that happen? I've had other plants make comebacks years after I thought they had bit the dust, but decades??? Just goes to show that you can never underestimate the resilience and tenacity of plants. These garden surprises just never cease to amaze me.
This is a photo of the clematis combination of 'Jackmanii' and 'Hagley Hybrid' in the 1990s when my nephew Ryan was a toddler. I've always loved this photo. Ryan was so cute and that clematis combination was really pretty. Ryan is all grown up now in his late 20s. I can't believe he is nearly 30.
And the photo of the clematis 'Jackmanii' today - a bit sparse but what a spectacular comeback!
Friday
I was just reading Annie's latest blog post, and coincidentally I was feeling much the same way about a few of my garden areas lately. There is something so very satisfying and rewarding when you realize that years of gardening efforts have not been in vain.
The garden area that I call the Angel Bower is incredibly lush this year. The calycanthus shrubs 'Venus' and 'Aphrodite' are fully mature and in full bloom this week. I remember planting 'Venus' as a small twig in a 3 inch pot from a mail order source many years ago when I first started gardening. The hellebores that I started with in a few spots have spread into mature swaths. Solomons seal and creeping jenny passed along at early Mid Atlantic plant swaps have spread and matured into large swaths too. Purple spiderwort also passed along at early Mid Atlantic plant swaps have self seeded about nicely. The really unusual shredded umbrella plant that I picked up at a Master Gardener sale is spreading slowly but steadily. Peonies, astilbes, japanese painted ferns, christmas ferns, canadian ginger, epimediums, bleeding hearts, lungworts, brunnera, and other perennials that have been planted over the course of many years have really matured.
There have been a few plant fails, but not many, in this garden. There will always be maintenance of course, mostly cleanup of fall leaves. Weeding will always need to be done too, but is becoming less and less with the almost complete coverage from the perennials that have filled in. The maintenance now will entail thinning out. What a novel concept
A general view of the Angel Bower
Close up of the angel statue in the Angel bower - blooming Calycanthus 'Venus' on left and native Mountain Laurel on right
This Calycanthus 'Aphrodite' is at the far left of the shrub backdrop to the angel statue. It is really spectacular in bloom
Another favorite in the Angel Bower is this Syneilesis aconitifolia, common name Shredded Umbrella Plant. There is a trillium in the front left corner of the photo. Both of these are plants that I specifically look for to emerge in the spring - makes me so happy when I see them
Tuesday
A few days ago during some of the rainy weather I sat down and made a gardening task to do list. Before I knew it, the list was 5 pages long. I like having lists. It helps keep me focused. This most recent list has tasks that will take as little as 5 or 10 minutes and also tasks that are much larger in scope. Being very specific vs general makes the list a lot longer, but it is easier to see progress being made.
For example, one of the general tasks is to plant up my containers with annuals. Instead of listing just this general task, I made 15 specific tasks - one for each of the container groupings. A single general task for planting up my containers would remain open for quite a while, whereas I can cross off each individual container group as I go along. Nice seeing that green hilite indicating that something has been finished.
I grouped all the tasks by garden area. I'll probably jump around vs sticking with one garden until all the tasks in that area are finished. Most of the tasks are about planting, relocating, weeding, pruning, fertilizing - garden editing and maintenance. Nothing is overly hard, just time consuming with the volume. This particular list of about 150 items won't be accomplished in a day or two that is for sure.
I was able to spend a few hours working in the garden yesterday. We had a day of non rain between the rains of the weekend and the rains again today. An easy task was to dead head all the lambs ears that line the side walkway into the house. At this time of year they grow tall flower stalks that I've never liked and I've always cut them off. I love the silvery soft mounded base foliage for a ground cover, but those flower stalks are gangly and give the illusion of making that walkway seem really narrow. Even though an easy task, it took about 2 hours. My poor leg muscles, already tired from the pool in the morning, were screaming with that particular bending over posture. There is something very satisfying about dead heading though. While I was at it, I also dead headed spent hyacinth blooms and a few spent iris stalks.
Today I will likely pot up some of those containers. I can do that with the light rain, whereas planting or relocating would be a muddy mess.
