When we initially bought our house, we had a vision as to how we would like to make it “ours”.
The 175 year old house has great bones which has allowed us to make the necessary yet subtle changes we wanted without having to sacrifice too much of the original look. The five acres of land and out buildings were a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed.
Last spring, Mr. Painted Quilt dug out a huge flower bed for me which I envisioned as a rose garden.
We got everything planted but then when I became ill, everything was put on hold and although all the new plantings survived the winter, by the time this spring rolled around, the bed had become overgrown with weeds and needed a lot of work. With a little bit of elbow grease and some TLC, here it is today.
This bed includes five different hybrid tea roses, a Japanese maple, a white lilac, an heirloom iris, white daisy, lamb’s ear and heuchera.
The rose bushes are filled with buds just waiting for a little bit of sunshine to help them burst forth.
We want to visually separate the ‘front’ part of the back yard between the house and the red barn from the “back forty” with a series of strategically-placed flower beds.
Below is the first stage of two new beds.
The photo below shows the initial plantings.
In the foreground and to the right is a flowering dogwood that we planted late last spring.
Here it is this year just starting to throw it’s beautiful salmon pink flowers. In another week it should be in full bloom.
To give you some perspective as to where they are located, in the photo below you can see the new beds in the distance, to the left of the barn.
We plan to add contour to the beds…rather than have them remain the boring rectangular shape that they are now…by digging out and shaping the borders a little at a time. In so doing, not only will they look more natural but they will also increase in size and be able to accommodate more flowers. You see, there is method to my madness here. *wink*
Because our property is in a rural area, it is not uncommon to have many species of four-legged animals emerge from the woods to pay us, our flowers, veggies and fruit trees a visit.
Although I took this next photo through the window in our mud room late in the afternoon and in the early spring of this year , this is not an uncommon sight in our back yard.
There were actually five deer visiting but I only managed to capture four (look closely) in this photo.
And here is what was visiting in our neighbor’s back yard just a couple of days ago…a black bear, photographed from her deck just as it was returning to the woods at the edge of her property!
I wonder if it was the same one that Mr. PQ spotted at the edge of the woods on our property while he was cutting the grass on the tractor the other day? My guess would be yes.
Because of the abundance of wildlife, unless we were to erect a high fence around it, we had no alternative but to locate my veggie garden right outside our back door, the one we use all the time. We thought that if we placed it close enough to the house…hence the term ‘kitchen garden’…then the critters would might be hesitant to invite themselves to dinner.
So far so good.
Along with the rhubarb which is flourishing and just keeps on giving, I’ve planted several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, lettuce and some hot peppers for Mr. PQ. My everyday herbs are located in the pot on top of the wooden barrel.
And so many of you have enquired about ‘Les Girls’.
I just came in from my morning visit with them when I top up their feed and give them fresh water. They are doing really well but I must admit that because they are growing by leaps and bounds, they are also becoming more chicken-y looking by the day and their chick-y cuteness is quickly fading.
After all, they are now 26 days old!
On a cold and rainy day this past week, I managed to take some time off to shop and finally purchased the fourth crate that I’ve been needing for my “hands-on, go-to” stash. I wanted to raise the fabric up one level so that it wouldn’t collect the dust that just might gather on the floor.
I haven’t decided what I’ll put in the bottom crate but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.
And I just had to take this photo with the sun shining in on my featherweight and mini quilt. Wouldn’t it make a pretty picture for a notecard?
Frankie says hi and wants to thank all of you who so kindly left a comment about my recently completed granny squares quilt. He just wanted to tell you all that he loves it too!
Thanks for stopping by.
