This weekend's project

I have long been dismayed at the effect of our front yard -- not unlike Dorothy's place after Oz, someone seems to have just dropped our house in a field.

One of our first projects when we moved in was to do something about the front yard.

Of course, being a rose lover and an absolutely novice gardener, my first thought was roses. Sadly, roses love attention and sunlight and our house faces north. Four of the six bushes died of neglect and lack of light over the next few years. And our house still looked...barren. Somewhat less tidy than before, but still boring.

Rod and I are both feeling a little bit better. Better enough that when I heard that it was supposed to rain all weekend, I decided to start moving things around and make a flower garden at the front of the house, since I can do that in fits and starts and if it got rained out, it wouldn't be a problem.

I had been stymied for a couple of years trying to decide *what* to put there. I had just about decided that anything blue, purple or pink that could tolerate shade was going to be better than an eternal blank ... and then Valerie gave me some lovely forget-me-nots! (Thank you so much, Valerie!) Now, I decided, was the time.

We moved all the roses to the East side of the garden, where the healthiest rose was already living, and then we hunted through the yard and found lots of violets in blue and white. We moved some of those in and rescued an absolutely gorgeous lambs ear that had taken up its post in the drain out by the road. Then bought a few other plants to fill in.

And there we go.

It is busy drinking up in a well-timed thunder storm. It doesn't look all that great yet, but it's better -- and with any luck, I hope it will fill out as the summer progresses.

Now, I'm whipped. Good night!