New Yard

Good evening, ya'll. If you can tear yourself away from the beautiful day outside, come on in for a cup of coffee. I don't have any dessert to share with you for I am on a "water" diet or "see through" diet. If I can't see through it, I don't drink or eat it. Not really but I try.

The time has come for me to become serious about losing some weight and I am trying. I am past fluffy, slightly plump or any other description, I have let myself become fat and it is coming off! All prayers will be appreciated for the body is willing but the mind is weak and I like to cook and it has to be eaten, right? Remember those starving children our parents told us about when we were children?

We have had our yard landscaped! This is something we have never done before and it was past time. Our home is about 45 years old (give or take a few) and we have been it about 17 years, I think and it had basically the same shrubs planted when built. I had planted some bulbs and a few trees, but it was about the same as when we moved in. After we put the pond in the front yard and cut all the pine trees, it looked really shabby so we bit the bullet and called Paul.

Paul Witherspoon, a good friend, has a plant nursery here in Adel and landscapes. The day he and his crew started the yard it was cold and getting colder but they kept on working. It was cold and rainy most every day but they worked through it. We told him sort of what we wanted and left the rest to him. He has an eye for beauty and we knew we would be satisfied when he finished. I didn't even go out to look most days for it was cold and I hibernated when it it cold. Yesterday I went out to tell him how pleased I was as they were finishing up and he laughed and said it must be warm for I came out of the house.

He used all of our existing plants and dug them up and placed them where they would look the best. He added some new ones, but most of the plants are ones we already had. That is a good man to help us out like that. We are looking forward to spring and watching it all come to life but I thought I would share a few pictures with you for we are very proud of our yard now and I promised Paul to maintain and if I don't I am sure he will tell me about it.

The picture at the top is of the front of the house with new shrubbery and pine straw in the beds.

Paul reworked the round bed I began several years ago and rounded it out in the back of the fence section. This will give us 2 beds to use. He used landscaping wood we already had to round out the front and mulched it with the red mulch to add some color to highlight the bed. It has a miniature maple in the center and the driftwood and stones are some I have gathered from hither and yon. The back of the bed is in brown mulch and I plan to put planters of herbs in that area.

You can see he added dirt to the bed and raised it. It has some of my daylilies and some ornamental grasses and I plan to place some round planters with annuals to add some color this spring but not too many.

This tulip tree is not new but one we planted several years ago. It is so pretty right now so I wanted to share it with you.

This is the bed by our pump house and is one I began several years ago and Paul cleaned it out and rearranged some of the plants. It has white iris, daylilies, and nandena in it. I have rooted several rosemary bushes and plan to put 2 in this bed later on. I may take out the nadina later for they are difficult to keep pruned down low but the clusters of berries are so pretty in the winter.

When we cleared all the pine trees we left these oaks and he incorporated them into a bed and planted camellias, azaleas, iris , flowering quince and other shrubs from the yard. It is rounded and covered in pine straw and I want to put a small bench on the side facing the pond to sit and watch the water. I can't seem to ever get tired of watching the pond and water ripples or when it is so calm it like a mirror.

Our new lemon tree with 1 little lemon left on the tree. I use lots of lemons when I cook and thought why not raise my own. The lemon is now added to our grapefruit, orange, tangerine and pineapple orange trees. The day is coming, I hope, when we can give fruit away because we have too many.

We had all the bed rounded and incorporated lots of spaces to make mowing easier. He did a wonderful job and we highly reccomend him if you need plants or landscaping. As the plants grow and bloom, I will share them with you here at the Net Porch.

This is the view I love the most for it calms my soul and when I am down or when I'm happy it is a view I never get tired of. God has blessed us with beauty beyond belief and I thank Him for it daily. Join me in a prayer of thanksgiving for the beauty of our earth.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

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