Working outside

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day after the recent rains.  Everything is growing like wildfire and there was grass to be mowed.

My gold and burgundy Asiatic Lillies are blooming at the end of the trailer,

and

 this is an odd Lily that I bought at Wally World a few years ago.  It's coloration reminds me of sidewalk chalk.  I thought I had dug up all of this to move last Fall, but some of it remained behind and came up again this Spring.  That's a good thing, because I never got around to replanting the bulbs I dug, and they didn't make it !

Looking at Betsy's blog today, I was inspired to set my round pavers into the ground at the back steps.

 I've had them sitting there on top of the grass for probably 2 years now, and she made me realize that it would be easier to mow across them than around them !   I did not think about trying to level them, and I found afterwards that water wanted to pool around them, so I've tried to channel it away.

I've added moss in between the stones;  I hope I've improved that area.  Thanks for the motivation, Betsy.



This section of flower garden is at the edge of my yard, against the woodline.  I bought composted manure and top soil to add to this shade garden this year.  I tilled in it roughly a few days ago, just trying to loosen the soil around the things that are already planted there.

 Today, I sprinkled the manure all over, and then the topsoil.  I planted some Petunias that I found on clearance at WalMart, even though they say that they prefer full sun.  I hope they do well there. It gets maybe 4 hours of direct sunlight per day this time of year.  I've been playing around with that area for 4 years and never quite made it into a GOOD flower garden.  I added a Coleus near the back where it is shadier,  and a Hydrangea, lately.

Hubby provided another 12 Miracle Grow spikes for shrubs and trees, so now all of the Rose of Sharons, Crepe Myrtles and other things are fed.  I treated the Hydrangea with the Bayer product that I bought for Black Spot disease, as it had started again.  The rose bush was treated on May 10th.

Yesterday I got all of Jen's Contrary Wife quilt top cut out after having to replace the background fabric.  And, today I received another project from Joide, with 2 more quilt tops to piece.  These two are couch-size, so I am looking forward to doing them, but first comes the queen top for Jen.