What a difference a few hours make. This morning I was admiring the grass grown from seed in our backyard and noting that we need to reseed to fill in the gaps, and looking outside now that same yard is blanketed in snow.

This past monday I had the opportunity to walk in the back yard, first time since fall when we seeded and fenced it off from the dog. It was really mushy from all the snow and I think it was softer than usual from all the tilling. I walked to the back where my garden is, looking around at where I planted all my Michigan Bulb purchases last fall. I had ordered Mums, Allium, Coneflowers, Coreopsis and Annabelle Hydrangeas.

I am so looking forward to Spring and am very anxious to see what comes up from my purchases last year. I am very worried about the Annabelle Hydrangeas. I walked over to the four Annabelle Hydrangea twigs that I planted and dutifully marked with an orange ribbon tied to the fence behind them and then also tied to a nail in the ground about an inch before the plants. Terrified, as you can see, that I might inadvertently pull them up thinking they were weeds. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I couldn’t even see the twigs that were visibile last fall. Granted, I didn’t move around the leaf mush (technical term) that was covering them but still, nothing.

Makes me want to go out this summer and buy four “Mentor Plants”. You know, the $40 garden center variety, already blooming, and plant them near the young, naive, less experienced Hydrangea and give them something to aspire to. Kind of like plant role models.

I know that I should have more patience. All the plants - not that there have been that many - but the Spirea Little Princess, Autumn Joy Sedum, Coneflower, Coreopsis and Allium have all been bigger, flowering plants purchased from Lurvey’s. Instant gratification. Also expensive. I have a lot of garden to fill especially since I am not done with the back of the yard and I still want to create beds on the sides of the back yard and along the rear of my house.

I am looking forward to getting donations from friends as they split and divide plants this year, and I will supplement that with some purchased foundation plants. It really is economical to order the little plants by mail - I just wish I had more experience in knowing that they will, in time, actually grow.

I wonder how old the Hydrangeas that you buy in the 5 gallon pots (I think they’re 5 gallons) for $40 at garden centers and even Home Depot really are.
I never thought to ask and I guess I just naively believed they were 1 year old but from everything I am reading, it looks like they may be much older than that. Anyone know?

Come Spring when I trek over to my Garden Center for more inspiration, I’ll have to ask. In the meantime I guess I’ll just have to be patient. Easier said than done.

The first of the expected Garden Catalogs have arrived!  Michigan Bulb popped into my mailbox with its’ spring offerings.  I am eyeing some more Pink Astilbe for the side of the house and perhaps some more Coreopsis for the back yard. 

I am also trying to decide on some grasses to add for some height and visual in the winter months too.  There is a really pretty Purple Love Grass that is light green but then turns bronze with a bluish tint in the fall.  I don’t think I’ve seen this before - it says hardy in zones 5-9 so I might give it a shot.

I’d  also like to get a Reblooming Lilac but right now I’m not sure where I’d put it.  I need to start planning the beds for either side of the back yard.  I’ve also seen some colossal hostas and Sum and Substance Hostas that are really pretty but I don’t think there is a shady enough area in the yard anymore for that.

The kid in the catalog is dwarfed by that Hosta!  Hopefully I can find a spot because I think it’s really cool.  The kids might be a bit frightened by its size. My business partner Anita has a large Hosta in her front garden, maybe it needs to be divided!  Not sure if they work the same that way as the regular hostas.

I have more dreaming to do and need to focus some on the shrubs and foundation plantings I need to add.  So so easily distracted!

This was the half melted snow that was left in the back yard.  It’s all gone now.  As you can see, I need more “winter Interest” or, shall I say, some winter interest?

My apologies to Monty Python…Right now our back yard is covered in snow.  But the photo above is from the summer of ‘07, and shows the beginning of the rear border (North side).  Not much there but some Hostas and Allium.  Hopefully, next spring will bring the Alliums planted this fall and some Hydrangeas.

This is from summer ‘08 (rear brder South)  and shows the purple Coneflowers, Sedum (Autumn Joy) and the Spirea “Little Princess”.  I also planted more Hydrangeas, Mums and Coneflowers.  I won’t be too disappointed if the Mums don’t come back.  I love Mums in containers but once I planted them - meh.   I do want to get more Sedum though, it flowered beautifully.

These are my Peonies (after bloom) in the far South rear border.  The old plant stand was there from previous owners and looked rather ratty.  After thinking about ripping it out and deciding it was too much work, (it’s mounted in concrete) I gave it a shot of spray paint.  It’s hard to see with the poor quality of the photo (sorry, no Photo Shop) but it’s not half bad.  Next spring I plan on filling the pots with flowers and greenery that spill down and I think it will give the corner some interest.

That’s Bishops Weed on the bottom of the plant stand, a real spreader but fortunately it’s contained.  I also scored some big rocks from my neighbor and will be replacing the broken edging in this area.  Hydrangeas are hoped for as well in this area. 

It may not look like much but if you saw the “before” you’d think it was a dream garden.  We had overgrown volunteer bushes (hope that’s the right term, I’ve heard it in reference to plants before) and the Hostas were lined up in a row, with trees coming up everywhere.

All this gardening thinking was prompted by a giveaway at Carolyn Gail’s “Sweet Home and Garden Chicago” blog (http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.com).  I was the lucky winner of some Muck gardening shoes and can’t wait to get them some use come spring.  Thank you Carolyn and Muck!!!  I also received some gardening catelog  postcards recently and will be ordering a slew of catelogs.  I love me some shopping, and couple it with gardening and I’m in Heaven! 

Here’s to Spring gardening plans.

With the trees removed, we were able to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard.  We grew tomatoes, basil, carrots and pumpkins.  The photo above shows the pumpkin plant - ONE pumpkin plant, which took up much much more space than the photo shows.  What a lesson in growing for Ross.  We harvested 2 good pumpkins (medium sized) for carving and three smaller ones for the front porch. 

Here’s Ross (Vanna style!) showing off the first decent harvest of tomato and basil.  We made some pesto and used basil for tomato sauce.   We got a late start - everyhing was planted in the ground on Father’s Day, next year it will have to be earlier.

We will grow another vegetable garden next year, tomatoes and basils are a must, but I want to expand and grow more items.  Any suggestions?  No more pumpkins though - hopefully we will have a lawn next year!

June 2008 - This was the view of the North side of our back yard.   A big old pine tree with no grass underneath.

This was the view of the south side of the back yard.  This cottonwood, huge and mighty allowed no grass to be grown and dropped branches the size of trees when there was a storm.  Last August a wind storm tore off a branch the size of a small tree that crashed down on the playhouse, crushing it, and narrowly missing our bedroom window.

Although I love trees, and we live in the “city of trees” - it was time for the trees to go.  We never used our backyard.

We received expensive permission from the city to remove the trees and had a tree removal service come do the work.  The backyard instantly went from full shade to full sun. 

We had plans to plant a vegetable garden and to begin researching perennials that could be planted in our new sunny back yard.  Then we planned to have the yard tilled and leveled so we could seed it and actually have a grassy, green lawn in the back.  On my next posts, I’ll share some of the perrenials we planted, the vegetable garden and finally, the tilling of the yard.

The back yard is a work in progress, one that will take years, I’m sure, to complete.  I’ll be sharing the progress here on Tomato Drill.