Chasing my tail

I keep thinking about posting, but never really get around to it, so here is the randomness of my Sunday:

Hubby has scuba diving plans, and when he asked what I was planning, it popped into my head that I wanted to do some gardening. Headed out to a local garden centre, where they were trying to get rid of almost everything. Mulch and perennials were 1/2 price. I scooped up some perennials, basket stuffers, a dwarf alberta spruce, a yew (I thought the tag said it would grow to 12" turns out it's 12'(!) so I've got to find a new home for that), a rose bush, 210 liters of soil (dunno - that's how they sell it) and mulch.

Then home to figure out where to plant them. I decided on the front yard. Puppy killed several of my beds and 8 of my rosebushes last year, so I figured I'd move out of his play area rather than setting him up to destroy more plants.

I didn't think of pics until I was part way through, so here is a bit of progress (click on pics to see full size). The original bed stopped just inside the step and curved around the existing plants:



And here is the bed fully dug:


I've moved most of the perennials into the bed, I have a delphinium that I want to add up close to the door. Then it's on to filler annuals and mulch.

Hubby and I will be replacing those awful patio stones this summer, and hopefully changing the steps a bit, I'd like them to be more curved, they are currently a 90 degree, made with patio stones again. I will then be able to continue the garden down beside the steps.

Other little project was to fill the bed on the rock wall. I bought 5 glazed pots, and added annuals to them. They are looking a bit straggly in these pics, as they just survived the transplant trauma:



I'll be filling the bed they are sitting in with pea stone. This will allow me to easily decorate this bed for the different seasons - tulips and daffodils in the spring, random plants in summer, mums in fall...You can get some idea of the ratty steps from this pic. Would like to change this to flagstone:



Oh, and did I get a killer sunburn on my back! Well for me anyways. It's nicely tanned now. I actually thought I was mostly out of the sun, apparently not.