Garden Fruition

After months of digging, raking, pruning, brush clearing, planting, mulching, and sweating, our garden is starting to take shape!

I should say gardens. Mucho plural.

In the front of the house, there is a large rock garden with numerous groups of flowers, grasses, plants, and ground cover; a small sedum-only garden next to the porch; and a short bank next to the neighbor's drive with a peony's and English ivy.

The backyard features a 60' boomerang-shaped color riot of wildflowers backed with slowly emerging hollyhocks; an island of small, medium, and large sunflowers to camouflage the neighbors workshop; Roma and Big Boy tomatoes, green, red, and yellow, serrano and jalapeno peppers, and and a creeping monster pumpkin patch; and a fence corner rose garden surrounded by creeping thyme.

I failed to mention the most numerous plant ... WEEDS! Those little bastards are everywhere. If you have a bare patch of dirt, it takes weeks or months for purchased plants and seeds to get established, but give a weed five minutes of sun and a thimble-full of water and it's Jack-in-the-Beanstalk time!

Ahem ... excuse me ... back to the fruition part. Last night after a tasty Papa Murphy's Mediterranean pizza, we fired up the mosquito lanterns and the fire pit and enjoyed a nice glass of wine, or two, with some fresh-baked cookies (the oven was already hot after all).

Conditions were perfect: lower 70's, low humidity, little wind, and a cloudless starry sky with a 3/4-full moon peeking above the trees.

Before dusk, our baby girl amused herself with her favorite backyard activity, picking wildflowers. After it turned totally dark, she sat with mommy and daddy watching the fire and playing keep away from the dogs with her cookie. But all good things must come to an end, especially for those with small children. After our old knees gave up the bouncy-bouncy game, baby girl decided it was time to go inside.

More projects are in the works including a patio area in the crook of the boomerang, and a mulch-covered romping ground with a slide, climbing wall, and swingset to give the wildflowers a chance to recuperate from time to time.

Work is the operative word here. It is a lot of work, but we enjoy it, and times like last night make it all worth the effort.