a few little fleurs for you

can you believe i got these at a grocery for just $4.50??  i love love love them and hope they never die.

Scott's!!

traveled to Hotlanta to stay with my girls Angela and Mary and while there see Chelsea Handler... (a 'sick' cancellation - very disappointed in her); and happened to be the weekend of Scott's!

 Angela, Mary, *new fiance Drew!*, and myself

had never been before but I racked up - i even secretly went again on my way back to Birmingham on Sunday...

 

new lamp!

 

new flower vase!

 

ahhh! I finally found a fabulous chair to replace my old blue one!

 

from the trees now blooming in our yard

 

a little knickknack for the table!

the welcome intruder

I know, from my Aunt Anne with the green thumb, that Wisteria is a weed, a vine, some version of a predator that will overtake my trees and shrubs and render them emaciated after it sucks the life out of them....

but I cannot help but love Wisteria this time of year, especially as it cascades like an canopy over the entrance to my backyard.

Does this make me a yard masochist?

A little color

I'm having such a dorky good time with my new camera and the hints of spring that have hit our yard....

Lenten Rose, Helleborus, aka my favorite and a regular feature.  This year I tripled the amount in the yard... Jimmy even helped ;)

Bob, aka our last daffodil... I took his buddies for granted and barely paid them any attention while they were all in bloom.  (also happened with our Japanese Magnolia in the back, now all deflowered...)

Another of the bush out front.  Little bugs have had their way with him.

One of the more colorful Lenten Roses in our yard. 

Espaliers!

I was in the backyard admiring the stunning azaleas (yes, I do this daily with Piper, don't judge :) ) and really found myself avoiding eye contact with the HUGE glaring eyesore that is the back wall of the house. This area is begging for some lovin'. I know just what to do!

Espaliers!!! Aunt Anne is an expert in the design, building, and maintenance of them. See on her website a little bit about them, Simply Gardens.

Espalier is the horticultural technique of training trees through pruning in order to create 2D patterns by the branches of the tree. The technique was popular in the Middle Ages in Europe to produce fruit inside the walls of a typical castle courtyard without interfering with the open space, and to decorate solid walls by such trees planted near them. - WIKIPEDIA!

I googled it too and found a paper by Kim Powell at NC State school of Horticulture, and she listed some good plants to use for espaliers.... of which I liked rebud tree, quince, forsythia, jasmine, and viburnum!! I must talk to Aunt Anne about what she recommends!

It is going to take a lot of work over the next few years, but I don't have any other long-term projects and I think the payoff will be worth it!

Handfuls of Surprises!

Obviously - I love the spring. I have been walking with my friend Sara lately - and she was asking about the beautiful white trees that are (were) blooming all over Birmingham... I noticed the, um, quite pungent smell, and thought it might be a Bradford Pear tree but just wasn't sure! My aunt mistakenly cut down a branch of it from her tree in her yard and put it in a vase... just to have her houseguest ask if Reba, the dog, had gotten into some rotten trash! So I did some leaf analysis - and for my own clarification distinguished between the Bradford Pear and the same-bloom-time white Cherry Blossom!!! Sadly - I don't have either in my new yard.

Bradford Pear - stinky Cherry Blossom - think DC!

I also do not have the amazing redbud tree in the new yard - but we do in Boligee!!! Here are some branches left over from Easter weekend there that I transferred to some vases in mi casa!

Another hot tree for me is the Snowball tree - viburnum opulus I think -here is one from my old neighborhood in Chapel Hill!

Things I do have:

4 pretty dogwoods,

camellias, Japanese Magnolias and Japanese Maple (which I don't always love, but it works in our front yard)

and tons and tons of azaleas!

Also have crepe myrtles, hydrangeas, phlox, ligustrum, etc...

My Christmas present from Cover was this planter - I promptly killed the main topiary-type thing in it this winter, and finally have gotten its replacement, this Dwarf boxwood, some sweet potato vine, and some million bells. Perfect right below our little songbird nest!!

Les fleurs!

What does a nice anesthesia rotation during my intern year + a 70 degree Monday equal?? How about the sparking of my guttural, innate gardeneress-ness??!! I had a pretty spiffy gift card to Walmart and Lowe's was running low on my favorites, so I planted some of these in my new yard!

First is a rendition of my goal around my Japanese maple, some nice hosta!

Next are caladiums in green and white, running alongside the front window under the bushes.

And below - my fav - Helleborus, or the Lenten Rose (How appropriate!). It makes me miss North Carolina where they were everywhere!