A Gardener's Work is NEVER Done

58 bags of cedar mulch have finally been strewn throughout my garden beds. . . FINALLY.
To tell you the truth, I'm glad it was only 58 bags because traditionally it's been closer to 90 bags.

A couple of weeks ago, I was going all gangbusters getting the front beds finished. It took me three days of back breaking labor with all the trimming, moving and removing plants, planting new plants, fertilizing, and just all around maintenance.

Here's the result of the front yard:

front view--the hedges on the right were bears to clip as they are holly and barberry--no garden glove can keep those thorns from poking you!

Petunias around the maple tree, dianthus (carnation) and geraniums in front of the barberry bushes.

Side yard to the left of the front of the house. I ripped up about 40 surprise lilies and transplanted them to the back yard, and moved the hydrangea closer to the gate, plus the annual plantings of a different variety of coral dianthus, and I totally forgot what the purple stuff is called.

The next weekend I only managed to get half of the other beds in the back yard done, namely the back bed, the roses on the fence, and the entire bed by the pool.

This is what it looks like:

The phlox was beautiful this year, but it needed a little taming. This was the bed where I planted the surprise lilies. I'll be 'surprised' if they live because this bed is chocked full of gopher and mole tunnels. I'd rather they eat the bulbs instead of my roses.

Fireplace gardens are pretty quick and easy to fix.

Transplanted some grasses that had been growing into each other and whacked the ground rose and day lilies back. Of course, now I need to deadhead the peonies and iris . . . a gardener's job is never done, it just changes with the season.

My rose garden is on the fence, and hubs had to fixe the bubbler.

Different angle--other end of the pool. And ditto, time to deadhead the roses now since I took this picture about two weeks ago!

This bed really needs some color, but I'm at a loss as to what to put in here. The clematis is just getting started and the daylilies will follow.

I did buy a few roses to fill in a couple of spaces that I lost a couple of my roses.

Then, finally, with my hubby's help, I finished the pond garden, the strip along the deck, and the entire side yard.

I love my pond garden. I will confess that I chopped my toad lily back because by the time it blooms in August, it's unruly, so I'm fixing it before it starts to set blooms.

 

Different angle of pond.

Down the deck edge. We've had a time with moles and gophers, thus the bucket covering the mole trap because the dog would probably get her nose sliced off sniffing around it. Grass has also been difficult with the little critters constantly digging it up!

This is the side yard. It's still a bit of a work-in-progress. Some things I planted did well when they were first put in the ground, but with the tree growth from our oak and crepe myrtles AND the neighbor's bald cypress, well, many of them simply can't tolerate that much shade.

Side garden. Hubs built this new fence while I was working on the garden beds.

And that is how I've been spending most of my free time during the month of May . . . when it hasn't been raining!

Later, Peeps!