The frugal potter

Although quite a few of our potted plants on the deck and front porch are annuals, we've started to think more frugally, and fill our pots with perennials that can be planted in the gardens later. We enjoyed this Japanese Honeysuckle in a pot all summer 2006. It never had more than two or three blooms, but in the fall we planted it outside the fence on the southeast side of the yard. It's rewarded us by climbing up (and inside) the fence, scenting the air with multiple blooms and making a lush green backdrop for the other things planted there. We've considered planting Honeysuckle beside the garden shed and letting it cover the shed like ivy, but we've heard it can become invasive, so still thinking on that.

Six cats in the yard May 2007



A sweet stray calico cat showed up at our house last winter and hung around so long that we finally took her in. She returned the favor by presenting us with four beautiful kittens at the end of March. We enjoyed every minute of the nine or ten weeks we had them here. Our daughter and I shed a few tears as each one went to its new home. Then, the week before the vet appointment to have Mama spayed, we started to suspect she was pregnant again. It's true. So I guess we'll have kittens in the yard yet again later this summer. But Ken says this will be the last time!

Textures for Tiny Toes

From smooth stone, to prickly mulch to tickley grass, the garden offers a wealth of textures for the tiny bare toes of our little grandson.

A Pretty Pot For Nothing

We put this pretty pot full of Hen & Chicks together by collecting slips from those we have in various spots in the garden. The red in the middle is Sedum that we dug up from Rock Hill Garden.

Rock Hill Garden Early Spring 2007


Rock Hill Garden, just as things are beginning to bloom - Columbine in two different colors, with a backdrop of Yarrow not yet in bloom. The Speedwell and all the Sedums are beginning to fill in, and the prairie grasses are just emerging.