Backyard views

The roses are doing well, as is the little barberry bush my dad gave us from his overrun. My tomato plant is halfway up the trellis and has 10 lovely green tomatoes on it. I'm so excited and wonder why I didn't plant a tomato every summer of my life!

The day lilies have loved my attention (deadheading to prolong their blooming season...it works!) We're now pretty much in the maintenance phase for this summer.

Sadly, the apple tree has been struck by some sort of bug or worm this year. It has apples, but they don't look good. We may have to spray next year, much as we'd rather not.

The entryway garden is finished!

Before we left on vacation mid-June, we were able to get the entryway finished, including taking out the sad Japanese maple that didn't survive. We found a Profusion Crabapple on sale at Home Depot, and they replaced our tree for free. Still, we feel a little discouraged that we just haven't been able to get a Japanese maple to thrive at either of our homes! Still, we're very happy with how the entry garden came out—for very little money (thanks to free mulch, and using flowerpots we already had).

We're happy that all the plants we transplanted (that were growing in the entry garden when we moved in) are thriving in their new spots. The Japanese magnolia (tulip tree) is our favorite transplant because moving it revealed the brickwork on the porch, and in its new spot, it hides the utilities on the side of the house, as well as the neighbor's trash can. (You can see the magnolia—a bit shorter for our pruning—at the left corner of the house in the last photo below.)