Dizzy for Dragonflies

Sunday, November 12, 2017

My Gardens 2017

PINK

Lupins (finally!!) Sweet William and ground Geranium

Tulips

Rhododendron (I think)

My roses. Despite being chewed by hundreds of caterpillars, it flourished! 🐛 They even blossomed a second time.

I was given these by one of my clients this summer.

Hollyhocks

Sedum

Turtle head 🐢

PURPLE

Crocuses

Myrtle or periwinkle

Chives. Been a long time since I last grew chives - back at mom's old house!

Bell flowers, campanula, pansies.

False dragonhead

Phlox

YELLOW

Daffodil

Ligularia

I got these in a Cheerios wildflower pack - I don't know what they are!

WHITE

Narcissus

HYDRANGEA. I love my hydrangeas. 💖

paper whites...I think

Everything else

asparagus

I love the color of this lily!

Asian lily. I've had this for years and didn't blossom until this summer when I changed its location. I am so happy! 😊

Milkweed for the Monarchs. I have yet to see one, but I have faith. 🦋

My hydrangeas again. Love them... 💗

This is a small tree/shrub that Theresa gave me a few years ago.

I saved Darcy's old rubber boots and crocs for this project. Finally my boots got a hole in them and I had the middle ones! 👢

Before

After

Kevin took down the back deck and we don't plan to put one back, so I got to work in the earth! This is where my Asian lily is finally happy.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

The view from a different angle.

EDIBLE

weird summer - Oct 14 and I have only had green tomatoes so far.

October 14 - finally have a flower on my eggplant. Way too late.

October 16 YESSS!

Monday, November 6, 2017

There's our old blue toilet. Kevin and his friend (pictured above) had to chip away the cement to get to the drain. We had to remove the old toilet, which broke, fix the floor in the bathroom, put in a whole new drain and attach it to a smaller waste tank and pump before connecting it all to the septic tank. This added a grand on to what we already spent for the tank and installation.

The new toilet.

DONE! Everything is working and I cleaned up the mess. :-) More than half of our summer vacation is gone, but it is done and we can finally spend some time here. On th plus side the weather in June and July was awful most of the time, so it was a good year to not be here so much.

How does my grass grow?

July 12 - no lawn :-(

Some pictures of the septic tank being installed are here.

July 21: I spent a day raking, smoothing out the earth and marking where the tank is.

July 22 - Darcy helped me pick up rocks that could eventually damage the lawnmower. I also pulled the fire pit base back over where it belongs and put the wheelbarrow straight. I even filled it with earth and planted flowers in it. I was lucky to get a 35$ bag of grass seed for $7 ealier Darcy and I each grabbed some seeds off we went.

A week later there are some shoots!!

August 1: Some work is finally being done to fix the broken drain. Of course the toilet had to break, so now we have to wait so we can go get a new toilet.

August 4 - can really see it growing in now.

August 9 - it's green!!

September 9: View from the other side- starting to look like a real lawn again.

Summer 2017

We had many lakeside bonfires this summer and they were all great. Some had guitars and singing, some had meteor showers, some had camp coffee; they all had good company.

Some more about July here and here.

Having fun with shapes:

I volunteered at the fair gates one night to help get a donation to the Girl Guides. Kevin watched the tractor pull, Darcy slept over at Nannas's and Cam had some freedom to roam around the fair grounds.

The view from the Boathouse Inn

Mom made this delicious pie when Pat came to visit.

Some of my feathered friends. Hummingbird, Goldfinches, Red-breasted nuthatch, Hairy woodpecker, grosbeak and a chickadee.

Great Blue Heron

I also spent the summer doing three gardening contracts and coaching Darcy's baseball team.

GEN!!! OMG!!! It had been at least 10 years since we last saw each other in person. It was like time never passed. I don't have a lot of pictures, but I will have wonderful memories. I wish the day could have stretched on much longer, but alas Gen is popular woman and had other visits to make on her short stay in Canada.

Our daughters hit it off immediately. Darcy still talks about her and has become pen pals with her. Genevieve and her family live in Burkina Faso.

WOW! Those eyes!

Sometimes it looks like a marina here!

We all participated in the regatta.

Kevin and I have been helping his mom redo her patio. She had the backyard sodded and all the patio stones were removed and left in stacks in her driveway.