A garden is a safe-haven where we can go to escape the ills of the world, the evil that men do, and the uncomparable sadness that befalls mankind on a regular basis in this world. My garden is that for me.

I say a prayer to "All That Is" for the peaceful rest of the souls lost in yesterday's horrible act that caused 298 innocent people to die. Trying to understand this evil that men do is almost futile. There is no understanding it, only praying that the innocents are at peace somewhere better than here.

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I am now enjoying the fruits of Paul's labors. A "before" photo of our little corner garden, horribly overgrown and un-cared-for until recently.



And here is the same corner garden - taken this week by me:



The photo above was taken while Paul was shoveling in the mulch he'd bought. This mulch will be the savior of this little garden, holding in all the life-sustaining moisture that these little plants crave. I won't have to water them so often now that the mulch is on there. We had a good hard, long rain the other day, and things still seem wet and moist all around the gardens.

You can see, below, why I am leaving the lilac bush in the middle of this corner garden - here it is in full bloom earlier in the spring:



The aroma both inside the house and outside, as far away as in the back yard, was incredible while this bush was blooming. I did not want to move it for fear it wouldn't survive, so when Paul said "Just leave the poor thing alone" I followed his advice. Here it will stay.

Here are a few more photos I took yesterday from a different angle:



Where the 3 sedum plants are now, there used to be the wild and spindly forsythia bushes. Those are all gone now, and we moved these sedums from the garden out front. We must have about 8 or 10 of those plants around the gardens here... I like them because they bloom late in the year, in the fall, after all the summer stuff is gone.



Below is the 5th rose bush that lives on its own down by the angel seat:



You can see it is blooming now, just love these little rose bushes. Can't wait for them to be big!

Farther down the driveway, looking back:



Way down front, on the street, looking into the wild and wooly front corner garden:



Believe it or not, Paul spent all day the other day, in the 90+ degree heat and high humidity weeding this garden. It's very neglected and overgrown, but he got to move out some of the fast-spreading irises that are growing like wild-fire down near the front. He moved them to a spot way down back by our giant rock... we can't even SEE them from the house because of the plants blocking it back there.

You can see the irises getting ready to bloom here in the right-hand corner of the garden...



A wider view of this front corner garden. Note the two large clumps of daisies... love those.



I think Paul dug out a clump of the far daisy plant and put it down back with the irises... I haven't been down there to photograph anything, however, Paul did mow the two back levels of "lawn" the other day so I could probably manage a careful trip back there with my camera.

Coming back up the driveway, the inner corner garden:



Do you see that yellow blooming lily behind the sedum plant there? When Paul dug up the sedum by its roots, that lily's roots were attached to the roots of the sedum (it had been at the front of this corner garden) so it came along with the sedum since it was so "attached" to it. They seemed to be best friends... we didn't want to separate them!

From around front:



And in case you don't believe he really weeded, here is the uncontested proof-positive:



Paul trying to blend in with the plants!



From above, looking down into the inside corner garden and the birdbath that I moved over here from the front:



The 4 rose bushes along the back, now starting to bloom out nicely:



One last look - quite a nice change and now I can see out of the yard while sitting on my front porch!



Again, just to compare - before below, after above.



Click here for a small slideshow of the rose garden photos.

That's all folks! Happy gardening!

Cheers,

Bex-the-lover-of-all-things-green


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