a friend found white alyssum and brought it over for me, as well as some other plants from her garden… I have been searching for alyssum for ages…
spent some happy time planting this morning… and still have some left…
while she was still here, my middle grandson was dropped off so he could mow and whipper snip the garden…
he even cut down a rogue elm tree in the back lane, lol… after he got the work done we had a lovely conversation before his brother arrived for a short visit and to pick him up…
the wind has been blowing a lot in the last few days…
today, it was so strong that it toppled the elephant ear plant in the pond… I had thought it was secure, but all of a sudden it blew over… dug out my water shoes, found some very large rocks, and climbed in and stood it back up, circled it with the rocks as well as adding a few on top of it…
the rocks were so big, it raised the water level and a few of the lily pads went back under the water, lol…
I didn’t spot the frog, but a number of house sparrows and a few chipping sparrows stopped by to drink and have a bath…
the chickadees have returned and two of them were really looking around… I was wondering if they were searching for a spot to nest as I hadn’t seen this particular behaviour previously…
saw the frog a number of times yesterday while I was listening to a program on my iPhone…
it has hopped past me a few times over the last while but never when I have a camera in my hand…
yesterday froggie was out sunning on the rocks around the edge of the pond… when it jumps in it swims across in just a few seconds…
according to research it appears to be a common frog… interesting, as for the last few years we had leopard frogs…
got some nice pictures;-)…
and another exciting thing is that the water lily leaves are just starting to rise above the water… this first photo was from last night and only the top corner of one lily pad was peeking out of the water…
now four lily pads are above water on one plant and two on the second plant…
the fish have finally come out from the bridge… I think they are happy that the waterfall isn’t running…
and the water plants arrived… yay…
two white water lilies, elephant ears and parrot’s feather…
they turned up on Monday, but I left it until yesterday to put them into the pond…
the temperature was only 15° C but the sun was out so it was quite nice… I think they are all firmly settled in…
and the fish are happy as well… one little guy came out from under the bridge while I was in the pond and then couldn’t get past my legs to get back under the bridge… finally I moved both legs to one side and it returned to safety…
so happy when the plants arrived from Ron Paul Garden Centre just after nine this morning, so I didn’t have to wait around for them…
finally got milkweed and butterfly bush… took them right out into the garden and got everything into pots… one of the milkweeds already has buds;-)… hope the monarchs find them…
the butterfly bushes are quite small, but I am hopeful they will grow quickly…
also added fuchsia to one of the already planted pots and used the last few to fill a basket…
I am hoping that the garden is going to be lovely this summer as I anticipate spending lots of time there…
when I went out for a hot tub first thing I realized the pump had stopped in the pond…
before I went in, I pulled the plug and then spotted a dragonfly sitting on a rock in the pond…
took my breakfast outside and sat and watched it for quite some time… wondering if it had come up from the water and was drying its wings…
it was windy and I watched two butterflies flit past… an orange one, maybe a monarch although it wasn’t close enough to confirm… and a black one… it had some yellow along the outside of the wings…
went into the house for a cup of tea and when I came back, noticed the dragonfly in the pond and thought it might be dead, but then its wings fluttered… I found a stick and pulled it out and set it down in the sun… after about half an hour it flew away;-)…
a short while later I saw my buddy the frog jump in and swim across the pond… and finally the fish came out from under the bridge…
big day for me today… I had the cleaners in to deal with the dirt, lol… it has been three months since they’ve been so it really needed the cleaning… only one person came and I was the first job of the day…
what made it such a big deal was the fact that this was the first time someone had been in the house, other than me, since the middle of March… a few times my kids have come in the back door and gone into the basement, but then I have not gone down there for a few days…
I was up in enough time to be sure everything was tidy and I had everything I would need as my plan was to spend the time they were here outside… when I first woke up it was drizzling a bit and I was thinking about spending the time in the garage, lol… of course it would have been an opportunity to do some tidying/organizing in there…
happily the sun came out, I had my thermos of tea and set out all the cushions… I read, planted a few containers, took out dandelions and watched for birds…
in the end she was here for 3 hours… clearly the place needed work top to bottom… when there are two people it gets done in half the time…
when she left I was happy to get into the house for lunch and a bathroom break… then it was back outside for more reading… came in for a short nap and then more time in the outdoors…
although it was hot it was a beautiful day in the garden and I was able to follow the shade around the space…
herbiggirlpants 