Some 'green' therapy...

So both Rob and I booked 2 weeks off work this year. After getting home from our holiday in the U.S. we still had a few days to hang out and enjoy time as a family.  We did a few fun things, but we really focused on the yard and being outdoors.  Rob was working on a very special project, TBP (to be posted), and I thoroughly enjoyed working in the yard.  Sometimes the kids were 'helping' and other times I had my tunes plugged in and was singing my heart out..only to look up and find hubby doubled over laughing!  (This is fairly typical around here:) I'll never have the yard 100% perfect, but I think it's lookin' pretty good for the amount of time I actually get to put into it!  So, since the weather was cooperating, I got my grub clothes on and worked for a few hours every day.  Pulling weeds I'm sure I've pulled before, re-raking bark-mulch that really needs to be re-plenished, sweeping porches and cobwebs, pruning shrubs that keep growing back...you get the picture.  So here's a few shots of some of my favorites in our yard. 

First Up...my delphiniums.  I've always liked delphiniums, although right now I'm realizing it's not the most fun word to type repeatedly! Anyway,  I thought I'd try my hand at them and see what happened.   I planted 5 different types/colours and they're all doing quite well.  They had a slow start and now I hope they last over winter.

Next Up...Abby's Bean Plant.  This beautiful plant came home from preschool in an envelope as a bean.  I told Abby to go ahead and plant it but I didn't think it would actually GROW!  So, one day I was puttering in the yard this summer and noticed this plant growing.  It had a few leaves but nothing else.  I finally figured out that this was her bean.  She was beyond excited to see it had grown.  Now, it's a beautiful, healthy plant with a blossom and beans on it!  Abby's eyes grew so round when I showed it to her.  She said, 'Mom, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL'.  That's my Abbs.

Now last, but never to be considered least, is my all-time favorite....drumroll please....my Wisteria plants.  I have always had a love affair with this plant.  I think it started when I was growing up and a house around the corner had this massive log texas gate that, over the years, became encompassed with this beautiful vine. I always laugh because my Mom doesn't like it, she says the flowers look sad and they're faded and droopy.  I find them peaceful and artistic.  To each her own.  I have planted 1 or more of these plants in each yard we've lived in.  I planted the first one on the farm when we lived there.  I think I originally planted 2 and only 1 survived.  I planted it against an old shop so it could climb up and over the top.  This brings to mind some funny memories with my Father-in-Law.  When I first planted that vine I think he thought it was a weed and pulled it or something to that effect, or maybe that was the demise of the 2nd one I planted?  I remember teasing him about it for a few years.  Then, it finally took off and became a beautiful vine.  It takes 3 years before they bloom, and really start to grow.  Eventually it climbed up and over the top of the shop.  I thought it was gorgeous.  Guess what?  After 8 years on the farm we finally bought our own place and moved and what do you think Dad did when we moved out?  Yup, hacked off my vine!!!  He was quiet about it, didn't say a word, but I noticed, and gave him a hard time about it.   We had some good laughs about it.  My poor vine.  But hey, if the vine had to suffer to create a great memory of a much missed dad-in-law then so be it.  At our next place I planted one on the end of a shop.  Don't know if it's still there, can't see it from the road, but assuming it never made it.  When we moved here I planted 2 right away.  One against the shop my Father-in-Law had built shortly before he passed away.  This one is to remind me of the one at the farm.  It's to make me think of him and remember our bond over that silly vine.  The other one I planted purely for aesthetics.  We have a small, pole texas gate here and I couldn't resist.  I know one day the vine will overtake the pole and maybe rot it, but in the meantime, it'll be so beautiful.

Next year....Dahlia's!!!