TAMMY VITALE

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AEDM 11: It was a very busy day in the neighborhood!

garden right lirope (the stuff that looks like big grass)
garden right lirope (the stuff that looks like big grass)

Some days creativity knows no limits!

The morning started with dropping our Sueno doggie off at the vets for teeth cleaning and lasering of what they’re calling a “wart’ on her head (tho the last two times she had something fast growing like this removed it was surgery and excising, not burning off.  I guess we’ll see how this works).

Then we heard from our cottage tenant that the refrigerator seemed to be not working and the oven in the stove wasn’t either.  We hadsueno 11.2013 planned to clean gutters and put new batteries in the smoke detectors anyways but the rest added to an already full day.  Because the cottage is cozy and compact, we have to have a just-right-size refrigerator – everything has a place and size in order to work.  Well, after checking the fridge we determined that it might need a fan but not knowing for sure decided to get a new fridge for our tenant and bring the other home and check it out at our leisure.  We tracked one down that we hope will work (it’s an inch wider than the one we currently use, but the only 23″ we could find was 5 – 7 days out on delivery, nothing close, so we opted for 24″ with our fingers crossed).  That will go in this evening when our tenant is home so we can get the food transferred and the other one out.

So today’s offering – the planting of lirope in the garden goddess’s lane, was actually done yesterday, but yesterday’s AEDM offering was actually done the evening before so it all works out (although tomorrow’s offering will have to be done tomorrow since time is definitely running out today!).

Artpal Mary Ida is redoing her yard so that she has an outdoor gallery.  When I was over playing with glass I noticed her healthy crop of lirope had disappeared and asked.  She told me it was part of renovating the yard – did I want some?  You bet.  As you can see, she sent me home with enough, once it was separated out just a little bit, to cover the entire space allotted in the lane.  I am ecstatic!

The original concept included lots and lots of hostas and you can see in this spring video. (Note:  in the video I start off saying we are looking at garden left.  But it is actually garden right because I figure sides from the driveway, not the yard.  Hope it isn’t too confusing!)  Alas, half of those gorgeous plants succumbed to crown rot and the rest to hungry deer while we were on vacation.  While I still plan to put the hostas back in, I decided that lirope was better because the deer won’t eat it.  And just look at it – doesn’t it look as if it’s been there forever?!  With just one afternoon’s worth of planting!

Garden right seen from the yard (where is is actually the left).  Also planted this japonica that I've had in a pot since June.
Garden right seen from the yard (where is is actually the left). Also planted this japonica that I’ve had in a pot since June.
garden lirope lef w rhodendron 11.2013
Garden right from the driveway

 

We also worked on extending our rock garden further down the driveway.  This patch was mostly gravel and clay when we started working on it earlier this year.  We bought rocks and made one section in the spring.  We transplanted 2 volunteer azaleas from our yard, along with a nursery plant whose name I don’t know and nursery purchased lirope broken down into plugs.

Those are the major components of this day which won’t be over until the new fridge is safely in its slot (fingers crossed), along with several other bits and pieces that needed to be taken care of including a 2nd trip out to pick up auto repair parts we forgot to get the first go round.  We needed to get the fridge anyways, as the first time through was shopping to see what they had in stock.

 

So the sun is now going down (4:41 – this truly is not my favorite time of year sun wise – I hate the early dark), and the day has more to come, so I am catching up with my

extending the rock garden as seen looking up the driveway.
extending the rock garden as seen looking up the driveway – the lane with the lirope is on the left.
garden - extending the rock garden 11.2013
extending the rock garden looking down from the lane where we planted lirope

AEDM offering now before I fall into bed.

Hope your day was lovely!

1 Comment

  • Ellie Smith

    Well well well. And a little oh my too. I read this post and thought how odd that Tammy and I are having parallel lives across the continent. On the same day as you were replacing a refrigerator for a tenant we were also playing the landlord game. Our tenant has an 18 month old toddler who discovered the toilet recently. She dropped a shot glass into it and flushed, so we were removing the toilet and extracting the shot glass from it. Never a dull moment…

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