A Morning of Puttering

I am officially on vacation today and tomorrow! With Monday being a holiday, it will be nice to spend 5 days away from job #1. (I still have to go to job #2, but since that involves working with plants it's a lot easier to go to most days.) Plans for today included getting up early to putter about in the garden, going to the Cleveland Botanical Garden Flower Show, and meeting another garden blogger, Kylee from Our Little Acre, while I was at the CBG.

Unfortunately, my assistant gardener started acting a little odd last night... you don't need to speak the same language to know when your dog isn't feeling so hot. So instead I'm waiting for the vet to call me back and let me know whether he will be able to see her today. I have gotten to putter, at least, so I'll share a few pictures from the garden while I sit here and watch the phone:


Two pictures of my 'Diabolo' (aka 'Diablo,' aka 'Mondo') ninebark, physocarpus opulifolius. I love where this shrub is placed in my garden. Every morning, I open the curtains in the dining room so that my houseplants can enjoy the morning light. When the sun is shining, my ninebark greet me with a jewel-like glow.


First bloom EVER on my sea kale! I would grow crambe maritima just for its foliage alone, but these little flowers are cute, too. There are more buds on this one, but its two neighbors show no signs of flower stalks yet. The two non-flowering ones are a bit more shaded, and that's probably why.


YIKES! I usually feel sorry for these treelawn-planted trees anyway. Their roots are all hemmed in, they're oversized for the area where they are planted, and so forth. But half of this one didn't even leaf out this year... wonder if I should start planting more sun-lovers in my front garden?


Many days, I am amazed at what people throw out with the garbage. I've snagged metal trellises, a grandfather clock, an old sewing table with great carved wood and a cast iron base, and on and on. The above picture shows my latest acquisition, a large black milk can. Normally I'm not a black-milk-can-in-the-garden kind of girl, but it looks appropriate in the backyard of my 1919-built home.

A larger view of the Japanese rock garden area. The peony bush that currently hides most of the area behind the right hand side needs to be moved--I can't believe it's already waist-high! The monster on the left at the end of the rock garden is reason #1,254 that I need to get that fence in. The blackberry should really be trained against a sturdy fence rather than that puny trellis.

That's all for now... more pictures to come this weekend as I get more things weeded and presentable!