The garden 2.0

How to rebuild a garden with no means.  After moving to the Pacific NW and attempting to revitalize a garden of neglect.  A hillside garden to boot!  

My first effort consisted of trying to get moss to grow on some existing resin statuary. One is a ugly little boy playing a flute which used to be some kind of fountain in a former life.  There is also a garden house, with some dressing up could be a nice addition.  Finally there's a garden angel and a curly headed girl. So far not much luck.

All that exists is a forgotten cherry tree and a overgrown birch.  The cherry is in deplorable shape. A part has fallen and deeply buried.  The remaining trunk has been allowed to branch lopsided and with so many crossing and parallel branches only a severe pruning can hope to assist it.  

Will be trolling lists.  So far have been able to score locally daisies from and elderly woman's english garden. Then two beautiful mature rhododendron bushes now transplanted on the hillside.  

We also obtained some Pampas grass, which David had to dig for.  Judging from the cuts on his arms and his ear I'm not sure it was worth it.  We had brought a couple of shovels, the telescoping and regular shears and the pick and had to go back for a bow saw to get through the root ball.

Will post pictures soon. 

2012

it will be Perry/Bachmann.

INVESTING IN THE NEW vs. SUBSIDIZING IN

THE OLD. Where should our taxes & tax rate discounts be directed? Are you having a say in the decision or enabling the corruption? If you REALLY cared about the US's future and the America of your grandchildren then where our government investment goes SHOULD REALLY MATTER!

Open that bottle

News too depressing...looking for some good news? So am I, so join folks all over the world this Saturday for Open That Bottle Night!

Who knew, I could have been celebrating for the last ten years but was clueless. Are you like me with a bottle or two secured away just waiting for an occasion? Or just hoping someone will stop by and give you a reason to uncork one or more. I tend to hang on to wine waiting for the right moment but somehow when cooking a nice dinner the wine sometimes gets overlooked when your cooking for a bourbon guy.

Open that bottle night was conceived by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, husband and wife wine critics who jointly penned a column in the WSJ

called "Tastings" until 2009. They encouraged their readers to open a symbolically significant bottle and write about the experience.

Sounds like the perfect preparation for Oscar weekend, so I will be rooting around since the other half always reminds me of my accumulated stash and find the right bottle to enjoy this Saturday. What will I be toasting to...surviving grocery shopping, or maybe surviving the snow predicted to fall, or just because I have a bottle to share. It may not be outstanding but then when is a glass of wine satisfying. I might take a page from the Oscars and enjoy the following movie

toasts:

“May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.”

Dragnet (1987) – Pep Streebeck (Tom Hanks)

“Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with."
Mahogany (1975) – Brian (Billy Dee Williams)

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
When Harry Met Sally (1989) – Harry Burns (Billy Crystal)

“I'd like to propose a toast to all the special 'f' words - to friends, family, fate, forgiveness, and forever.”
My First Mister (2001) – Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski)

“This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.”
The Bridges of Madison County (1995) – Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood)

"Young lovers seek perfection. Old lovers learn the art of sewing shreds together and of seeing beauty in a multiplicity of patches."
How to Make an American Quilt (1995) - Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder)

“May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping.”
Keeping the Faith (2000) – Paulie Chopra (Brian George)

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more.”

The Notebook (2004) – Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling)

“It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
A League of Their Own (1992) - Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks)

“That's the beauty of the world, there's always something to put your life into.”
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) – Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones)

"Na zdrowie,"

MEMORIAL DAY 2010

I can't remember our garden being this far developed this early in the season. By my reconning the garden blooming and growth cycle is about one month ahead of schedule. It's also the lushest its ever been, though most likely that's the result of ten years of gardening, trial and error, negligence, survival of the fittest, stumbling across the plants that fit our 'local' environment and maintenance style.

SPRING GARDEN 2010

SPRING CAME VERY EARLY. WHAT I WOULD CALL LATE SPRING (THE NICER WEATHER PART OF SPRING) STARTED NEARLY 1 1/2 MONTHS EARLY. WE HAVE HAD NICE, WARMER AND DRY WEATHER SINCE THE MIDDLE OF MARCH - NEVER REMEMBER IT STARTING THIS EARLY. IS THIS A SIGN OF A CLIMATE/WEATHER SHIFT?
THIS YEAR I WAS ABLE TO GET A GOOD JUMP ON CLEANING-UP AND PREPING THE GARDEN - A GOOD ONE MONTH EARLY, AND VERY WELCOME SINCE I COULDN'T DO MUCH IN THE GARDEN THE LAST THREE YEARS AND IT TOOK ON A TOTAL ALL-NATURAL CHAOS LOOK. NOT THE LOOK WE WERE HOPING TO ACHIEVE. WE WANTED THE MORE FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZED CHAOS LOOK . BUT MORE ON THAT LATER - NOW JUST ENJOY SOME PICTURES FROM MARCH/APRIL 2010 FROM OUR GARDEN.

SPRING IS HERE, ONLY ITS EARLY APRIL . . .

WE'VE BEEN HAVING SPRING FOR NEARLY TWO WEEKS. IT'S INCREDIBLE !