Unexpected Glass & Gardens

We were expecting the storm that blew in last Friday. We watched it roll in off Lake Michigan. Dark skies, lighting, wind and rain, we watched it coming across the field right on time. About 5 minutes into the storm we heard a loud "Shoooop" that ended with a THUD! It was too dark to see what had happened but curiosity killed the cat. We grabbed a flashlight and headed out into the storm to investigate.

My car, poor ol' Maude the Mariner, had been hit with a big tree limb. We couldn't see all of the damage by flashlight but there was broken glass everywhere. There wasn't much we could do at that point except laugh at the irony of the situation. Jason had just cleaned Maude top to bottom, inside & out and I had purposely parked in the grass away from the maple trees to avoid bird poop. If I had stayed in the driveway under the maples Maude would have been fine. HA! That figures. And always on a weekend too.

​We decided to make the best of the situation and use the downtime to work on a few landscape projects of our own. We weeded & mulched our flower beds before decided it was finally time to tackle the rework of our back patio bed. It was full of perennials that needed to be split and moved to a sunnier location. It's a big job that's still in progress. We have to start from scratch digging out new beds as we go.

We split this clump of Russian sage, lily, and the pink & purple tall phlox. Then I started working on Jason until he agreed to give me the old wringer washer he had stashed in his scrap pile. It was just what I needed for my new bed inspired by my mom's flower bed (shown below).

My Mom's Bed - The Inspiration

Our New Sun Bed

Jason dug out the sod and began splitting & moving the phlox & Russian sage. We added 2 galvanized washtubs filled with herbs, a white double-ruffled daisy, a clump of lavender and a few day lilies into the mix. We had to cut back the Russian sage. It does not like to be moved once it is established. It will look a little rough this year but it should fill in nicely by next season. All of the perennials in this bed were taken from the patio area. If you look closely you can see exposed dirt around the far end of the clothesline. Jason dug out a 2nd bed that will be filled with more of our sun-loving perennials.

A good weeding & fresh mulch sure made the beds look nice. Our gardens are always a work in progress but I think we finally have the side yard & two sidewalk beds the way we want them. The blank spot you see (above) is planted with jumbo hosta. They're little guys now but eventually they will fill the entire space. We have several types of hosta in this bed along with cora belles, bugbane, blue & white spiderwort, various hydrangea and two types of fern. Everything here was purchased at end of the season clearance sales or salvaged from tear-out jobs.

I planted a few begonias for instant color and started placing my garden trinkets. Bottle trees are supposed to attract spirits but mine seems to attract Pillywiggins.

I'm ready to call the corner patio bed finished now too. It's been looking pretty good for the past two seasons. This bed contains a climbing hydrangea & a large hydrangea bush along the fence. Smaller hydrangeas, hosta, cora belle, purple salvia, white spiderwort and several variety of coneflower fill the rest of the space.

Spiderwort

Wild Geranium

Lupine

My lupines are awesome this year and it looks like another good year for spiderwort too. Our "freebie" wild geranium also came back again. It wandered into our garden several years ago. Technically, it's a squatter on a prime piece of garden real estate but we leave it be. It tries so hard to fit in.

Do you know what these are? They're pieces of old milking equipment. I found them a few years ago at separate yard sales. They came with the milker attachments too. I plan to make a set of wind chimes with the milkers one of these days.

When I was a young kid my folks used Surge milkers just like the one shown on the far right. The piece you see hung from a belt placed around the cow. The milker attachments fit into the spot planted with flowers. When the milk canister was full my folks had to carry it into the milk house to dump the milk into the bulk tank. By the time I was old enough to milk cows the old Surge tanks had been replaced with a new automatic pipeline system. That's probably why I'm the only one in the family with a fondness for these old milkers.

​We hope your garden projects are coming along nicely and luck is on your side. If you're still looking for garden inspiration check out our Pinterest Boards. And don't forget the 5th Annual Art in the Garden Festival on Saturday, June 25th at the Otsego County Community Demonstration Gardens in Gaylord. This is a FREE event! Enjoy food, music, workshops & artwork while you stroll around their fabulous gardens.