Plants!

Holy cow, people!  We have plants!  Woo hoo!

The "after" from above.

I am so excited, I cannot even tell you.  SO excited.

Unbelievable!  It's almost like we have a mature garden in a flash too!  Totally unexpected as I did expect to have to slowly purchase and build this up.

As I mentioned last time, a friend of my mom, Shari, is downsizing her garden out there in the 'burbs.  And she emailed my mom saying hey, got some free plants, please come and get them.

The "before", or I should say the before with deck.  Here's the horrifying before before.

So by golly, I hopped in the lil' Rabbit (ah ha, kinda punny), zipped on out there and got me some extraordinary plants!  So generous of my mom's friend, right?!  Honestly, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world driving home.  I've noticed that about gardening people in general; they are very generous with their plants and their knowledge.

Seriously though, if I could have raised up her whole yard and plopped it down here, I would have.  It was ah.maze.ing.  There are not enough superlatives.  And I am a total idiot for not snapping a couple of photos while I was there for you to see.  I was too busy being agog.

Her backyard is unreal with a pond, two waterfalls into it, levels and layers, a "natural" area as she calls it, a "wild" area, a fantastic patio overlooking the whole thing, pathways, and that's not even the half of it.  Her entire front and side yards are planted to the hilt too.  Just stunning.  And it sure puts our pathetic yard to shame!

By the time my mom and I got to Shari's, she had already started bagging up plants for me, labeling the bags, writing out a list.  It was an odd feeling to put a shovel to someone else's garden for sure, but I did a little digging and the Rabbit filled up incredibly fast.  I bet it was entertaining for others to see on the expressway.

Once home I unloaded and could not believe the quantity of plants.  Like I've said, it's quite shocking how much fits in my sweet lil' car.  But this was definitely a shocker.

Somehow I managed to get everything planted too.  I ain't no spring chicken anymore, that's for sure so, ooooh ooooouch.

Those weeds out there man, they are in there, a death grip on the soil, wow.  And that crab grass or whatever, yeesch, roots to China and back.  The pick axe I ended up using was crying.

I portioned everything to either side of the deck, or tried to anyway.  Turns out the east side ended up with more plants, but, that's ok.

Heh, I love how this photo makes it seem like we have grass.  It's still mostly weeds.

Then it was dig and plant time!

I ended up with so many plants I had to spread out into other areas so as to not waste them.  All the Joe Pye weeds, Joe Pye ornamental weeds, a wild onion, and a few coneflowers went by the gutter downspout extension.

All those potted marigolds are from the seeds of last year's plants.  Sweet, yeah?  They didn't get as big as last year's purchased plants though.  Not that those got terribly large either.

A clump of day lilies all the way up front up front since those ferns never took off.  Sad face.

Over 'der towards the left side of the photo.  It might be too shady for them here though.  Some puny hostas ended up coming with the ferns so that's cool.

I'll dash out there and split up the clump as it looks particularly silly.  Maybe those ferns will come back next year.  They do seem to be water hogs though; I couldn't justify running the hose constantly and jack our water bill up so we'll see.

A wild onion plant in the front where some other perennials did not make it,

an itty bitty teeny weeny teensy tiny bundle of sedum under the Japanese maple. Super fingers crossed on those as they were barely-hanging-on extras that tagged along with another plant.

I wasn't kidding on itty bitty.  That nearly nonexistent green patch to the leftish of centerish.  I'll baby those for sure.

A chunk of ornamental grass up front despite Mike's objection to planting anything more out there, and two mini bunches by the patio area.

Yes, that's the five dollar lilac still clinging to life, looking good even, in that pot.

The rest went in front of the brand spanking new deck.

Yeah, all right, everything looks a little bedraggled at the moment but hey I would be too after being dug up, stuffed into a plastic bag, crammed into a tiny car, transported many miles, then replanted.  Fingers crossed that it all takes as it will be eye-poppingly breathtaking next summer!

Jumbo Finn boy is really into the deck and being outside now and we are loving that.

Lamb's ear which I will lay on the ground and pet and pet and pet all next summer.

The tallest ornamental grasses I have ever seen in my life (miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus').  Lots of coneflowers, brown eyed susans, an obedient plant sliver, a liatris I believe, wild geraniums, and several plants that made the trek but whose names didn't make it onto the list.

If you see it and can name it, do feel free to let me know as I'd love to complete the list.  Put in it the ol' Master Binder of House Info.

There are two or three small bags of plants left but I completely ran out of steam:  walking onions and chives.

Man, she had the most awe-inspiring wisteria that she wanted to give me but I have nowhere to put it, nothing for it to crawl up.  Ugh.

Yes, I still have plenty of work to do, like edge it up, yank more weeds and grass out, tidy up.  The main goal was to get the plants in the ground, watered, and started ASAP; the rest can happen any time.

Heh, Finn looks like he's howling.  He was sniffing the air.

But holy omg people, talk about achy and pooped, wow!  Do not even try to make me get up from this computer right now.

But Shari has offered me more.  If only I could convince Mike to give up his patch o' grass in front (yes the one we've worked so hard to grow from seed) and plant up the whole front yard....man, that would be sweet.

Alas, baby wants his grass, so, baby gets his grass.

I could plant up front up front but I worry I'd turn into a cartoony crotchety crabby old lady, fist in the air, yelling at the neighborhood kids playing "hey get out of the plants ya varmints" or the city would come tear it all out.  I still have a tiny spot of time left before the show starts so I'm contemplating.  Ache-ily.  It would be fabulous...ack I'm so torn!

Already sooooo looking forward to next summer, watch this new garden grow, see how it blooms and fills out and flourishes (hopefully).  Wow.  Astonishing, right?, how much changed in a month?!  I am infinitely thankful to my mom's friend Shari.

There's my baby girl tanning in the yard last summer, how the yard started this year.  I miss you sweet pea.

Gonna pry myself outta this chair so I can go admire it all again!

Is it summer 2016 yet?  Is it?  Is it?