Summer Projects - "Staycation"

LOOK at sweet Phoebe!!!! That trees not bad lookin' either!!! Those photos are amazing, Debbie!!! Just makes you want to kick your shoes off and stroll amongst the trees...ahhhhhhh

jada, she's a rescue pup from a group in the Alexandria area and we're not real sure what she is! Supposedly a Border Collie/Shepherd mix, but whatever she is she's a real sweetheart and we love her :)

Ruby, Miss Phoebe is doing great! I need to get some pictures of her and post an update on her thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/829490/. We're down to the final weeks of her Prednisone and other than the weight issue she's basically back to normal :)

Chantell, I'll make sure the bench is ready when you visit so you can "kick your shoes off" and relax instead of "stroll" :)

Hope to have more pics to share soon!

What an ordeal! So glad she is fine and back to health. May she continue the road to recovery.

RCN, The garden looks wonderful!!! What a lot of work. I'm jealous of your dogwood. Lost mine to the voles this spring!!! The hostas and ferns look really nice. Do you really think that you had only one vole? Those Hosta should would be tempting snacks for them.
It will be a lot of fun for you to shop for a nice bench, and I hope that you'll take a few moments to use it!!!!!

Thanks Stormy, glad you finally had time to catch up after your trip and take a look :) Oh good lord, no - "only one vole" - we probably have dozens or more :( It's just that this one tunnel kept popping up right in the middle of the path so it was easy to spot him! We sprayed the whole area of Heucheras and Hostas with the Mole Away and so far so good. However, the adjoining bed where Rick planted shrubs, etc. has been attacked recently and I've got to get out there with the spray! Even though we had a nice rain last week it's still been a major effort to keep everything watered. If the droughts we've experienced two years in a row continue we will definitely have to make a plan for irrigation, we're getting too old for this! LOL We have hoses everywhere but you still have to set up the sprinklers and rotate them. It's a very large area and with the lack of rain it needs to be done almost every other day :(

I've been searching for old photos to keep a journal of before and after photos of our landscape. Found these taken in 1999 and spliced them together. This is the view from our deck - white shows the area of the new Heuchera bed. On the left side of the driveway is an area which will be a future project. The two arrows show a Carpinus on the right http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78379/ and Beech on the left http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56723/, both of which are at least 20'-30' now! The arrow on the right is where we planted a Yoshino Cherry in 2001 (photo to follow). Just to give you an idea of how much and how tall everything is now, If I took a picture today from the deck, you can't even see the telephone pole in the background!

This one was taken in late April 2005 showing the Yoshino Cherry which was planted in 2001. It's probably twice that size now! I should have more pictures to post soon, but these give you an idea of what this area used to look like. It's so much fun "going back" to see how much everything has grown :)