IT'S BEEN A WHILE. LET'S CATCH UP

Hi, there. Remember me? I hope so! It's your friend Kathryn from WBL. In case you have been wondering what became of my little blog, I'll summarize:

1. Teaching online and in-person during a pandemic.

2. Child number 1 got married. 

3. Child number 2 got married. 

4. And in between, a 50th anniversary party for the best in-laws. 

That should explain my over-a-year's absence from blogging. This past year has been one of the busiest but best years in so many ways.

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats to find out what we did in our front flower bed. So... let's pick up right where we left off, shall we? If you missed the last post from August 2020 that I'm referencing, click and catch up here.

Here's a quick reminder of the before shot.

Our flower bed is big, really big, like too big. We were trying to keep things manageable, so here is what we ending up doing. 

We put in five Little Limelight hydrangeas from Lowe's. They were discounted because they weren't all that healthy, and since we had no idea if the deer would like them, we thought it would be a good place to start. 

They were blooming and green and did great at the beginning of the summer. To add some color for the approaching anniversary party we were hosting, I headed back to Lowe's to add some color.  I came home with four Torenia plants. It's a mounding annual, perfect for summer and fall. It was a new-to-me plant, and I loved them right away. The color is so vibrant. 

We planted them in the gap between the Limelights. 

They were beautiful most of the summer. However, the rabbits, deer, and bugs made sure they didn't stay that way too long. I sprayed the leaves, sprinkled human hair around, and checked on them daily as if they were my children. It's just really hard to compete with nature when you live in the woods. 

The annuals have been now been pulled up, and the Limelights are surviving; I'm just not sure for how long. We'll see what happens in the spring. 

Feel free to comment below with any advice you'd like to share about plants and the animals who love to eat them!

Glad to be with you again!

SEEKING FLOWER BED ADVICE

I need a little help today with my front flower beds. 

Our front beds had been neglected for a loooong time, like I'm embarrassed to say how long, so I won't, but when we suddenly had the never-ending Spring Break, we got after it! We pulled out a gazillion weeds, cut back bushes, washed the front windows, even trenched part of the bed. When it was finally cleaned out and spruced up, we spread 25 bags of mulch. (I can still smell it.) :)

What we didn't do, was plant anything. It was such a task to clean it up, we decided not to plant anything until the fall. And as you know, fall is fast approaching. So I'm hoping those of you who are gardeners can help me figure out what to plant in one part of the bed.

This is the front right corner of our house, in front of our garage. In this shot, the brick isn't washed yet and all the new mulch isn't in. But it's cleaned up, and waiting for something pretty to be planted, preferably something that blooms that I could cut from each year. 

Because of the path of the sun, this area gets no morning sun. It stays shaded, depending on the time of the year, until lunch time or after. Then it gets full sun for a few hours. Our trees are really tall, so most of this spot and our drive is in full shade by late afternoon, say around 4 or 5 o'clock, give or take an hour or so, again depending on the time of year. The sun moves from the back left corner to the front right corner, diagonally over the house. Years ago there were azalea bushes here, and they did really well. I'm open to any suggestions, but I would love it to be low maintenance. The depth is around 3 - 4 feet from the house to the monkey grass. 

Okay, it's your turn! 

I'm hoping those of you with more expertise than me can help a girl out. 

You could email your suggestions to woodbanklane@gmail.com, or you can leave a comment below. If you've never commented before, here's a quick explanation.

Look for this at the bottom of the post:

 

Click on "No comments" or there may be a number if someone has already commented. It would look like this, "4 comments."

Then you can choose how you want to leave your comment. You can use a Google account or you can comment anonymously, which is the easiest, and sign your name or not! That's it. 

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Kathryn

Fun find follow up....

So, here's how I ended up using my Fun Find from a few Fridays back - succulents...

Succulents have to be some of the most interesting plants. I decided the bowls would make cute planters, so I made a trip to The Plant Lady. The Plant Lady is a local nursery where I like to shop when it's time to summer up our neck of the woods. They have a fabulous supply of indoor and outdoor plants, ferns, hanging baskets, ceramic planters - they have it all. And, because I need all the help I can get with plants, I really appreciate the knowledgeable and helpful staff. They also provide ferns to help us decorate for special events at my high school, so I like to support them in return. I left with three plants. This will be my first attempt to grow these. They promised they are hardy.

If I've identified this one correctly, it is called Green Rose Bud. I Googled it!

Green Rose Bud

This one is Jade. I know I'm right on this one - it was written on the container :-)

Jade

And finally, the Flapjack. This one is probably the most interesting of the three. 

Kalanchoe Flapjack

My bowls don't have drainage holes in them, so I covered the bottoms with some left over pebbles to keep them from sitting in water. When I do water them, I'm careful to pour off the extra water. I hope this will work. The directions were to let them completely dry out before watering. 

After almost two weeks,  I'm pleased to report they are still alive and doing well!

Kathryn

Last year's lilies...

I'm still patiently waiting on this year's blooms - not quite time for them yet. So I thought I would show you last year's loot while we wait. All of these were transplanted from my grandmother's flower bed the year after we moved into our house. Needless to say, they're special to me. If you need some for your own bed, feel free to come dig some up. They multiply like crazy, and they're taking over!

It's officially summer vacation now! Yesterday was the last day of the 2015 school year - my 18th year of teaching. Hope you have a great Saturday.

Kathryn