Fishy

I'm sure I've said this before, but here I go again: I love my pond! It's my favorite part of my gardens. Even though the waterfall is unfinished (and not even running right now), the water is murky, the weeds are growing around it...it is my heaven.

The most difficult thing about having a pond and koi has been losing fish. There was the giant, fish-eating snake. And the dreaded heron. The snake is gone; the heron is not. The big heron decoy doesn't phase it. I have lost so many of my beautiful koi to it. I'm heartbroken when I remember all those gorgeous fish, so I am trying to enjoy the remaining ones and not think about it too much.

I only have four big koi left.

I will not give in though! I will have a pond of beautiful fish! I'm going to try running a fishing line across the edge of pond where Big Bird does his fishing. Please don't anyone tell me it won't work. I need my little bit of hope.

To restock, I've bought a few koi from ebay. It's my first time buying them online. My local place has closed, so it's my only option. I received the first two today, and they arrived healthy and ready to swim.

8" Doitsu Tancho Sanke

This guy was ready to go and was immediately swimming with the big fish.

5" Chocolate Chagoi Butterfly

I haven't received these three yet. Still waiting to see if I want to bid on one more (just one more!).

7" Kohaku

5" Shusui Butterfly

6" Asagi Butterfly

I wish I could afford to buy bigger fish, but they're just too expensive.

In other ponding news, my little courtyard pond is all cleaned up. I added three little, fancy goldfish to it over the weekend. They seem happy!

I still need to rock around it, obviously.

That's all my fishy news for now.

Happy Mother's Day

It makes me happy that I have found my passion for gardening again. Being outside in my yard is my happiest place. I feel most myself there. Neglecting things for a year (two years, actually) really made for a lot of work, but it's fun uncovering and rediscovering everything. Like the book/movie The Secret Garden!

I spent some of my Mother's Day outside, among my dogs and cats and chicken and fish, planting annuals and tomatoes. Heaven.

My father game me the Planter's Peanut jar (in my wheelbarrow) full of lime years ago. He told me to toss a handful in when I planted a tomato plant. I am down to the bottom the jar now. I can't bear to use it all up. I'll have to save just a bit forever.

The sundial with Hen and Chicks was in my mother's flower garden. It's been sitting in my backyard for the past couple years. Husband and son drug it up to my driveway courtyard for me, and I filled up the empty spaces with new Hen and Chicks. The pointy part of the arrow rusted and broke off. I hope to be able to glue it or somehow reattach it. I love having things from my parents' gardens.

Out the kitchen door.

Down the back stairs.

'Cl. White Maman Cochet'

Flower Girl Hill

'William R. Smith'

'Graham Thomas'

One of my favorite roses. The color is amazing.

'Graham Thomas'

'Perle d'Or'

Love.

Front Garden

'Pat Austin'

Peony 'Festiva Maxima'

'Crown Princess Margareta'

'Crown Princess Margareta'

'Molineux'

Happy Chickens

I didn't get anything done outside today, except taking a few photos. I think I'm still recovering from all the work to have Easter here. Tomorrow I must get back to it!

I did order some stuff from Hirt's Gardens. This is my first time buying from them. I did see they have some negative reviews. Well, we'll see.

What I bought:

Strawberry Foxglove - Digitalis mertonensis

Old German tomato plants

Samurai Toad Lily - Tricyrtis

Kuchibeni Chinese Hardy Orchid - Bletilla

Hen and Chicks - Semperviven

I brought this statue from my mother's garden to mine. She loved my white Siberian irises, so this seemed like the perfect place. I'm thinking of painting this.

The gorgeous 'Clementina Carbonieri'

Clementina closeup

'Belle of Woking' clematis

Happy Hens

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

I know it sounds crazy, but I miss my Clementine so much! She was really my pet. The minute I opened the back door, she came running, with the other girls following. She was the sweetest girl ever.

So what could help me get over my heartache? Only one thing that I could think of: baby chicks!

So I did it. I just ordered four chicks (the minimum order for my area) from My Pet Chicken. They're not scheduled to be here until August 8, so it will give me something to look forward to during the long summer.

Here's what I'm hopefully getting:

White Cochin

Partridge Plymouth Rock

Blue Cochin

Easter Egger

Yay!

Back in Business

Today's purchases.

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I posted here. More than that, I can't believe it's been almost two years since I gardened. I had a rough spring/summer last year and just let everything go. But I'm back to it now! I have a renewed passion and many new ideas for my gardens.

I also have a few obstacles, the biggest being the dreaded kudzu. A creek runs along the back of our yard, and all it took was a sprig of the horrible stuff floating down and taking hold. I hate even writing about it. It feels like a never ending battle.

The other problem I'm facing is Rose Rosette Disease. I've lost two roses to it, so far. We found a wild rose with the disease, and I'm hoping that after destroying it, the rest of mine will be safe.

The saddest thing is I lost my favorite hen, Clementine, a few weeks ago. She was killed by a possum. I am so heartbroken over it still.

OK, that's enough bad stuff. After a year of neglect, the work is overwhelming, but I'm taking it a little at a time. I have cleaned up my little road garden and my main front garden, and they are ready to explode into bloom. I have already had irises and a few rose blooms.

'Batik'

'Little Showoff'

'Lady Banks'

'Pat Austin'

'Crown Princess Margareta'

'Comtesse du Cayla'