Iris are in Bloom

 

A mishmash of “found” iris are blooming in the yard.  Some were found at the back of the property.  We moved them up to a sunnier location so they could bloom; some were gifts and some were borrowed.

I am amazed at the number of large, bearded flowers blooming.  I fully expected smaller, more common flowers.  And while I love those old time, hearty stand-bys, it’s been great fun to be surprised by these big, handsome blooms.

Late at Night While You’re Sleeping…

We have tons of Poison Ivy in our yard.  I’ve done a lot of work to keep it out of the proper landscaping, but in the untamed parts of the yard, I can’t keep it under control.  When we moved in, even the professional landscaping done to the front of the house was full of the beast.



I have a fantastic reference book, Missouri Wildflowers by Edgar Denison.  Regarding poison ivy, Mr. Denison writes “…either a vine with aerial roots, climbing high into trees, or a shrub to 10 feet (3 m) high.”  Boy Howdy!   When putting in our new composter, we discovered some of those aerial roots and the leaves high above.  Ryan cut through them with a hacksaw and a few days later we discovered how high above that poison ivy could grow.

Check it out.  I’ve red circled the dead poison ivy in the tree.  It’s over 40 feet high!



Mr. Denison also writes that the fruits of the Poison Ivy, “white sticky berries (botanically drupes)”, are "relished by many birds.”  The birds are going to have to do without in our yard.

Alas, poor Ryan has to work

It’s supposed to get to 91 degrees today.  I think the paper said the record was 80-something in the 1930s.  wow. 
Thus, while I should be working on my taxes today (I am so far behind this year), I will be out in the yard weeding and planting seeds and bulbs. But poor Ryan has to work, Tanner is at a campout for Boy Scouts and Harper is hanging with a friend.  nice!
Here’s what’s abloom and agrowing right now.
Hosta – We got several two years ago at Blue Ridge Nursery.  If you are in the area and even remotely like gardening, you should swing by. They have the largest selection of hostas in the KC area, and a fantastic garden. And some of the trees in that garden….just wow. It’s off Blue Ridge Boulevard in Raytown. 

My peonies are coming up!  I got these from my mom last year.  They came from my Granny’s garden in Parthenon, Arkansas.  My mom got them from my granny over 25 years ago.  To me, that’s just one of the coolest things ever.  (There’s also some variegated oregano growing in there, and I have no idea where that came from.)

Of course, the daffodils are blooming. I snatch these up when the bags of bulbs go on sale for under $1 or the spent plants are super cheap.  There have been years when I get the bulbs in the ground in February and still get a bloom from them.

The Hyacinths.  For me, second only in scent to the Lilac.

Can’t remember what these are called?  Teeny tiny bulbs with teeny tiny blue blooms…Starts with SC, maybe?  Scilla?  yep. I just googled it.  These were super cheap after season, too.

The Royal Star Magnolia in the front.  It’s really lovely.

And the other weekend we picked up this Spring Arrangement for the front door at Cameron’s.  I LOVE that place, and they have great prices!

And this lovely fella! We got a nice rain last night, and I’m hoping I can get these suckers out with the entire root intact.  That’s my favorite!

Happy Weekending!

Where's the Fire?

I'm all about the outdoor posts lately!

Last weekend we had a fire in our backyard.  In a good way.

You know the leftover Pavestones from under the deck - HERE?  When we poured the patios and sidewalk, Ryan piled them up in the backyard. Can you say "White Trash Hillbilly"?  Ryan, of course, wanted to haul them to the dump. No, really, he did.

Then, the inspiration came.  He turned this

Into this!

And all in one afternoon.

But we needed a better way to get up and down the slope - especially after it got dark and after a few beers.

So, he built this.

And last Saturday, we did this!

It was a ton of fun. We laughed, talked, sang, did skits, told stories...a really great time.

And all FREE!  Or, as Ryan likes to say, Free, except for his Chiropractic Bill.

Linked to Remodelaholics were we were just featured - HERE! Thanks!

Were we really crazy?

Wow!  Things have been crazy around here.  We had WONDERFUL house guests last weekend: Ry's bro, Dave, his wife, Renee, and their son, Cayman.  And Ry's sis, Terri and her H, Scott, got to come by Saturday night, too. 

So much fun: talking, laughing, eating, drinking and making merry! And then the Chief's game! oh, yes. (sorry, Renee, but, at least this year someone went home happy!)

As it always seems to happen with house guests, you rush-rush to finish up all those tiny details, which is great, but can be tiresome.  One of mine was to finish up the office (not there yet...but almost!), and in the midst of my getting organized, I ran across a couple of pics from the home inspection report that was done before we bought the house.   Here's the before and afters of the deck and under the deck. I think this gives you a really good taste of where this entire project began.

Here's the upper deck.  The broken railings are obvious, but it's really hard to appreciate the sad state of the wood.  I don't believe the cedar had ever been retreated.  And there was that weird greasy/oil stained area in the lower right of the photo. Oh, and some rotting boards, too.

We repaired the railing, replaced the rotting boards, powerwashed, sanded and stained the deck.

Here she is now.

She'll need another stain job soon!

Here's below the deck. This was great!  That's all gravel and tree-like weeds growing there.  The rotting hot tub was filled with grody water and tadpoles. yummy.

The gravel was contained by the Pavestone blocks.  And the gravel wasn't really thick enough to cover all the mud and dirt, that's why we had so many of those tree-like weeds growing in there.  We cleaned, rebuilt and moved the hot tub, poured some patios, put in a stone path and landscaped under here.

And here's the after.

Man, looking at these before photos make me question our sanity.  I think I have forgotten the level of disrepair this poor house had been left to.  But it also makes me thankful that we have the opportunity to bring her back and really make her ours.

And while we're at it, we are having some windows replaced in our bedroom. I was taking pictures of the workings of the casements for window guy, and got this pic by leaning out the window from our bedroom.

It sure looks pretty from up here! Makes me want to add a door and a deck off the bedroom.  Think Ryan will go for that?

Linked to FIF at Chic on a Shoestring Budget and RemodelAholics!

Rocks, Broken Hot tubs and Backyard Hardscaping

It's so very hot outside right now. I've been watering the container plants twice a day, but that's about all the outside I can stand. I miss hanging out there.

The backyard was an icky mess for starters. It consisted of a small patio, a river rock bed and a broken hot tub. Oh, and lots and lots of weeds. Interestingly enough, the poison ivy appeared to confine itself to the Professional Landscaping in the Front Yard? Go figure. We moved the rock to the side and the front of the house and had two patios and a sidewalk poured.

The first patio is here. It's under the deck and Ry installed an outdoor ceiling fan, which makes a tremendous difference. We also have this great gas firepit from Costco. It's super comfy and runs off of a regular propane tank, which is hidden in the table.



In the area between this new patio and the pre-existing patio, we chose to leave open for landscaping. We installed this stone pathway to link the two areas. Other than the obvious VERY HEAVY rocks, this was pretty simple.



Luckly, since we had already moved the river rock, there was really not a lot but hard, clay dirt to dig up. We dug out the pathway about 4 inches and then installed metal edging to "outline" the path". Next, we put in a thin layer of sand and then laid in our rocks, jigsaw-puzzle-like. That was the hardest part - moving those around to get them to fit just so. Then we filled in the spaces between the rock with pea gravel. Next, we mulched around the path and then pulled up the metal edging, which we reused in other landscaping.



This is the second patio. We poured it for the previouly broken hot tub, which Ryan fixed AND redid all the sides so it looks pretty again. You can see where the older patio ends and the new one begins. One day we may stain or do an overlay, or just wait patiently for it all to naturally color? We shall see...



A view from the other side.



This fall we hope to build an arbor over the hot tub, with a stone wall facing toward the woods.

This is the original patio on the back of the house.



We struggled with the placement of the furniture, as the patio is on the small side. This works really well. Behind the loveseat, the crank out window can still open, and there is plenty of space to walk out the back door between the loveseat and the chair. But it's still all close enough for easy conversation.

And here's a picture where I try to capture it all. There is a slope and lots of trees behind the house, so I can't get a photo that shows the entire project.

But, you can see where we finished off some landscaping around the patios and under the deck. We also placed a water fountain to the right of the firepit group, which is very nice. And we put a heater in it and leave it on in the winter. We've gotten over 20 birds splashing around in it! We also refinished the deck.



The plantings around the decks include:
Hosta, Iris, Peony, Lilies, Vinca (annual), Daffodils, Aster, Chrysanthemum, Chives, Oregeno, Thyme, Solomon's Seal, Yarrow, Fern, Heuchera, Gladiolas, Surprise Lily, Nandinia, Wild Onion, Clematis, Catnip, Geranium, Zinnia, Ferns, some Tropicals, Morning Glory and a variety of stuff in pots.

I am still struggling with getting a handle on the light and moisture around the entire house...Live and Learn!

Curb appeal doesn't include poison ivy

Really - this is the only before picture I have of the front of the house. It's from the realtor's online ad.
You cannot see the POISON IVY, the overgrown blue rug junipers, some dead barberries, a half dead spruce and a 3/4 dead japanese maple. Oh! And the weeds! LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of weeds! And lastly, don't forget the peeling paint and rotting wood! yummy!

After pulling all that stuff out, we drank beer. Then we replaced the red mulch with plush brown on the upper side, and on the lower side hauled rock from the back to the front. (We also painted, repaired, replaced, and got a new roof - but that's a tale for another day. Today - focusing on the landscaping.)

Here she is in early Spring, awaiting further transformation. See the Royal Star Magnolia getting ready to bloom! That tree makes me so happy!

We put in this berm over a weekend. Hot and dirty work, it's pretty simple. First, we outlined our space with a garden hose. Then we spray painted where to dig. Next, we tore out the turf with a garden spade. Next, using metal edging, we outlined the space. Then, hauled in a load of dirt, dumped it and shaped it. Then we put the mulch on top and got to planting.
On the lower side, where we had already ripped out overthing except for the River Birch and added the rock, we expanded the space. It was awkward and difficult to mow. Similar to the berm, we outlined with the garden hose, graffiti-ed then spaded the grass, and metal edged it all. Going from this

to this (SPOILER for Dirt Digger at ONG: Look away from the Knock Out Roses!)

And I believe the end result has some curb appeal!

Can you believe I have no good before picture of the front of the house? Sheesh! I mean, really?!?!?!

Walk this way

While we've shared some tales of the disaster that was inside the home, you haven't heard a lot about the outside. Ryan literally shed a tear for the grass struggling to survive the weeds after years of neglect. (But he also relished the challenge to bring it around!)

And the landscaping?! HAH! What wasn't already dead was overgrown and covered with poison ivy.

One of the outdoor projects we did right away was putting in a sidewalk from the front of the house to the back. It's great when working on projects or for wheeling supplies to the back and camping gear to the front.



And we had a bit of a curve put in it to make it feel less sidwalk-y and more path-y. AND it made a great edge for the foundation landscaping. But you don't see a lot of Side Yard - Side Walks. Why do you think that is?