About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Will planting turn to pain?

I've been so bored lately what with being so careful about my back that I did some gardening anyway this afternoon. I figure the doctor gave me a prescription for pain, so if my back seizes up, I'll take a pill. Aching right now, but believe me I will not hesitate to pop that pill if I need to.

Anyhoo, I bought 3 geraniums and a pot of 6 marigolds and wanted so badly to get them in the garden. They were starting to look a bit pathetic (see photo below) so I got down on my hands and knees and began the process. First, dig up the weeds and turn the soil, flick the worms out of my way (ICK!), place the plants equi-distant from each other, dig a hole, and cover them up with soil and a firm pat. The whole process probably took me a half an hour and believe me, between my back and the heat, that was plenty for today. I took a few photos of what's happening in the garden so far this season and hope you enjoy them. My garden could be so much nicer if I were able to do more, but bit by bit I'll get it all spruced up. First up is the rhododendrun which is right by my patio. Last year I really hacked it back and the first flowers are looking healthy and magnificent. Try to click to enlarge the photos, but usually they won't.


At the far end of the garden along the house, is a poppy plant that we think floated in on a seed when I had new topsoil put down a few years ago. At first I thought it was a prickly weed, but before I had time to get out to remove it, a flower appeared! So now I just keep it trimmed back and each year we get more and more flowers on it. Here you can see the end of one flower and six more buds on the bush.

Nearby the poppy are some lilies. The garden used to be prolific in lilies and I had to cut a lot of them out. They were just taking over everywhere. Because of our weather this spring, they are late in blooming. Here's the very first one of the season.

Here you can see a bit of the lily plant next to the other rhododendrun, which is redder than the one by the patio. Underneath the rhodo are English poppies that bloom all summer long.

Opposite the house and along the fence is a long garden starting with an azalea, blue cornflowers (see closeup below), and more English poppies. It was at the far end of this section where I put in the geraniums and marigolds.



Et voila! Here they are in their new home. If I'm sitting inside, I can see them straight out the patio windows and I think because they look so pretty, I just might get more and thin out the cornflowers so they can border the garden all the way along. If you look really closely, you can just make out one of my two irises that has some buds on it.



My feet and back feel much better lying on the chaise admiring our handiwork. We now wait to see if that aching turns into anything worse. Oh well, I'll just pop that old pill and wait until the pain passes. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend - sunny like ours was - and that you got everything done that you wanted to do.

13 comments:

Daryl said...

Now THAT'S a garden .. and that's a lot of gardening .. ice your back .. keep those knees up ..

:-
Daryl

Ruth L.~ said...

Beautiful garden. Worth a little pain, nothing comes without a little. You're a bit ahead of us here on the 42nd latitude on the northeast. My poppies are ready to pop, but yours have. Hope you don't pay to dear a price, Leslie.

Jo said...

Very nice!!! I don't think the rhododendrons were blooming the last time I was there. I would have remembered those! Gorgeous.

Put your feet up now and pop that pill. :-)

Michele said...

WOW... what a fantastic garden!! Before I moved from the house to this teensy apartment, we had such magnificent gardens as well and I really really miss it. Yours are beautiful. Please be careful and don't overdo it!!

jmb said...

It looks very nice Leslie and my theory is perennials which look after themselves. All my annuals are in containers.
Take care of your back Leslie. I'm sure it's frustrating for you.

sally in norfolk said...

what a great looking garden...I miss flowers in my garden as i decided to keep it all grass for now.
I love the poppies and the lillies.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi Leslie, you have a fantastic garden, hopefully one day I will...ha ha..not at this rate anyway, it is pouring still and its Monday now!!!! Your garden is very English!!

No I haven't decided on our holiday yet, really really unsure!!

Russell said...

Wow!!! I am IMPRESSED!!! Really!

I just got moved back to my little acreage and there is not a SINGLE flower here other than some
perennials (thank goodness for those!). My lilacs are just finishing, so you can see how cool the weather has been out here.

I really like marigolds and your post has inspired me to go to the store / garden center, get some nice yellow ones (like yours) and plant them!

Your yard looks beautiful - it really does! I really like the blue cornflowers. But all of your flowers look terrific.

Good luck with you back and remember my philosophy -- take the medicine!! I wear glasses and I can see better. If I can take some medicine to help with back pain, I will and do!!

Country Girl said...

I just returned from a morning walk with George and was thinking of you and wondering how your back was feeling. And so came in here to find out!

I think your plants are lovely, Leslie. And I like that you took the picture with your feet in it. I liked that I could see what you could see!

Although my knee has healed pretty well from the surgery, I think my arthritis is getting the better of me. The doc told me there was more there than he first suspected, and that sometimes when they go in for surgery, it 'stirs things up'. So both knees are giving me trouble now! Damnit! So when I garden, I take an Aleve. Or two. And I totally understand about only being able to do so much. At least we still are able to do that!!

Here's to better days, then. Well, pain free days, at least . . .

Cheers!

RiverPoet said...

Seriously beautiful gardens! Mine don't stand a chance against yours!

I hope that you are not hurting too much. I know from experience that the pills don't take it all away; they just make it a little more bearable.

Peace - D

Linda said...

Your garden is beautiful - I love the last picture. Hope you don't suffer too much from all that work.
Lovely garden!

Leslie: said...

Hi everyone! Well, I didn't have to take a pain pill even though I did have some aching. So I think I will just continue to do what I want in the garden. I want to finish weeding and thinning out that long part along the fence and plant more geraniums and marigolds. And I want to put in something like a shasta daisy by the rhodo near the patio. They'll make nice cut flowers for the summer. Got my hair done today so taking it easy. Maybe I'll do some more gardening tomorrow.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi Leslie..it depends on what perennials you like, what colour...what your soil is like, sun or shade...I had a look at your pictures, what I would suggest is that you need more height at the back..also put a lovely flowering climber or two so that they grow on the trellis. And that they flower at different times..a good garden centre would help you..you don;t have to buy there if they are expensive, just write the names down, and see if you can get them anywhere cheaper. Hope this is ok for you. x x