~ waiting for the beauty shot...

So now we all know that mr. groundhog is not as reliable as he promotes himself to be.  It is the second half of April, and I am waiting for lots of things to "spring" in my garden.  In the meantime, the "time management" team here has done some rearranging in the schedules, so, the furniture refinishing project is on the back burner, and, the outdoor projects are building up steam.

I do love to show you the "beauty shot" -- but since the slow-to-springtime transition is delaying that from happening, I will instead give you a little "behind the scenes" peeks.  Take note, this was inspired by a suggestion from a family friend this past weekend.  She simply commented that there has been a lull in myhappybluebird blogging.  While I didn't even know that this person read my blog, it made me realize that even if my readers are "behind the scenes" and don't comment -- they are still there -- waiting -- maybe for the beauty shot -- maybe not... :-)

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Yesterday, we adopted TWO trees!  The wheelbarrow is holding an upright japanese maple.  Mr. Gnome is standing in a bucket holding a kwanzan cherry.  



My tree planting man (a.k.a. Rick) didn't have time to put them in the ground yesterday, so they are currently sitting here, in the backyard, behind the garage, until this weekend.  That huge shrubbery next to them is peanut butter's lavender (this is not a variety of lavender -- it is named after my sister's puppy).  We brought this plant from our garden in NY -- and the day we planted it, my sister adopted a puppy, named him peanut butter, and brought him to our house right afterward.  She was holding him and when she put him down he happily jumped into this lavendar plant -- so I had to bring it when we moved to NJ because of the cute memory attached to it :-)  I think it's 11 or 12 years old by now?  Not sure, I'll have to ask Old Grandpa Peanut Butter how old he is next time I see him.

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This is where the trees will live...



The circle of dirt is where our dogwood tree lived before tragedy struck it last year.  The light green hose is outlining where grass will be removed to plant the kwanzan cherry tree.  This is not the proper view of what we are doing in this area -- I am just showing the process of the relandscaping.  For me, landscaping is alot of stepping back and looking at an area from different angles and even in different seasons.  It has taken me a long time to figure out what to do on this side of the house -- because it is a corner property.  Technically, there are two front yards, or focal areas, on a corner property -- so it is ALOT of work -- but I really do enjoy it.  Of course, it helps to have your own -- tree planting, flower planting, lawn mowing, water sprinkler installing -- man!

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Okay, I am done with my coffee...so I'm off... I need to dig up some stone crop, pull some weeds, and snip some shrubbery -- getting ready for the beauty shot takes alot of prep work!