Lately

Hey everybody!

On Saturday I worked my booty off in the yard. I trimmed and fertilized my roses, which now look lovely. I watered EVERYTHING in the yard. I also cut down all the suckers that popped up everywhere seemingly overnight. Now that I have typed out everything I accomplished, I feel as if I hardly accomplished anything...

Oh well, because I know I did a lot. I did so much in fact, that it took me the entire day to finish. Fertilizing and trimming roses is not an easy task. You have to trim all dead flowers and branches, then place measured amount of fertilizer around the roots, then scratch it into the dirt, then water. It takes quite a bit of time. Especially when  you have a toddler that is trying to 'help.'

I ended up planting some Pansy seeds in the flower beds next to my carport. This flower bed only receives morning sun for a few hours. I thought this would be a good place for pansy's as they do not prosper in full sun. We will see how it goes..  The hydrangea that is planted in this spot is doing wonderfully. I will have to purchase more next year.

Pansy seeds are so small!

There are a few rose bushes in my yard that I am in love with. One of them is a coral color that is low maintenance. I LOVE low maintenance. I also love the color coral. It is my favorite. I love that I have more than one rose bush in my yard that is of a coral hue. It makes me a very happy rose bush owner.

This rose comes from a bush next to my carport. The last few years that I have lived here it has only had 1 bud every summer. It is thriving this year. It is not big because it is still recovering, but it is growing back wonderfully.

I do not know if I have told my reader this previously but all the landscaping in our yard is not our work, or our choice. Our home has been in my husbands family since before he was born. His Mother and Father bought it and they did all the landscaping. All of our rose bushes, trees, shrubs, etc. have been here for years. With the exception of a few trees and a rose bush that my husband and I planted.

Over the years a few things have died, a few things have come back from near death, and a few things have been born. Some or all of it, may or may not have been our fault :) I know we have both learned quite a bit over the last 5 years about taking care of our yard, but I am sure the learning process is not over.

On another note, I would like to share a picture of one of my favorite flowers. A petunia. I love petunias because they are so easy to take care of! They are pretty and low maintenance, which by now we know is my favorite trait in a plant.

I keep petunias in my window boxes every summer. The front of my house has constant full sun so I have to make sure whatever is planted up there can handle the heat. Even though I live in NE AZ it still tends to get very hot here. Zinnias and petunias are flowers I have had the best luck with in the hotter areas of my yard.