Spring Cleaning

This was my yard a few days ago.  This is the third day of sunshine but only the first day to be    warm.  Today was a day made for working in the yard.  I put sunscreen on my face, put my jeans on and went out side.  There are things you will need to take out side with you.  Gloves, I cannot stand to get dirt under my nails.  A good pair of clippers to cut dead flowers, by this time my Hyacinths blooms had fallen off.  Do not let the seeds form this takes the strength from  next year's  blooms, leave the leaves alone until they start to die.  They are making next years blooms.  Wear a hat and sunscreen.

As you can see, I have not done this one yet.  I have some to plant in this one also.  Before I go to nurseries I have to make a list.

I cleaned away the pine straw so I could check which Gerber Daisies I would have to replace.  I may have to buy one or two pink ones.

  You can see I have not clean up good.  Still have pine cones in the bed and pine needles on the flowers, however I will get there.

Yellow ones seem to be the toughest.  do not think I will have to buy of these at all.

 I may have to buy some pink ones.  Pink looks tender.

I pull up a lot of spring grass from the cracks of our walk, some of the blocks came up with the grass.

As you can see I have a lot to go.

I have already filled a five gallon bucket full and almost got this two gallon one full.  When I get through we will mop the cracks with weed killer.
 That was just from the walk.  I stopped counting buckets.

 This is the beginning of bed A.  This is the biggest bed I have. It is at its widest nearly ten feet and about sixty feet long.  A lot of grass was in this bed.  You can see my broom at the top of the picture.   I use this broom to sweep the leaves out  of the flower bed.  The garden broom hangs up on the perennials, I have pulled some up.  You can sweep the leaves  much faster, try it next time.

You can see all those leaves and  lots of grass. 

I have a lot of Day lilies in this bed, I read they are the best campanions for roses.  They hide the ugly trunks of the roses.  And if you have trouble getting something to grow in a part of your flower garden just plant grow Day lilies, they grow just about any where.  Now they have rebloomers.  I have some special ones coming from Smokey's Day lily farm.  Check it out.

                 

I quit just about here.  The Bermuda grass got so bad, I could no more.  Carrel brought over his weed killer and mop.  There is still some more, we will use a spray and a milk jug.  I will show you what we do. 

Carrel has weed killer in the bucket and he is using a sponge  mop to kill the grass around the out side of the beds.

  
I have started putting down the newspaper here.

 Carrel helped me with the newspaper and put down the pine straw.

Our roses have begun to bloom, in another week they will all be in full bloom.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog page and maybe learned something.  Thank you for watching my garden grow and bloom, and you will grow one also.  Happy gardening from Carrel and I, Juanita
 

Tyler Texas

We left Charlotte's Saturday  and drove to Carrel's son, Johnnie's house in Tyler Texas.  This is his wife, Janelle, she is a Dr. of pharmacy.  Janelle works at a clinic in Tyler.  Johnnie is over the lunch room at Whitehall school.  The dog in the picture is Bella.  The boy is Emerson a very active and smart young man.  Johnnie and Janelle are  teaching them about God and to be very polite.  We think they are doing a wonderful job. 

This young lady is Jessica Carrel.  Carrel is a family name handed down through the generations.  Carrel has always been a boys name.  Johnnie and Janelle changed that to a girl.  This may be the end of this name you never know what the future generations will do.  I like the idea of handing down a name for generation.

 
This neighborhood does not have many regular flower beds the yards are more formal than mine and Charlotte's.  Johnnie   does have a rose tree and some bulbs but they were not in bloom when I was there.  The Iris on the left was blooming in my yard when I returned. It is still blooming.  Below is what I had blooming when I returned home.  I am always glad to get home.

My camellias were still blooming when I returned.  One is still blooming.

The Lavender had begun to bloom.

This is a bulb that comes up every year in Carrel large bed.

 This is the inside of the white Iris.  I really like the inside when they open enough for me to get a good view.

 Carrels Play Boy rose.













Hope you have enjoyed reading this blog page.  Thank you for watching my garden grow and bloom and  we hope you will grow one of your own.  Happy gardening to you from Carrel and I, Juanita.

On the Road Again

We are headed to Shreveport, La., I go there every spring to buy flowers.  There are three or four nurseries I always visit.  I found what I went after at Garrison's Nurseries, Mystic Blue Spires, Salvia.  However they only had seven, these only planted one side of my bed.

I found these beautiful Iris in Charlotte's yard.  Most of you readers are aware that Charlotte is my daughter.  This Iris is really a pretty purple and white.

Charlotte and I both plant Iris in our flower beds along with our roses and other flower pants.  My Mother, also a flower lover, planted everything together.  Charlotte,s beds drain better than mine.  She still has most of what she bought, a lot of mine died.  Iris can not take a lot of water.  I walked around Charlotte,s yard and took lots of pictures.

  Charlotte Ann likes a lot of pots sitting around in her yard.  They really look wonderful, however she has someone other than her husband, Don, taking care of her mowing.  I can not inconvenience Carrel like this.  I put mine in a flower bed or where grass does not grow, not suppose to anyway.  However Mother Naqture and I do not agree on that.

 Charlotte has lots of color close to her house, Pansies, Tulips,and Gerber Daisies.

 These Gerber daisies were in a pot, that looks like a log, along with creeping Jenny.

   Charlotte is looking at the goats.  I did not take a picture of the twin goats so I will have to steal one.  This is a Snowball tree  Charlotte and I bought one at the same time. My tree was  was left behind in Jonesboro, La. 

                        
This is the bloom from the  Snowball tree.

This is Charlotte's Cherry Tree.  I can see why people travel a long ways to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C..  Wish I was wealthy enough to make the trip.  It would be worth it.  I would have to go by myself Carrel is not big on traveling.

Cherry blooms, the tree was almost through blooming.

This hen looks like one from outer space.  She will not lay her eggs in a nest, where ever this thing walks, she just drops an egg.  Charlotte took her to a school so the Kindergartener class could see them.  While Charlotte was handing this bird to a little child,  the  hen dropped an egg. Of course it  broke on.  The children in that class can tell you where eggs come from.

   These  are the cutest baby ducks.  Mama is white Daddy is black and white.  All the babies are going to be black and white.  Mama and Daddy get upset if you mess with babies.

This is the bed on the right side of the drive as you drive into Charlotte yard.  I did not take pictures of the very back flower bed, we had company come up, so I took pictures of the flowers of my family.

I have never seen anyone raise a flower in concrete, but Charlotte can.  Oh my goodness this is Rose and what a rose.

This tree Charlotte bought is Fa., I was with her.  Don has to cover it up every winter because it can not take the cold up there.  They have Christmas lights  wrapped around it to keep it warm.

These two little flowers belong to Matt and Tafta Rogers.  I was with her when the older one, Audry, was born.  The blond curly head is Ava.  These two are so sweet and I think both are beautiful.

Rose and the hen joined in the picture.

Now Cowboy Connor joins us.  The rock where they are standing, Charlotte dug up the dirt and placed those rocks to make a small patio.  That was a lot of work.

These two lovely flowers,  two Granddaughters on the left is Bridget, my first Grandchild, on the right is Tafta,  Bridget is the Mother of Rose and Conner.  Bridget is Charlotte,s Daughter and Tafter is Debbie's only Daughter.

This is Matt and Tafta Rogers, they will be having a boy in June.  They are the parents of the lovely little girls, Audry and Ava.
















This is new for me to write about another garden besides mine,  however I will be giving up dates when I go to Shreveport,La.  I hope you have enjoyed this blog page  about Charlotte,s garden and hope it will inspire you to grow one of your own.  Charlotte does not have a Carrel to do the heavy work for her.  She tillers and lifts the heavy dirt all by herself.  I am well please with her.   Happy gardening  to you from Charlotte, Carrel and I, Juanita.