New flower beds

With the beautiful weather we've had the past few days and the chance of a good watering for the plants tomorrow, I was scurrying around today to get a new flower bed planned and somewhat executed.

Unfortunately, when Rock was pulling out the cotoneaster by the roots with a rope tied around the hitch on his car, I was inside talking on the phone and so missed a rare opportunity for interesting photos. Suffice it to say, the cotoneaster stopped the Buick in its tracks and the rope snapped. Luckily, it had pulled up somewhat by that time.

If you are ever tempted to plant this shrub, be forewarned, it digs in and hangs on and spreads all on its own. We're already finding 'mini me's' in random spots.

Also unfortunate is that Rock doesn't take a lot of photos unless I hand him the camera and say, 'Take a picture of me doing this,' (whatever 'this' might be) so there are no photos to be had of me running the cultivator this morning prepping the new bed. Also no pix of me edging the whole thing, either. You'll just have to wonder at what it must have looked like!

If you've been here before, you know this is the bed right by the entry stairs. It's been getting a bit overgrown and the cotoneaster is really good for catching leaves and random McD's wrappers that get tossed from cars, so it really needed to go.

Other diggings and plantings have been happening as well. Outside the Bowdoin's back window, I planted a small bed with a shrub whose name I do not know (help appreciated when you see it) and some hostas. We moved the red dogwood away from the house and placed it in a new bed at the end of the wall where the hostas grow. And, we moved another one of those name-not-known shrubs away from the house and put it in the new bed above. (More pix are coming when the plants are in and the mulch is down.)

Where those 2 shrubs were, I hope to get in some herbs this year. It's a great, sunny location so they should take off.

OK, one last pic- our tulips which delight me by returning every year (sometimes not where I thought they would as the moles & voles move them around).