Yard Doctor, Checking in

Wow, I don't really know where May went. OK, I guess I do. A few special events kept us busy and not-blogging, but here and there, we've still managed to do quite a few small projects (and lay the groundwork for some big projects). Before it turns into summer and our yard turns into a singed and dead mess of hay, I wanted to let you know how good it's looking. Those of you following this blog for a while know that we have tried year after year to improve our grass and make our garden look respectable (each of those words is a link to a different post on the topic, so even if you aren't a regular reader you should have a idea by now how much we talk about this issue). And while it's far from done, I'd say this year we definitely turned a corner.

We took your advice in this post to act now and stop the pretty flowery weeds from taking over. D spread weed and feed all over the front and back lawns to clear them out. We do still have weeds and clover, but it looks a little better. We'll do it again in two months like the instructions say. The grass density isn't perfect, but it is a lot thicker than it used to be and a lot happier looking.

We decided after this post that the slacker lilac bushes in the middle of the row had to come out - or at least part of them did. D hacked at the worst of the two and got most of it out of the ground, leaving one section that was still blooming (we'll see how that goes next year). In it's place, we moved the small healthy guy that was temporarily living among the butterfly bushes, so now all the lilacs are back in one place.

We also bought a bunch of cheap additions at Lowes and a recent local market run- a few new azalea bushes to fill in between our sickly looking ones, some salvia (we've planted it from bare root a few times before and it never seems to come up, so maybe planting a full, living bundle will help), and some Russian sage (again, we have some planted already but it's not really doing anything).

Other updates - the thyme at the front of house has really taken off, the clematis got so big that I had to tie it to the lamppost to remind it which direction it needs to grow in (up, not out), and our alliums bloomed (and then died).

The bumble bees seem to really like the pink flowers on our spirea (and hopefully on our butterfly bush once they start to flower)

Next up, our hydrangeas are waking up and hopefully our black-eyed Susans will grow this year. We just weeded and re-mulched so right now, everything is looking pretty happy. We have some growths that don't exactly look like weeds but are as-yet unidentified. I didn't pull them up so maybe they'll turn into something too. But it's definitely fuller and happier, even in this sort of in-between stage after the irises, hyacinths, lilacs, and camellias have lots their blooms and it's mostly just green:

And a bit off-topic: someone in our neighborhood has one of these - any idea what it is (google image search isn't working)? The flowers just finally fell off last week in a storm but it was spectacular in bright fiery yellows and orange for at least a month before that.