Losing an old washtub..

I seem to remember having an old wash tub in this corner..but where did it go? Do you think it is under all that coleus and sweet potato vine?? Seriously, can you believe the old tub has grown this much? Do ya think I need to do some trimming? Oh yeah..
I complain daily about the heat and what it is doing to most of my plants-but then I stop and notice how some things, like these plants, are holding up. I do have to water this old tub once a day, but that is not a problem if I can keep the plants happy. This corner is pretty shady-well, until late afternoon. Then it gets some HOT west sun for a while. Guess that is why I am so surprised the old wash tub plants have survived. I can't tell you if this is a "sun coleus" as I just buy all kinds of coleus in spring and plant them based on color, but my guess is that it is one of the types that takes heat better than others.

One more plant that is enduring our summer just fine is Black Foot Daisy. I have a love/hate relationship with these plants as I think they can be hard to grown. Reason: you have to ignore them, and I want to mother them. However, for these hot, dry summers they are perfect. Just let them be, don't water but a small bit, and they will reward you with lots of honey scented blooms.

Now I am headed inside to think about what kind of Kale to plant in the old washtub in fall!
Have a great week everyone--stay cool!

Wordless Wednesday - I love my old washtub!

French Drains, Termites, a Wheelbarrow and a Washtub

Work on the french drain has started. After clearing the area, we took string and tried to lay out the route the drain would take. It will wind through this back bed, connecting with an existing drain, then come up toward the other side of the yard. It will be a long drain, but hopefully will solve our drainage problems. The next step was to start digging. Wouldn't you know, poor hubby immediately ran into problems.
Remember, we had 2 big trees in back. The trees are gone, but they left huge roots. Hubby and youngest son spent all afternoon last Sunday trying to axe out some of the roots. It was a tough job! Hubby worked every evening last week and was able to finally get the big root out.
Hubby then dug a trench to tie in to the existing drain. This was not an easy task. It took him just about all afternoon on Saturday.
Today we laid the first drain pipe. We put rocks on top of the drain, then will cover it with no float mulch. After this was done, hubby started digging more of the trench. And of course, he ran into more roots! This has been a back breaking job and is going to take quite a while to finish. I know we will be delighted to have our drainage problems solved, but it has been a pretty rough weekend for us (especially for my wonderful husband!)
As luck would have it, we encount-
ered another problem last week--we found out we have termites! Yuk, eeeew, eek! We are getting our house treated on Thursday. They will need to dig about a 3 inch trench around the entire house..so, I spend part of this afternoon transplanting the flowers from this side flower bed. They were up against the house and would be removed when the trench was dug. This bed is full of rudbeckia and daisies, plus phlox and a hollyhock full of buds. Gosh I hope they are careful with my plants.

Rough weekend, but I found a couple of nice things to see in the garden. I think the spring wheel-

barrow is looking really pretty right now. The bunny that lives among all those flowers tells me he is pretty happy surrounded by all the beauty in the old wheelbarrow.

And I am so happy with the coleus in the old washtub! And the cosmos seeds are really growing too. I bet they will be blooming before too long.

Whew, it has sure been a tiring weekend. My hands hurt, my back hurts, and I have a very tired husband! It seems like there is always something to be done in the yard. Even in a small backyard like we have, there is one project after another. But, you know what? I love it. I love the feel of dirt on my hands and the excitement of things to come. I love that a gardener's job is never done!

"A gard'ner's work is never at an end; it begins with the year, and continues to the next."

John Evelyn

Cedar Post and an old Wash Tub....

As you might remember from a couple of years ago, we had to do something to protect the goldfish in our pond from the blue heron that fly over our yard. We never had a problem until we took trees down as the heron probably couldn't see the pond from the sky. As soon as the first tree came down, I lost all but 2 fish to a heron visit. The only thing we knew to do was put up green metal stakes with fishing line around them. I hated that look so much! Cindy, at My Corner of Katy, told me what I was hating was the metal stakes. She told me to find something more rustic as that is the look I really like in my garden.
I have tried to come up with an idea ever since Cindy put that bee in my bonnet..and found the perfect thing on our trip to the Hill Country in March. We stopped by a fence company and bought small cedar post. I hope you can see them in the picture. They are just what I have been looking for. Thanks so much Cindy for starting me thinking!
And remember the old wash tub we found on that same trip? It now has a home in the bed behind the pond. I planted it with a really big coleus, a few small coleus, and a sweet potato vine. That lime green vine really compliments the colors of the coleus. I went to Canton a few weeks ago and found the old window and the "Seeds" sign. Of course, I needed to plant some seeds, so I planted cosmos seeds all over the area. Can you see them? They were coming up in 3 days!
I am so pleased with the look. It's that old time in the garden memory I am always trying to achieve. Wish I had a clothes line with an old quilt hanging on it...hum....