Yesterday was a marathon gardening day bc the better part of this afternoon was spent at the eye doc with Mom. I drove her home bc they did a procedure on the right eye. Next Thursday they'll do the left eye.
Anyway, yesterday I worked the soil in the garden that transitions from the kennel to the forbidden garden, and it expanded as I planned it out 
So, thinking I had a second bag of garden soil to mix in with the clay soil, I accidentally dumped a bag of triple shred mulch in there. 
I was really too lazy to scoop it in to the wheelbarrow to save it for top dressing, so I figured mixing it in will aerate the soil better than adding in garden soil, so I threw caution to the wind, mixed it in, and planted my heart out. 
Some DL's might move around after taking a closer look at the layout on paper, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied so far. 
I still have 4 DL's that overwintered in the veggie garden. I'm determined to plant them elsewhere so I can grow veggies this year.
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Thanks I'm excited! Can't wait to see everybody's gardens in bloom! 
Still working on the forbidden garden on paper. It's tough when it's not to scale, but I've written down the measurements for reference. Can't find my graph paper. I have to say that my breakthrough inspiration came when we were at Mom's the other day, and her holly caught my eye and it's gorgeous!! So, holly meets my requirements for this garden. Evergreen, dense, tall (some varieties more than others) protection for the birds, fruit for the birds in Winter, and a decent yet small enough spread that won't take up the entire yard width. Our yard is only 42 feet wide, so choosing plant sizes is a challenge. The holly I'll get is the 'Nellie Stevens' variety, and they're self pollinating. I'll get three, and they'll be planted in the back 18 feet(ish), to (eventually ) block the worst eyesores across the alley, when sitting on the patio. Thank heavens for the Evergreen Nursery, online! https://www.evergreenplantnurs... Their evergreens are 12 to 18 inch seedlings, so if one is willing to wait patiently for full growth, you can't beat their prices!! They provide the growth rate info in their plant descriptions. I purchased my Arborvitae from them, and after 9 years, they've grown in to gorgeous plants. A couple are smaller bc they haven't been growing in full sun, but they will join the one in the full sun location this year. I made sure to leave plenty of room for the new daylilies and the daylilies that are moving out of the veggie garden!
Things are starting to come together for this garden. After mowing a couple times, Sparky hasn't said anything about the new grass pathway, that I roughed out the shape with bricks, and it will cut through this garden, so that might be a good sign! 
This pathway will remain as grass, for his sake, bc he had issues with being "cut off" to the yard behind the garden, even though I was going to have a brick or gravel pathway there. I think it seems more definitive in his mind to leave it as grass so the mower can pass through. I think this solution might keep a peaceful marriage. 
So, I'll keep grinding the cogwheels in my head, rusty as they are.
It was drizzly on Thursday, so I didn't do anything, except collect markers for their labelling upgrade. I have the labels all printed out. Now I just need to prepare the markers with a paint pen before attaching the new labels.
I've had the following transplants weighing on my mind, so I put my mind to rest on Wednesday. I transplanted the yellow Adam's Needle from the East side family garden, by the garage, to beside the west half wall that's next to the front porch steps. I FINALLY found something to fill that area nicely without spreading roots, and to hide the corner nicely from all angles. That corner has been nothing but an eyesore ever since I had to remove our inherited Iris from there, years and years ago. The iris died off bc that space has barriers on all four sides, and it's not large, so once the iris filled it up, there was nowhere else for the corms to spread. The Iris was so pretty though. 
Anyway, the Adam's Needle is evergreen, which makes me even more happy!! It will certainly demand attention for guests and passerby alike! I then transplanted a hydrangea from the north side of the family garden to the east side of the family garden (the former location of the Adam's Needle) The hydrangea will be a nice late season feature plant to offset the daylilies. The Adam's Needle did brighten up that area, but it didn't have that wow factor bc of how low it is to the ground, and blooming daylilies overwhelmed it, making it look like there was just a gaping hole there. I was hoping it would bloom, but no such luck. 
I think it's bc it only got morning sun, which I knew was a gamble when I planted it there. 
It matured a nicely, but that's it. It's new location will provide full sun, and hopefully it will bloom this year! 🤞🤞 Once both plants were planted, I mulched heavily with a thick layer of dead leaves.
The COVID-19 lockdown is getting really old and like everyone else, across the US of A, I've got cabin fever but thankfully I can play in the gardens!! Many across the country are getting anxious and staging protests at their state capitals to get back to work. It's completely understandable from both viewpoints. They want to work, but the President and Governor's want to make careful and informed decisions to protect the health of us citizens. BUT, as Tucker Carlson pointed out last evening, state governor's are getting power hungry, and in these unprecedented times, us citizens, as a whole, are the victims of one great big experiment. I can tend to agree, but that's as political as I'll be and no more than I'll accept, here in my NGA blog.
After many a previous weeks of digging and preparing daylilies for early shipment for three orders from my sale, including one very cold day, of which it took me four hours to warm up inside, even though I was wearing three layers of clothing and under two blankets, the weather on Monday, April 20th was absolutely gorgeous, and I FINALLY had time to do other things in the yard and gardens! First up was cutting down the ornamental grasses. I also cut the edge of the new forbidden garden pathway extension that's closer to the kennel and removed sod that remained inside and under the bricks of that garden. I'm starting to build the forbidden garden despite Sparky's objections. 
I'm planning to rearrange the anchor plantings of the forbidden garden bc Sparky said he feels a bit claustrophobic with (I think) the taller, wider plantings located more toward the house, starting at like 10 feet away from the kennel. The kennel itself gives a closed in feeling when on the patio, bc it's 6 feet high, so it's not helping matters. I want nothing more than to get rid of that darn kennel and build a deck in it's place!! Once it's replaced by a deck, it will feel more open on the patio. The current anchor plantings are the start of a friendly living fence border. The current placement of the Zebra Grass, Maiden Grass, and Arborvitae are the "back" of the border, when facing it head on, but I get what he's saying, as I evaluate from the vantage point of the patio. This is a hard lesson in the physical feeling of landscape design, as human beings. It just isn't working in the current arrangement bc most of the time this border is viewed from the patio, not straight on, so the closer plantings should be skinnier, when the goal is taller plants for privacy, and further away, as taller plants, they should get wider in my particular application. This takes a lot of thought for a friendly, private living fence that's meant to block our view to the neighbor and visa-versa. I can't move the wider Zebra Grass toward the tree bc it would not get enough sunlight, so most likely it will move to the back corner and perhaps further up our side of the nice neighbor's side of the yard. These locations should allow 4-6 hours of sunlight. Finding taller, wider shrubs or evergreens, that thrive in part to full shade has been most difficult.
This will be a challenge between Sparky and I, in regards to vehicle accessibility to the back side of the property and adding more gardens (although small) but I think it's a reasonable solution, and if he kvetches, he'll just have to live with it.
I will also move the two Arborvitae that are closer to the back tree, up to join the other one, in a row. They will also get more adequate sunlight there, and with this planned placement, they will block the view to our patio from Jerkwaad's gap in the fence by his garage. The Arborvitae are slimmer than the Zebra Grass but still serve the privacy factor, and with plantings of shorter perennials and daylilies, it will trick the eye in to feeling less claustrophobic. (more room for daylilies!! ) The Maiden Grass will remain in it's current location bc it does a great job of blocking views from both Jerkwaad's driveway and the nosey neighbor's front porch across the street.
A couple weeks ago, I went all willy nilly and schetched up a fantasy living fence, including elevations, so I can compromise between fantasy and reality. I'm not imaginative/creative with plant choices and placement at all, so this is quite the challenge that I really don't have the patience for. 
We'll see how it goes!!
Can't sleep tonight, so I figured it's a good time to blog. 
Perhaps I'll bore myself to sleep with my life in written word.
I've had to pot up the new DL's that have come in the mail. Why? Bc my DH is stubborn! 
I have 7 in pots, 5 standing by to be potted, and two more coming later this month. What am I going to do? I don't have a holding bed and they're under foot bc the best place for them is on the patio, close to the garage and patio table. This is not good. I refuse to keep them in pots for the entire growing season, waiting for Sparky to compromise, bc it's not going to happen. 
So I'll have to straight up tell him that I need a holding bed, so why not put in the new garden?
Please pray for us that this won't get ugly, bc round 2 is about to begin. 
🙏🙏🙏
