An Overgrown Corner

    After losing our cat in June, I was looking for something to do to get over the loneliness of the house without Isabella.  She was almost 13 and had chronic lung disease.  I was sitting on the deck watching the hummingbirds and chipmunks when my eyes were drawn to an absolute mess in the back corner of our yard.  I had started a few forsythia bushes and the birds had added a grape vine.  My wisteria had gotten out of hand, and oregano was everywhere!  I jumped in and started clearing it.

    At the end of the week-end it was a little better.  I saw a garden snake about 2 feet long and was glad he was on the way to my neighbors.  In the middle of all this is a small red maple tree that I decided would look nice as a focal point.  I am taking out a patio that we made with stones, bricks, and pavers and reusing them out here.  It has been hard working with this awful heat and humidity.  I feel like I'm living down south, not in the northeast!                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

    These are some of the old pavers and bricks I used to put around the tree.  I'm still digging out roots and stones from the ground.  I have no plan, so I make it up as I go.  I'm also trying to come up with a play area for four grandsons to amuse themselves.

    I decided to do a small sandbox for the older boys to play with their construction equipment.  Give two five year olds some sand and trucks and they're good for hours!  They were already playing in my flower beds, but now they have a place of their own.

   All I did was edge with brick, scoop out some dirt, and add a couple of bags of sand.  Not the best job, but I got alot of brownie points for this one.  The first thing they ask for when they get here is the bag of trucks.

    This is what happened about 3 weeks after I heavily cut this wisteria back.  It had barely flowered in the spring.  This is one plant that needs to be watched or it will take over everything.  If you cut it back a few times over the summer, you will get it to rebloom.

    And something for the youngest grandsons.  This has been in our cellar for about 10 years.  My husband has been saying he's going to throw it away for about 8 years now.  I told him our grandchildren would love this, even before they came along.  We put our youngest grandson, Tyler, on it and he didn't like it.  Lets hope Sam likes it when he sees it!

                                                                              

    Well, Eli sure looks like he's enjoying it!  I think this also was a hit, and now they have a place to go to when they visit.  Sure helps with the fighting!

    After lifting this thing out about 3 times, I finally got it leveled enough to keep the water from sitting in the seat.  I transplanted patches of a yellow sedum that I had out front.  I'm hoping it will take here with all the afternoon sun.  I put down rocks for a walkway in hopes that the kids will stay out of the flowers.  I can't believe this is me letting kids play in my gardens!     

    I will probably leave this till next spring.  It's very hard to find flowers at this time of the year.  I am looking for low growing perennials and alot of color from annuals.  Will check out catalogs during the winter.