Even more neglected!

Well I thought after my last post that it had been awhile between posts, but I think it was even longer in between this time.  This last summer, fall and winter have been pretty tough and quite busy making the blog absolutely last on the list of things to be able to do.  I had mentioned in some recent posts that my Dad had been sick with melanoma and sadly he passed away in September.  That was and has been very hard for my mom and sisters and the rest of our family.
Sweet Pea started high school (high school here starts in 10th grade) and the Littlest Gardener is now in first grade!!  Sweet Pea had a very busy season of playing both school soccer and rec soccer and the Littlest Gardener also played soccer and I coached her team.  Then Sweet Pea started driver's ed!  It's hard to believe she is old enough to drive now!
Three weeks ago I started the WSU extension Master Gardener program.  It has been so fun and I can't believe how much we learn each class.  The speakers have been so interesting and it is great being in a room with 80 something other people that love gardening as much as I do.
Our winter has been pretty mild (I better knock on wood).  We had a week of very cold weather and a light dusting of snow, but otherwise it hasn't been bad at all.
As soon as Christmas was over I couldn't wait to try and find some time to get outside and work in the garden.  It is so therapeutic and I always hope that everyone has found their own form of therapy to take their mind off things.  Whether it's baking or sewing or quilting or crafting or running or doing yoga.  I think it's so important to have something to do during hard times.

 The flowering currant I was concerned might have died from the lack of water and care last summer did die.  But, of course I've already replaced it with this Cryptomeria 'Black Dragon'.  I think it will actually look better than the currant did in this spot.

 During the freeze the pond froze so much that the pump quit working and I was really worried that both the pump and all the fish would be dead.  Luckily the pump still works and we only lost one fish.

 The rabbit hutch was moved to the other side of the rhododendron and that meant open planting space!!

 I put up another birdhouse and planted a rose called 'Gruss An Aachen'.  It is supposedly the first floribunda, bred in 1909.  I'm hoping it really is as pretty as it looks on the tag!  It's also supposed to do pretty well in shade.

  

A look back down the path.  The Sarcococcas on the left have such a great scent!  It is so worth planting one of these for something that smells and looks good in winter.

The chickens have been laying all winter and we have been keeping my mom and neighbors stocked on eggs!

As every experienced chicken owner told me, they do destroy your yard.  So these girls get to have free run on this side yard (that is until I net the blueberry bushes very soon).  Only one can fly over the fence, but she quickly gets lonesome and goes back to where her friends are.

Hellebores are starting to bloom.  They are another plant that I highly recommend.  They aren't cheap, but worth every penny in my book so you can have some color this time of year.

For Christmas Sweet Pea got me this cute frog spitter.  I have wanted one for a long time.  My husband and I used a barrel liner and stones we already had to make a mini pond.  I don't plan to put fish in here, it's much too shallow.

We have had two very nice trees die here, the drainage is not good enough for them, so instead a birdhouse went in!  Once the plants start to fill in I think it's going to look even better.

I got the vegetable beds cleaned out and am going to put some of my new vegetable knowledge to use here.  I am determined to have a productive garden.  Our master gardener speaker told us that copper tape does work to keep slugs out as long as they don't have a bridge over it.  I'm going to work on putting in traps to get the ones hiding and hopefully then I won't have them mowing all my seedlings down.

Some violas.

Another pretty Hellebore.

The only ornamental kale that didn't turn to mush after the freeze.

My friend brought my girls some fairy garden decorations and plants to make a garden in memory of their grandpa (who all the grandkids called Bompa).  Santa left a few more things in the Littlest Gardener's stocking and I think it looks very sweet.

Hopefully this wasn't too depressing of a blog post after months of not blogging.  Knowing that spring is around the corner has made me feel very hopeful for some better times coming up.  I'm very lucky to have such a good husband and kids and the greatest friends who gave me so much support during the down times. 
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Almost there...

For the last couple of days the sun has been out and you can just feel spring in the air.  I swear you can practically see things growing now.  I've been spending what free time I have out enjoying the yard, still getting it cleaned up, moving plants, starting some seeds. 

 I cleaned up some of the pond and cleaned out the filter a couple of days ago.  The fish have been swimming around and the pond plants have new growth.

 Now that we are getting close to our first spring without the huge pine tree I'm starting to get an idea of just how sunny it's going to be on the deck.  I can finally have a big pot of herbs growing on it, lots of flowers and best of all no sap or pine needles on any of them.  I'm pretty sure we'll have to invest in an umbrella too.

 You can really see the difference between the sun and shade here, but I know as the sun gets higher during the spring and summer that fence bed will get lots of sun too.  I've got chicken wire protecting newly emerging plants from the chickens who have a taste for fresh green leaves.

 Lots of bulbs popping up and the Flowering Currants are getting close to blooming.  The further away one may not do much this year since I had to move it during the tree removal.

 I planted this awesome Hellebore last winter.  It's from the Winter Jewels collection 'Cherry Blossom'.  It's become my new favorite.

 We've almost had our chickens a whole year, but this will be the first spring with them outside.  They definitely like to eat plants so I'm going to make sure I'm around to supervise what they are getting into.

 Hellebore 'Mardi Gras'

 Not the best picture, but I found this cute little rusty metal Nuthatch at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.  The show was probably my favorite one yet.  I didn't get a lot of pictures this year, but many blogs had great photos from it.

 I finally got pvc hoops up on the front raised beds.  We got this one planted this weekend and am crossing my fingers this gives us more veggies than we had last year.  The plastic will be held down with clips, just waiting for them to get here,  for now rocks are doing the trick.

 It looks so bare right now, but I've sprinkled lots of seeds around the fence and more will get planted when it warms up more.  At the top of the trellis is a little visitor.  Can you see her here?

 This cute little angel was bought at the garden show too.

 I would have to say Hellebores have been one of my best "investments".  No, they aren't too cheap, but they really are worth the money.  This one has lots of little babies around it that I can dig up and share.

 I love this combination in one of my wine barrel planters.  The Euphorbia will be blooming before too long.

I'm trying to be patient to start tomatoes and other vegetable and flower seeds this year.  I think I've been starting them way too early and then I get impatient having them in the house taking up space, and then plant them outside too early.  This year I'm waiting until the beginning of April (if I can hold out that long, it may be the end of March).

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

The plants don't mind the snow.

This has been a rather strange end of winter.  It seems to have gotten more and more winter like now that spring is almost here.  I think we've had more snow in the last week or so than we've had for the whole winter.  But, after many, many days of gloomy rain I really enjoyed seeing the snow.  At least it's pretty to look at and it wasn't enough to cause any problems getting around.  Today as I walked around the yard I noticed that the snow doesn't seem to be slowing any of the plants down, if anything most have really taken off growing.

 Helleobore Winter Jewels 'Cherry Blossom' has settled in really well and has lots of flowers.

 The fish were swimming around and enjoying the sun.  Hard to believe that a few hours before there was snow on the ground!

 Bulbs are popping up everywhere.  Tete-a-tetes are beginning to bloom and the squirrels haven't found these Crocuses yet.  That ball of roots is a Hosta looking for a new home.  It's even started growing!

 Spring is prime time in most of the backyard.  Things are really waking up.

 Ribes sanguineum flowerbuds are so close to opening.

 Two falls ago I planted 3 Fritillaria bulbs.  I was excited to see how many are coming up this year.

 Hellebore 'Mardi Gras Double' surrounded by wood sorrel and a Western Sword Fern.

 I found Epimedium 'Elfin Pink' blooming already!

 The path garden lit up by the sun.

And a walk out to the front yard reminds you that it did really snow last night.  But even out there the plants seem happy and ready for spring.

The weather this winter reminds me of the one we had a few years ago which was followed by a record breaking hot summer.  Either way, the plants don't seem bothered by it and really it is so pretty it's hard complain when it's followed by blue skies and sun.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

A miracle in my garden...

I'm afraid to get too excited about what I found out in the garden the other day.  There are certain plants I've tried and tried and had little success with.  There is one especially that I have longed to have growing in my garden.  And now, I see that there is a good chance it will happen this year.

Hellebore 'Mardi Gras Double",  not the miracle, these are very easy to grow luckily.

I wanted to show the pretty speckled inside.

Hellebore Winter Jewels 'Cherry Blossom', probably missed the peak day by a day or two.  Somethings been chewing on it, not sure who to blame.

Hellebore - Christmas Rose type.

No this Pulmonaria isn't the miracle, although the flower surprised me today!  These bloom for months once they get started.

A happy surprise to find the Pieris in the container starting to bloom, but not really a miracle.

This might be second on the list of miracles.  The pinecone mulch seems to have prevented the squirrels from digging up the tulip bulbs.

Here is my miracle... a Delphinium is returning and the slugs haven't completely decimated it yet.  There are two that I planted last summer but since I've never had luck with them returning or being completely chewed up by slugs I sort of thought of them as an annual.   These are the one flower that I wish I could have a large stand of like I see in English cottage garden pictures.  I have sprinkled a pet and wildlife safe slug bait around them and will be guarding them them for the rest of the spring.  I will be keeping my fingers crossed that they will be blooming in June.

Any miracles occurring in your garden or any that you hope will this spring?

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Another "Spring" day.

We've been enjoying the most beautiful weather here lately.  It's been at least in the upper 50's and even made it up and over 60 degrees a couple of times over the last 4 or 5 days.  Of course that meant spending lots of times outside.  I've had a chance to start a project I thought I wouldn't get to until March and am now sore from all the work I've gotten done.  I forgot how achy I get the first couple of times after really getting down and doing work.  Lifting, carrying and digging things outside after not doing much for a few months is tough on my body, but it does help me feel less guilty when my lunch ends up being Doritos or a Snickers bar.

On the far side of the pond the ground had really gotten low.  This whole part of our backyard is on a gentle slope and after months and years of rain the ground starts to wash away.  It made planting anything there difficult because it was lower than the pond edge.

I moved in a few plants from other parts of the garden and a few Primroses and Violas for some instant gratification.

I was walking around my favorite nursery trying to decide how to spend the points I'd earned over the last year and spotted this Hellebore.  It hadn't even been unloaded yet but I knew that's what I wanted to use my points on.  It is Hellebore Winter Jewels 'Cherry Blossom'.  It's not quite all the way opened but I couldn't wait any longer to post a picture.  I added it to the new bed by the pond.

A surprise Snowdrop by the pond.  Did I plant that?  I don't remember doing it.  I love these types of surprises.

I can't wait to see these Crocuses, that I planted last fall, all the way open.  They seemed to have grown overnight!

Crossing my fingers that this will be the year the variegated Rhododendron blooms.  This is it's third year and no blooms so far.  It's a good thing I like it for it's foliage or I'm not sure I would be patient for much longer.

Ribes sanguineum 'King Edward VII' is really putting on new growth.  If you want a flowering currant that grows quickly, this is the one to plant.  It has caught up to my other Pink Flowering Currant in just 2 years.

I found the first Hellebore blooming today!  This was a seedling from a larger plant.  The rest aren't much further away from blooming.

My husband took a couple of days off (a very rare thing) and how lucky that it was at the same time as the nice weather.  We ended up getting compost to mix in the front raise beds.  It looks and smells so good out there.  I LOVE the smell of fresh compost.  Now all I need to do is get some seeds started.

From the looks of the forecast this is probably the last day of our "fake spring" and we'll be going back to our usual cooler and wet weather, but I can always hope for just one more day.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.