The battle between me and the wisteria earns me well deserved beer!

After finishing up some buttons this morning I struggled with the wisteria on my porch. there are three wisteria plants but only one of them blooms. Maybe the other two don’t get enough sunlight? Who know. The problem is that they completely dominate my porch. So, I took some string and some clippers and show it! It went from this:

to this:

I also swept the sidwalk of the needles that our cedar tree constantly drops and finally gave up for the day at about the time Paul got up. My arms are covered in scratches that make me look like a wrestled a cat  but my yard looks great!

After that we took a walk down to Mississippi, shared a pitcher of Amnesia’s Copecetic IPA and stopped by Bridgetown Beerhouse, or favorite bottleshop in Portland. It is always a struggle on Mississippi of whether to spend our money there or around the corner at Mississippi Records. Often time the beer shop wins out.

Advertisement

Garden show and tell

The garden is pretty much in full bloom and I’m loving it. We had a cold and wet spring that kept me out of the yard but it seems like it has paid off. Let’s no confuse me with an actual gardener. I do not coddle plants or claim to know all about plants.. If they don’t grow well in my yard, they don’t stay in my yard. Fortunately, a lot of stuff does grow well in my yard. Sometimes I say it is because I have garden faeries. Who knows, maybe I do. I have plants that move in the winter, plants grow that I never put there and I also find random treasures in my yard.

I have spent the past two days working on things. Yesterday I turned the veggie garden, added compost, mixed it all together and planted some plants and seeds. Today listened to Fifth Hour Hero on my ipod and pulled out all my grass and started putting down some landscape fabric to keep the stupid grass out. I have also been amusing myself with the two hummingbirds that hang around…and so have the cats. I saw a 3rd once but haven’t seen it again. The two that hang around are pretty aggressive and even chase off other birds bigger than they are.

Irises on my fence line

yellow iris

Part of my veggie garden that backs up to the irises. That's an old bike frame and some old artichoke stalks for the climbing veggies to grow on.

Hummingbird garden in May

I live on a corner lot and I often find bottles, cans, trash and drug baggies in our plants. This time I found a radio shaped like a harp and two stained glass lawn decorations. I figured the garden faeries left them and I put them in the hummingbird garden.

The other lawn ornament and some delphinium that's about to burst!

Butterfly on a plant.

My other Columbine plant.

Borage flowers

One of the hummingbirds sitting on a fence. Did you know hummingbird eggs are the size of a tic tac?

they are also really difficult to take pictures of.

I found potatoes growing in my compost! So now they are growing in my garden.

The front of my house still needs work. The wisteria is starting to bloom and take over my porch. Only 1 of the three wisteria plants actually flowers so I'm trying to grow it longer so it covers the other ones. It still needs to be tied up better. This side of the house only gets morning sun so when it is super nice out I'd rather not work in the shade.

wisteria. Purple is my favorite color and these flowers always make me happy.

OJ the jungle cat who has been very good about not chasing the hummingbirds even though he keeps drinking out of te bird bath!

Jackie being gnerally aloof. They are pretty funny and like to hang out with me while I work in the yard. I have a theory that they think they are protecting me or something.

and me. This was a mid work shoot. By then end of both days I had dirt all over my face.

I guess that’s about it for my yard. The love in a mist and foxgloves should be blooming soon so I’ll post more when things change a bit and maybe when I clean up the front of my house a bit more. I planted some nasturtiums in long planters across the front to cover the dead zone in front of the porch. I have had years of smoker housemates who have ashed in the really shady area where nothing will grow so planters of nasturtiums above them should do the trick!

I’m just really glad we have had two beautiful days in Portland after the cold rainy-ness we have had. I’m not going to bet on the rain being over, but I am going to take advantage of days like today.