Tuesday, March 22, 2022

The Front Garden in March

 

The Front Garden in March

I forgot to take a picture of the front garden on the 20th, but, I took one, today.  The lantana is flowering, the osteospermum is still flowering, too, but, the star of the garden, right now, is the climbing rose by the front door:

Red Roses

I think this is the most number of flowers it has ever had at one time!  

The front garden in January and February 

Yesterday, I did a little more cleaning in the garage.  I am by no means done in there, but, I am making progress.  Later, I called for a donations pick up and scheduled it for Wednesday!  

Today, I brought in the trash cans after they were emptied, watered the front garden, and did a little more cleaning in the garage!  This little fellow supervised me:

Lizard

I'm not very good at identifying lizards, but, I would say that this is a Western Fence Lizard, even though it is on the garden wall and not a fence!  LOL.

In the evening, after my daughter finished work for the day, we dropped off a bag of garden grown greens and peapods at a friend's house (we left it at their front door and texted them to let them know; afterwards, my friend called to thank me).  

After we came home, daughter took neighbor T's trash can in for her and T called to thank her.  Later, I chatted with friend R.

Finally, I put the bags and boxes of donations out by the front door for pick up, tomorrow.  They will be picked up any time between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., I had been told; I do not want to wake up early in the morning to set out the donations before 8:00 a.m., so, I put them out, in the evening.  There are nine bags and boxes of donations, including a box containing a punch bowl and 10 punch cups, plus the hooks for the cups.  I went back and forth with the bunch bowl set as it had been a gift from my mother.  But, I have another punch bowl (a bit larger, but, without the cups).  I decided to keep that one and donate the one with the matching cups.  My daughter sorted through her closet and donated a huge trash bag full of clothes, as well.  She also gave me two purses (one with the tags still on) to give to friend R to send to her granddaughter.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Being able to share garden produce with friends
- Feeling better
- Phone chats with friends
- What I have been able to accomplish in the garage
- Weekly trash pick up!

Today's joyful activity was taking a bag of garden produce to drop off at a friend's house.

Plans for tomorrow include M's visit to tend to the garden (he is bringing me a trellis for the passionfruit vine!) and an appointment in the afternoon with the tax accountant to go over my tax documents.

How was your day?  How is your garden coming along?  What are your plans for Wednesday?

34 comments:

  1. Sitting on the big bed in London with my granddaughters feeling very happy. Looking forward to a day with two beautiful children!

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    1. Sounds like the best kind of day, Angela! Enjoy spending time with them both! :)

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  2. I do apologise as I must have missed that you were feeling unwell but I'm glad you are feeling better now. Your climbing roses are gorgeous. I have a red rose climber on a trellis but it's never had as many roses as yours has. It's nice to see your home and front garden and that lizard is very cute. We do that with our recycling and refuse collections, put them out the night before for the early morning collection unless it is very windy. That is a of of donations you have out out and lovely to be able to share your garden produce with your friend.

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    1. No need to apologize, Eileen. I had a bit of an upset tummy over the weekend, but, I'm feeling better, now. :)
      I am loving the red rose climber! I planted three rose plants, one in front of each lattice and only this red one is doing well. One died (and I planted the jasmine plant there) and the 3rd one is alive, but, hasn't grown much, at all! I might have M transplant it to the back garden to see if it goes any better, there.
      I'm glad I was able to schedule a donations pick up for this week. The sooner I can get the stuff out, the better! :D I was also very happy to be able to share some of the garden produce with my friend.
      Hope all is well with you, Eileen, and your husband's back pain is better. Give Tilly a cuddle from me, please. :)

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  3. Those roses are lovely! The lizard looks like it's enjoying the sunshine. Celie

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    1. Thank you, Celie; love the roses! Quite a few lizards in the garden, this year! One seems to have taken up residence in the shed!

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  4. It looks beautiful, Bless. My garden is still drying out after the long winter months, but I've given the grass it's first cut and the soil has been dug over. I will be sowing the wildflower seeds very soon.
    I'm happy to hear you're feeling better. X

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    1. Thank you, Jules. You'll have your garden growing in no time, once the weather improves. :)

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  5. Beautiful roses & such a greeting at the door. I'm with you on getting the sorted donations out of the house as soon as possible. Glad to hear you are feeling better.

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    1. The roses are making quite a display, aren't they? The donations were picked up this morning, although they declined the 6 dance magazines I had included. I dropped them into the recycling bin, right away! I am going to challenge myself to gather together another 6 bags/boxes of stuff to donate by the end of June! Thank you, Mary-Lou. Hope your week is going well. :)

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  6. I always enjoy seeing the long shots of your garden. The rose is doing really well. Have you or M fed it? I know roses are heavy feeders and appreciate food.
    Or maybe it has benefited from more rain then normal? Maybe I'm wrong about that though. Have you had more rain then normal recently? It's always so dry for you :(

    You said you are grateful for feeling better. I must've missed that you weren't feeling well and am glad that has passed.

    I meant to say something the other day about your mother's jasmine vine. What a wonderful story. I love to hear about things coming back to life after years. It's sort of magical. I had tulips appear last year after about 5 years of absolutely nothing. They were a pretty dark shade of purple and died off - No leaves - nothing. Then Voila!
    Last year they appeared and bloomed.
    So far this year they have not appeared.
    I'm hopeful though. lol

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    1. Thank you, Debra. Yes, M fed the roses - he gave them some rose fertilizer and Epsom salts! No, we have not had more rain than normal; in fact, we are below normal when it comes to rainfall, this year. I am anticipating drought conditions and water restrictions, this summer.

      I had a bit of an upset tummy, over the weekend, but, it's better, now. :)

      The jasmine vine came through for me! I hope your tulips will come up and bloom again, this year, too. :)

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    2. Ooh, meant to say that my dad swears by burying banana skins round the roots of roses!

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    3. I've done that, too, and applied crushed egg shells which are also supposed to be good for roses. :)

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  7. Roses in March, I am so jealous. We don't have a garden, per se -- just a few annuals - and it's still a couple of weeks too early for those.

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    1. Spring is the best season in my garden. I'm sure your spring flowers will appear pretty soon and it will be lovely. :)

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  8. Your rose is very pretty! Your house, with its white walls and white trellises, looks like something from a child's story book! Well done on all the decluttering - it sounds as if you have made great progress indeed, and others less fortunate will be able to benefit too.

    I remember seeing lizards or gekkos crawling the walls (internal and external) in India, and also occasionally in Japan (only external). It was a bit of a culture shock seeing them indoors at first. I assumed they were painted on, they were so still, but the following day they were gone. My aunt and cousin laughed heartily when I confessed what I had thought. By chance a few years later in England we saw pottery lizards at an art show and Dad bought me one which now hangs on my wall as a nod to those earlier memories.

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    1. Thank you, Lady Ella. I love how that red rose vine look against the white trellis. Ha, ha, maybe I should start saying that I live in the white house! :D

      I'm making progress with decluttering in the garage. There's still a lot more to do, but, I have made a start. That's always the hardest step for me.

      We had house gekkos when I was growing up! The local superstition was, if you set out to go on a journey and a gekko made its call, then that was a sign of bad luck and you shouldn't make that journey! LOL. We had different words for a house gekko and a garden lizard. :)

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    2. I'd be careful about telling people that you live in the white house; they might have an axe or two to grind!

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  9. I always put my kerbside collection bag out the night before as the van could turn up as early as 7 am. Nine bags and boxes leaving the house must have cleared a big space for you, so well done.

    Your garden is looking lovely and I do like the red rose against the white trellis.

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    1. They hadn't collected the items when I woke up this morning and I thought I had time to add one last item, but, by the time I got dressed (I woke up with a touch of vertigo, this morning, and had to lie in bed for a bit until I felt better) and took the item out, they had picked up the donations. They left the 6 magazines I had put out, so I just tossed them in the recycling bin. The other item will stay in the garage until the next time - I want to collect another 6 bags/boxes minimum to go out by the end of June. The garage is looking MUCH better! Still have a lot more to do, but, things are starting to look better.

      Thank you; spring is the best time for my garden, I think. :)

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  10. My parents used to have a red rose on a trellis by their front door in England! Love the wee lizard. I always enjoy seeing them when we are anywhere warm enough for them to survive and thrive! You and your daughter have done a wonderful job decluttering!
    Yesterday I went for a walk with a friend and her large dog, who took delight in grabbing one of my mitts and running off with it! (I wear mitts over gloves so they come off easily.). The sap is being boiled and with luck we will have some syrup by the time our remaining third of the last bottle of syrup is used up!

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    1. I planted 3 rose plants in the front, hoping they will climb up each panel of trellis, but, only the red rose has done so. The middle rose died and I planted the jasmine vine to go up that trellis, instead. The third rose hasn't done anything much - I think I need to transplant it to the back garden.
      We are making progress with the decluttering! :)
      Oh, that naughty dog! Hope you were able to retrieve your mitt, eventually! How nicely you've timed your syrup making to coincide with when you're reaching the end of your last bottle of syrup! :)

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  11. Your front yard is beautiful. Full of flowers.

    I need to find a flowering plant that does well in full Florida sun. My front yard has south west exposure and most plants don't do well. On top of that, I frequents forget to water them! :)

    May be I should have a yard full of cacti. LOL

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    1. Thank you, Nil. My front garden gets south west exposure, too. Most flowering plants do best in the spring in my garden. But, the lantana does well, year round, and so do the euryops. The rest of the garden tends to be mostly succulents. :)

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  12. It must feel good to gain that space from the donations. I love the roses, so elegant. The lizard looks like a stern supervisor!

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    1. It does, Lyssa. There is some breathing space in the garage, now! The roses are already getting burnt for the sun (two days of 85F will do that!) The lizard was probably waiting to get back into the garage! :)

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  13. Love the garden pictures. I can't wait until we see something blooming here but that is a couple of months away for us. Have a wonderful night- xo Diana

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    1. Thank you, Diana; I well remember just how long winter used to linger in Wisconsin! :)

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  14. So beautiful! I love the red roses climbing up the trellis.

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  15. Your front yard is looking so pretty and summer-y, and that climbing rose vine is beautiful. We're not quite greening up just yet. We woke up to 3 inches of snow this morning, and it's been a very cold day. We don't warm up around here until mid-late April. That's okay though, as I don't really care for the heat. It seems like you have a lot of donations for pick up, would you ever consider having a yard sale? We have a lot of things set aside and we'll be having a yard sale sometime this summer. We don't make a lot of money, but I like that our things will hopefully be going to good homes. My husband is a natural born salesman, so I let him deal with all the customers. LOL Hope all is well with you. Denise

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    1. Thank you, Denise. Oh, no! Not more snow! I remember when I was in Wisconsin - winter often lasted until late April! It was 85F here, today!

      I used to hold yard sales, often together with my cousin P who used to live across the street from me. It was a lot of fun. But, I don't know if I'd want to hold one by myself. It's a bit easier, these days, to just donate. Hope you are having a good week, Denise. Enjoy that snow!

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