The mopheads and lace caps are up against our house facing the SE side. During the peak summer season they really suffer, for now they are happy, happy. I had to cut a few back quite a bit, which shows in the photo. I have 2-3 off white plants the rest are different shades of pink with a random blue one thrown in!

And a Happy (almost) St. Patrick’s Day to friends and family. I’ve been working in the garden so much I feel like my new title should be Mother Earth. ha! At some point I will post photos of my updated fairy garden, which is where most of my time has been spent lately. It’s becoming a lot of work for this ‘ole body, all the bending and leaning make my aches and pains sit up and say “What the h**! tee hee It is that time of year when more pruning needs to be done, a bit of weeding followed by a rest in the spa with my sweetie with a nice cold beer to admire all my work. After I finish and look back at what I’ve accomplished it sure is a good feeling. So, have a bit o’ sauerkraut (can’t stand it myself) with your pork roast, maybe even some green beer, and shout it out that you’re proud to be Irish. I know I am. Wait. Am I Irish? Part Irish? Oh shoot, can’t I just enjoy in the fun without having to know everything?!!

I just have one question, anyone up for a big raking event?

We met the Bennet family for dinner at one of our favorite places to eat, Mongolian BBQ on El Toro Road. Yum! All in all a very special day!

In an effort to keep the yardwork from becoming overwhelming, which it has become lately, I, being the master gardener and mostly master decider of all things gardening around the Fuller yard decided to take out the roses around the corner gravel garden area and replace them with a more low maintence type of everygreen plant. I started by going to our local garden store Laguna Hills Nursery where the owner Gary and staff are always very willing to share their huge knowledge base with their customers. In place of the roses which during the winter months are nothing but basically a bunch of sticks in the ground, I wanted something that would be evergreen, but not dense foilage. Having planted Pittasporum over by the trash cans about 1 1/2 years ago I was interested in finding out if I could plant them in place of the roses to create a loose wispy shrub to continue my secret garden effect in the area. When I found out this was do-able I set out to find the Pittasporum at a good price since I needed at least 5 plants. Much to my suprise Home Depot had small containers at $4.99 each, so we picked up 6 pots. In the bottom right photo above you can see the overgrown rose and ungrowth of plants we had prior to planting the Pittasporum. The remainder of photos shows the end result. I cleared out all the plants and cut back the roses and Jerry did the hard work of digging the roses out. I will be curious to see how well things grow over the course of the next couple of years.

As always my visit’s with good friends Steve and Beth are full of love and laughter. This time was no exception. As I grow older I appreciate so much of what my friends have to offer me in the way of companionship, wisdom and grace. Or not! ha! Looking back to a time when Beth and I were in our 30′s or even late 40′s and our families were still young we seemed to have endless energy to run errands or garden till we dropped. Now adays it’s more about quality time together and thinking about doing these things. It isn’t that we don’t try it’s just that there is a lot more grunts and groans and yes even humor at our klutzyness as we try. Steve, Beth’s other and sometimes better half is an equal partner and becoming very close to my heart. We enjoy the same TV shows, have the same sense of humor and love of all things tools. I always enjoy visiting with their children, they youngest son Luke shown here with Tinkerbell loving Diana beside him. It has been a long friendship, one that I treasure with each passing year. One that grows and grows and never seems to stop showing me what true love of family is like.

This Master Geneaologist and Acting Assistant Library Administrator has a green thumb both in and out of the books. Wow! Her favorite type of flower is geraniums, the brighter the better. I”m not sure who is the luckier one, her family, her garden or I!

Come again next year, you’re welcome as you can see, there’s plenty of room for you and me!

Shout your colors right out loud, I’ll see to it you’re shown off proud.

Don’t be shy you’re all invited, we’ll see what’s got you so excited!

So goodby glads it been nice once again, we’ll keep your spot my true friend.