Planting Perennials

I know my posts have been few and far between this month - seems I have been busy from early morning until late at night each and every day. This week I made time to get my perennial garden planted. Those of you who have followed my blog for a while, will remember this flower bed was constructed last spring when we were doing a bunch of outdoor construction on our home. Before we had all our siding, windows, doors, and deck replaced, we removed the old hedges in the front our our home and built a retaining wall flower bed - when the outdoor work was completed last October, it was too late in the season to plant...so the bed has been pretty much empty (with the exception of some lavender I planted last spring). I knew I wanted a perennial garden...and my dear friend Kimber gave me a wonderful book on perennial gardens for Christmas - which I put to great use in my planning...and both Merry and Kimber gave me some wonderful advice on types of plants. I decided on a mixture of herbs and flowers...along with a knockout rose bush (which I LOVE) and barberry shrub. Everything is finally in the ground and the mulch is down...and I am thrilled. All of the plants have been thriving and starting to bloom/flower....I couldn't be happier (especially since my gardening experience is pretty minimal)! I took a few photos to show you this evening...

I also planted two large containers of annuals and three pots of geraniums this week for the front porch front steps....here are a couple close-up photos I snapped while I was outside with my camera this evening...

I am still plugging away on the project for the Salty Yarns class - the framed portion of the project is nearing completion and there are a of couple coordinating needlework smalls (one of which is a brand new design concept for me) that I will begin later this week. I am also almost finished with the needlework smalls for "Berries, Birds, and Blooms", so I will share those with you soon...

For those of you waiting for more of my Decorative Pin and Button Packs - I listed 55 more in my Etsy shop today - the first batch of 25 sold out before I could even get them all posted in the shop, so if you missed out, now is your chance. I do not have plans to make more in the near future, as I have a pile of items ready to sew and quilt...so when they are gone, it may be a while before they are restocked. More needlebooks, needlecases/pockets, and pincushions will be posted in the next week or so...