Tulips - Feb 24

This is where my lovely tulips now reside. 
At least until I can plant them for next spring. 

A few last pics - August 17

Here are a few last pictures from our yard at 31 Chestermere Road. Aside from Elise's gorgeous room, it's really the only thing I'll miss about our old house. We put so much effect into it, it's hard to think about it being someone else's yard. 

Our new yard needs some TLC. It'll be a while before we can hangout on the grass and just relax. 

Kim 

Hops - May 27

We've had hops growing in our backyard for 4 years now. They grow so well in the location we had them in, literally like weeds. We put clear netting on our deck railing so they'd have something to grow on. It worked as a great privacy shade from our "kind of too close" neighbours dining room window.
If you haven't felt hops before, it's like very fine velcro. It sticks to everything and that's how it grows. It twists around itself and can grow 4-5 inches in a day. 
It's crazy! 
We had been talking about keeping it under control this year. 
Usually we do well at keeping it controlled, then it rains for a few days and when we get outside again, it has taken over our pathway. It sticks to your clothes, scratches your skin (I'm allergic so it leaves marks for weeks on me and now Jude too) and hides BIG spiders!  Once it's that big (mid July usually) I don't go anywhere near it. I'm afraid of spiders and it narrows the pathway too close for my liking. 
We decided last night to just rip it out. 
Easier said than done. 

There was NOTHING here before we left for 5 days to Canmore. 

Not even a tiny bit of green, I checked. A little bit of rain, a bit of sun and BOOM. Hops explosion.

C digging them out for me. 

The green is what was left above ground when we cut it down. 

Look at those roots. It was like pulling out a tree by hand!

Amazing. No wonder they did so well. 

Yard work - April 26

My yard was in rough shape! 

That is, until Monday. 

C did so much yard work Monday. It was amazing. I can't even believe how much he did. J will tell you he helped too. Lots. 

Only a few things are coming up but now I can see where they should be! 

I love my Swedish Aspens but they drop their leaves really late, always after the snow is here for the winter and so my yard is covered by dead and decaying leaves, caught in the plants. 

There are signs of spring though. A few plants are coming back. (They have since been de-leaved) 

Chives

My daffodils are way behind

My poor bird house. The wren nest from last year is still inside. Apparently a $10 house from Michaels is not made to actually live outside.  

The yard looks so much better now, I can hardly believe the difference.

With the grade of the yard moving the water to the middle of the yard and then down the sides, it's pretty soggy but hopefully a few more warm days and we'll see some green grass! 

Kim

RIP - April 4

If you've been to my house, you'll know I LOVE orchids.
I try my best to let my green thumb flourish, I can grow orchids really large but have such a hard time getting them to bloom! Maybe this is why..... 


Today I had to send my two biggest orchids go to a better place - my compost bin.
They have bugs. Yuck.

Apparently this type of bug is really common in store bought orchids.  If you know what to look for (leaves with a shiny, sticky substance on them, or little nubs under the leaves) then stay away! They can infect the rest of your orchids, possibly other plants too. They don't outright kill your plants, they just feed on them, sucking the nutrients out of them. No wonder I haven't gotten them to flower in years. 
"The internet experts" say to quarantine your new plants for a few months before bringing them close to your existing house plants. 
I haven't bought a new plant in years so they have obviously been sick and getting sicker for a long time.


Today I put them out of their misery.
RIP my poor orchids.