This rose bud is blooming on one of the rose bushes that we planted in our herb and flower garden during our COVID-19 isolation this spring/summer. This new bush has given us several pretty bloom events this summer.
flower garden
What’s that in the petunia pot?
Thanks, Mr. Squirrel, for the corn
No hint needed, but here is the culprit responsible. The squirrel that buried the corn kernel in this pot did not get back soon enough to retrieve it before germination. We thought, what the heck, let’s see how well corn grows with the petunias. Pot stability may be an issue the taller the stalk gets.
Many more blooms
This morning the sun shone on the Asiatic Lilys. A lot of blooms!
Yes it bloomed
If you’ve been visiting Roadtirement for a while you know that we have been waiting somewhat impatiently for the Asiatic Lily to bloom. As you can see, it did bloom this morning.
Lots of buds still growing, so it looks like we’ll be blessed with more pretty blooms. Oh, and if you look in the lower right hand corner of the photo you can just see some leaves of the mint that we also have growing. It smells so pretty!
So close to bloom
We have been watching this Asiatic Lily closely. We planted this last year when it was in bloom, and the growth this season has been impressive.
They say a watched pot never boils. The same idea fits flowers. We have been checking, sometimes twice a day. Yep, seems like a watched Asiatic Lily never blooms, but we’re getting close.
Finished with the mulch project
If you’ve been following along with some of the projects Roadtirement has been working on during our COVID-19 stay safe at home time, you will know that mulching has been a big part of our flower garden design. (Whew, what a long sentence!)
Herbs and wildflower starts on an old stump
Still needing a bit of grass/weeding work, but close to done
Our son has been such a great help in toting bags of mulch and spreading same. The herbs are doing very nicely, and seem happy to be on the remains of an old trees stump. Sher spread some wild flower seeds on the rich soil on the sides of the stump, and several seeds have already sprouted.
Progress continues on the flower garden
The past few days have been very productive in Roadtirement’s garden and landscape project list. The primary task list included preparation for, and placing of a mulch base for the flower garden. Our son did most of this work.
A progression of progress
We still have a bit of mulch left to place. It will go around the old tree stump where Sher currently has a grouping of herbs. This stump may also end up as a Fairy Village.
Unfinished mulch job and placement of herbs on the stump
Close up view of one of the glacial rocks we collected for the garden
A better look at the “getting close to finished” project
In addition, Maj planted more trees that we got from the DNR. Our total tally ended up with two Black Cherry trees and three Tulip trees. We thought we only had two Tulip saplings, when in fact we had three in the bundle.
Robins in the garden
This robin was enjoying a romp in the mulch looking for worms
There are lots of robins in neighborhood, and we are seeing lots of young, still growing birds in the yard. We have tilled up sod for our flower garden, and this freshly exposed soil has become a worm buffet for the robins and other birds.
Our bird feeder has really become a center of feathered activity. We are seeing an almost constant stream of birds feeding from the feeder. The larger birds, too big for the feeder’s small perches, are enjoying feeding on the ground where the seeds have fallen from the feeder. We daily see cardinals, starlings, doves and the occasional Blue Jay. We saw a red headed woodpecker one day hanging from the bottom of the feeder. I was surprised to see a woodpecker on the seed feeder.
Don’t jump the gun as businesses start to open up again. Remember to follow the guidelines: masks, distancing, sanitizers and hand washing. Be safe and stay healthy!
Working on the flower garden
Sher is planting petunias in some additional containers. She just got done planting some herbs. Our son, in the back left, is getting ready to hook the hose to the pressure washer. You can see a kitchen sink. Yes, that will be pressure washed and turned into some kind of planter in one side and a bird bath in the other.
We’ve been raking the tilled ground in preparation for placing some mulch. We have some pretty colored rocks that we picked up out in the country a few days ago. These are all glacial deposits that came down from Canada during the Ice Age.
This COVID-19 thing has us stuck at home, like so many of our friends and family. Putting together our flower garden is a welcome project for many reasons. It gets us out side, gives a goal to shoot for, and when it comes to the vegetable garden, hopefully we’ll be able to consume the fruits of our labor.
Indiana is starting to slowly “open back up”. Some more stores are now open at reduced capacity. Restaurants can open for inside business at 50% capacity with restrictions. It is easy to desire to get back to normal after the long stay at home. But remember, the virus is still out there!
Don’t let your guard down, be safe and stay healthy.
Roadtirement 