Another Monday

Snowball bush (Viburnum plicatum)

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  Mine was VERY productive.  

We live on a corner and we have a large lot by suburban standards.  Between the side walk and the curb we have a planting area.  For some reason we call it the parking strip although I'm not entirely sure why.  It's not like we park in it.  It it planted with rose bushes and a few trees.  And loads and loads and loads of weeds.

Over the past two weekends I have weeded both parking strips (on both streets).  The weeds are very enthusiastic here.  It gets to the point where all of the sudden the weeds are completely taking over.  

Before (Messus extroidanarus)

The parking strip is made up of rose bushes and a couple of choke cherry trees. Between each bush/tree is river rock as a weed deterrent.  Or at least it is supposed to be.  It's falling down on the job as you can see by the verdant green between each shrub.  

This picture doesn't even do the situation justice.  We have clumps of irises and the weeds are intermingled and about two feet tall. 

We actually lost a rose a couple of years back.  You can see a significant space between the tree and the rose bush to the left.  A young girl was driving down the street and must have been distracted (ahem – don't text and drive…) and plowed right into our rose bush and completely took it out.  She is just lucky she didn't hit the tree.

After (Joyous extremus)

Maybe you need to zoom in to the see difference but in real life it looks so much better.  We live on a fairly busy street, both with automobile traffic and foot traffic.  When we are working outside I can't tell you how many people stop and say how much they like our yard.  We put a lot of work into it so it's really nice to hear that our efforts are appreciated.  

I kind of like weeding.  Yes I was over it about two hours in (I put in about 12-15 hours total) but I do find it rather zen like.  I bring out my little stool, a bucket and the world's best weeding tool (which comes in a left handed version!) and just zone out for a few hours.  Some weeds come out so easily like they aren't really committed to being a weed and others hang on for dear life. 

I'm sure I startled more than a few drivers this morning as I was practically laying down in the gutter trying to reach weeds growing under the rose bushes.  I probably looked like someone that had a bit too much fun the evening before and decided to sleep it off.  

I did surprise a huge dog that wasn't expecting to see someone crouched behind a bush.  He lunged at me and I yelped and jumped about three feet off the ground.  His person was extremely apologetic and then blamed ME because I startled her dog.  Um – I think I was more startled out of the two of us.

My manicure is pretty much shot.  And when did my hands turn into my grandmother's?!

Beside the weeds I'm battling aphids and white flies.  Rat b@$!@%&s.  They are especially virulent this year.  I get out there and blast them with the garden hose and then spray with an insecticidal soap but I still don't have them under control.  

Despite that the roses are all looking pretty fabulous at the moment.  

I think this is a Peace rose.  Very prolific and smells fabulous.  A great cutting rose.  

I see a few more weeds I need to attend to along the fence.

As I mentioned we are on a street that gets a lot of foot traffic.  We like to plant things that are both pretty and fragrant so people can enjoy them on their way past our house.  This is a new addition and for the life of me I can't remember what it is.  The color is reading a bit pink on my monitor but in real life it is a gorgeous apricot pink. 

And finally – the lilacs.  We live in Northern California which isn't known for its lilacs but last year we went on a lilac bender and bought a number of shrubs that are doing remarkably well.  Such a fleeting beauty but oh so worth it.  

I hope the moderate temperatures hold out for a few weeks and we don't get slammed into Summer.  I want to enjoy this phase of our garden.