The flowers I forgot.
So I realized the other night after posting that I tagged my entry floweres (among other things) and never actually mentioned any. Day lilies were on my mind, as Allen and I drove up to the Ironton area to visit his ol' iris & day lily buddy Elvin Roderick. Allen calls him Al (but you can call him Betty), but I wonder if he doesn't actually go by El.
Allen has already posted about how Al is going to cut back on his breeding because he can't keep up with it. What he can't keep up with, I suspect, is not the cross pollinating and associated breeding tasks, but the weeding. They have the most beautiful property. You couldn't properly refer to it as a yard; it's more like the grounds of their, well, rather ordinary house. When I imagine Wretched Excess (the house I plan to build on the 200 acres I plan to buy when I win the lottery) the house is abut 15,000 square feet, which the Rodericks' ranch is definitely NOT. However, what their house is is very welcoming and liveable, with an extended kitchen/dining area, through whose floor to ceiling windows you can gaze out over much of their lawn, gardens, fish pond and woods. All immaculately mown, weeded and otherwise tended, by two charming people in their 70s. As I told Allen, it's the sort of setting I would love to live in. And, actually, we have enough land to manage it. But even if we were both retired, I know we would never maintain such manicured beauty, partly because Allen prefers a wilder, lower maintenance property, and mostly because we--that would be I, primarily--are just not likely to spend a huge percentage of our time weeding. And it must be practically a full-time job. I wish I had taken my camera to take some pictures, it was just so lovely. They have a patio out back with a trellised roof covered w/ shade cloth.
In addition to many gorgeous day lilies, they still have some iris, sunflowers, regular lilies and lots of unidentifiable (by me) flora. Also, many trees and shrubs. Their Japanese maples were badly damaged during this spring's freeze. They have cedars (weeping and otherwise), redbuds, and lots of other trees around the house, with practically a forest in the acreage beyond the koi pond. They lost all their big koi to river otters released into the area by Fish & Game a year or two ago, although they have some growing up (for the next pilgrimage of otters, no doubt). And they have many bird feeders and many birds just swooping through and singing, many more than we see here. Almost makes me want to retire and become a gardener, until I remember how stiff I was for days after weeding half of the very small UU garden bed.
So, obviously, when I win the lottery and Wretched Excess is ours, I will definitely have a gardening staff.
Allen has already posted about how Al is going to cut back on his breeding because he can't keep up with it. What he can't keep up with, I suspect, is not the cross pollinating and associated breeding tasks, but the weeding. They have the most beautiful property. You couldn't properly refer to it as a yard; it's more like the grounds of their, well, rather ordinary house. When I imagine Wretched Excess (the house I plan to build on the 200 acres I plan to buy when I win the lottery) the house is abut 15,000 square feet, which the Rodericks' ranch is definitely NOT. However, what their house is is very welcoming and liveable, with an extended kitchen/dining area, through whose floor to ceiling windows you can gaze out over much of their lawn, gardens, fish pond and woods. All immaculately mown, weeded and otherwise tended, by two charming people in their 70s. As I told Allen, it's the sort of setting I would love to live in. And, actually, we have enough land to manage it. But even if we were both retired, I know we would never maintain such manicured beauty, partly because Allen prefers a wilder, lower maintenance property, and mostly because we--that would be I, primarily--are just not likely to spend a huge percentage of our time weeding. And it must be practically a full-time job. I wish I had taken my camera to take some pictures, it was just so lovely. They have a patio out back with a trellised roof covered w/ shade cloth.
In addition to many gorgeous day lilies, they still have some iris, sunflowers, regular lilies and lots of unidentifiable (by me) flora. Also, many trees and shrubs. Their Japanese maples were badly damaged during this spring's freeze. They have cedars (weeping and otherwise), redbuds, and lots of other trees around the house, with practically a forest in the acreage beyond the koi pond. They lost all their big koi to river otters released into the area by Fish & Game a year or two ago, although they have some growing up (for the next pilgrimage of otters, no doubt). And they have many bird feeders and many birds just swooping through and singing, many more than we see here. Almost makes me want to retire and become a gardener, until I remember how stiff I was for days after weeding half of the very small UU garden bed.
So, obviously, when I win the lottery and Wretched Excess is ours, I will definitely have a gardening staff.