Sunday, April 6, 2008

Back to Business

The Spring Fling was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the great bloggers. I add my thanks to those already out there for Pam, Bonnie, Diana, and Melissa.

(I would add my photos but that would have required me to remember to get the camera battery out of the charger--a too tall order for an early Saturday morning. I was lucky to find the Holiday Inn. I thought I knew exactly where I was going but I always get turned around in that part of Austin.)

As much as I could have just basked in the memories of yesterday today, I have plants that need to get in the ground! So this afternoon my husband helped me get a full sun bed in the backyard. I'd started the bed last week when it was cloudy, and I gradually realized during the week that the neighbor's hackberry was casting more shadows than I wanted.























I asked her if I could trim it back, and she said we could do whatever we wanted, including cutting it down. We trimmed a few limbs (okay, my husband trimmed the limbs; I held the ladder) and decided it was still too shady. So down came the tree. My husband loathes hackberries and enjoyed ridding the world of one more.













I think the tree looks bigger lying on the ground than it did upright. It's now up to me to get the tree into manageable chunks so the city will haul it away.

Also back to basics was the pup, who after last week's unsuccessful attempt to befriend a toad, was trying once again to find herself a pet. This time a fuzzy black caterpillar was the latest victim acquaintance.

















I hope to have the bed finished in a few days. I still have to figure out how to get a trellis home without a truck. How can I live in Texas and not have a friend with a pickup?

Until those plants are in the ground, here are a few pics of the cosmos in my cutting garden. The whole point was to grow them and then cut them for inside, but they look so happy where they are that I haven't had the heart to cut them. Geez, maybe I'm not cut out for this gardening stuff!



6 comments:

  1. My project this week is a new flower bed as well. I'm hoping the weather stays cool for just a while longer!

    It was good to see you at the Spring Fling, even if we didn't really get to hang out. At least now I can recognize almost all the Austin bloggers if I run into them!

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  2. vertie,

    Loved meeting you and was I ever glad you figured out how to get to the Holiday Inn...you were a terrific traveling companion and driver.

    We (I speak for garden bloggers) understand the need to get on to our own gardens, I think that is one of those questions that still remains open to discussion...How can we balance blogging, gardening and the rest of our lives!

    Hackberries are too successful producing their seedlings in my garden...

    looking forward to seeing your photos of the Spring Fling,
    Thanks,

    Gail

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  3. Pretty efficient, Vertie - let the tree shade you while you work on the vegetable bed, then cut down and recycle the 'parasol' to get the sun ;-]

    It sure was fun to meet you and we got to visit some amazing gardens!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  4. So nice to meet you this weekend. Doesn't it feel good to remove something and start fresh (er)? Your pup is so cute. And I can't believe that hail on Friday - crazy Austin weather. I didn't get any. Thanks for Flinging with us!

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  5. Oooh - Pretty Cosmos! I would have a hard time cutting them too ;)

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  6. I enjoyed meeting you and chatting with you at the Natural Gardener.

    Enjoy your new sun bed. And lovely cosmos!

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