Feast or famine, that is the deal with this blog.  I get so busy I forget to post (for months!) and then in guilt I throw up several things right in a row.

Things are growing!

I am so incredibly happy with these window boxes that I can hardly stand it.  There is chartreuse sweet potato vine, euphorbia, coral verbena, some kind of coleus, purple rimmed with lime green petunias and ivy in these boxes.  I am already thinking ahead to fall and winter box combos to keep things lively and pretty up front!

This pic of the Westerland roses was taken about a month ago.  That first spring flush was gorgeous and I am really happy with how healthy and beautiful they look being that this is only their second spring.  The clematis in there also was gorgeous and vigorous.

What's gardening without mistakes?  I make them all the time and usually learn from them.  Most are genuine mistakes as I am a trial and error gardener who has no formal horticulture or landscaping training and I seem to learn the best by having something go awry.  Years ago when Bob and I bought our first house I made the mistake of letting some mint spill out from a pot and it rooted itself in no time in the garden bed.  It took so much work to get rid of that mint and I pulled it and pulled it out and still found runners here and there right up until we moved.  It was the plant I could not eradicate.

I promised myself I would never plant something that invasive ever again outside of a container and if I did put it in a container I would make sure it wasn't in a spot that would allow it to escape into the beds.   Well, last fall I decided that I loved my neighbor's pink evening primrose so much that I would go ahead and plant it *in my front beds* and just stay on top of it and not let it get away from me.  Yeah right.  Within the six months it wintered over the root systems went crazy and I began finding it popping up everywhere, yards and yards away of where it was originally planted.  So this was a very stupid mistake because I knew better and went ahead and did it anyway.

I've pulled and hacked and pulled some more and yet I am still finding it everywhere.  Lesson learned again.  Do not plant something that is an invasive spreader unless you are seriously committed to it and have no plans to grow anything else in the area that will need to compete.  As for me I'll continue to pull out runners as they pop up - probably until we move from this house.

This is not a gardening post.

This is a post about the fact that I've gained 10 lbs. since November (cue sobbing) since I've weaned little G and I'm not pregnant again (thus, no extra caloric intake needed) and I've got to do something to stem the tide.  I was always on the low end of my recommended weight and having just had a physical in which my doctor was astounded that I was irate and upset at my weight gain I have decided that I AM at a healthy weight, but geeze - it isn't a weight I've ever seen before (when not pregnant and nursing)  so I am more than a little annoyed.  I apparently am not planning on eating less (or I would have done it already) so the only option is to move... more.  I've not been much in the way of moving... more... since I stopped running cross country in high school.  That was a long time ago.  Gulp, maybe even pushing 15 years... a long time ago.

So.

I needed to make a change.  I bought the fancy gym package with childcare included and didn't end up going very often.  This has mystified my husband and he is able to go as often as he pleases when he is in town and not traveling for work.  He, and other fathers I know, seem to have this unique ability to just announce where they are planning to go and then leave.  The mom (especially if she is a stay at home mom) always has to figure out childcare and pre-arrange and manage her schedule according to her children's schedule.  But I digress.  Packing up three kids, driving 15 minutes to the gym, getting them into the childcare and settled and then off to workout... well I am tired before I even manage to get my butt going on the CrossRamp.  Not to mention that we use a local college facility which seems to be largely populated by the athletic student body of the university.  Not that I am feeling lacking or old, or anything like that when I show up in my loose tee shirt and New Balance sneakers.  Ahem. 

Anyway.

I found Turbo Fire, a work out at home via DVD system produced by Chalene Johnson (perhaps the perkiest and in shape blonde woman you could ever dream up - she is practically a video game alt she is so larger than life.)  I watched the clips online, tracked down as many review and personal bios online as I could find and then took the plunge.

Turbo Fire arrived.

It is surprisingly fun for something that makes me feel like I am going to die.   I have never worked so hard or sweated so much in my entire life.  I assume this is good as I would like to have hamstrings and abs that are visible to the naked eye without any sort of straining.  I am not sure I care to lose weight at this point.  I have almost come to term with those 10 lbs. and almost feel like a healthy BMI of 21 is better than a scrawny 18/19 with ribs showing in my chest and hip bones jutting out.  I think what has been the most aggravating thing for me about this is that I actually feel like I have to THINK about not gaining weight when I never have before.

I am 33 years old and will turn 34 in July.  This is the time to care about my heart, my cholesterol, my bone density, my blood pressure and my blood sugar.  I need to care about how I feel, how healthy I am and what is at stake long term, not just how I look (though I have to admit I certainly care about how I look - much to my dismay) and Turbo Fire is kicking my ass and making me work and helping me keep all those things in check.


When Chalene Johnson is telling me in a perky, upbeat voice at minute 35 into a hard workout that I am not tired, let me tell you that I am shouting back at the TV that *F U* YES - I am tired.  But I keep going because it is fun and I love it.  It is totally worth the $200 bucks that I spent.  I have never awakened in the morning looking forward to working out until NOW.

Lots of weird weather this spring. We had a day in March that reached 90 degrees and we've had some very cool days that didn't hit 50 in April. We finally got some much needed rain! We've been planting and making some updates/changes to existing beds.

 In the front we hung 3 window boxes and added a trellis with pyracantha. That poor pyracantha experienced the most severe transplant shock of anything I've planted in a long time. BioPlex, very expensive, but worth it, saved that shrub from totally giving in and dying. It took three treatments over three weeks and it is showing signs of life with some baby leaves popping out. I also cut it back a bit to help stimulate growth.

 We planted three new David Austin roses under the new crape myrtle on the side of the house. They shipped them very, very late (I was unhappy!) but they are finally leafing out. The westerland roses (orange on the trellis) are looking amazing this year. There are so many buds I think by this weekend that trellis is going to be covered in beautiful flowers. It is by far my favorite rose that I've planted. I really like that bright peachy color. The Christopher Marlowe roses in the front bed are also brimming with buds that are starting to open. They have such a pretty sharp pink with peach centers. As the flowers continue to open the pink fades to a softer color so it is sort of like getting 2 different flowers from one plant. Very fun!

 We added some small river rock around our raised garden beds in the back just to keep things neater and to make it easier to plant and walk in between the beds. We also added larger river rock between the new island and the older side bed. Our utility lines run right through there and nothing can be planted and I think they add a little something to the bed as well as allowing a clear path for utility workers for the future so they won't be tramping through the flower beds.

Here is the front of the house. It has been a long slog to get these beds not looking shabby and empty. At this point we really just need the hollies and boxwood to mature and fill in and the perennials to have another year to get excellent root systems in place to look their best. You can see roses, day lilies, lamb's ear, tulips, sedum, phlox, fountain grass and much more popping up. The tulips are especially gorgeous with a soft cream variegated with light pink.



I put in Little Strawberry Shortcake day lilies all along the row of japanese hollies in front of the garage and they are started to sprout up out of the ground. I am looking forward to seeing if their color is as intense and pretty as it looked in the Oake's catalog. We'll see!



Here is the south side bed that gets a ton of sun. I can't believe how vigorous and large these Westerland roses have gotten in one year. The clematis growing up in between is also looking very happy and gives a nice color pop. I don't remember what it is called but the flowers are large and purple. You can also see the bearded iris is getting ready to bloom. I've got woodland phlox in bloom and the spiderwort and the Bloomerang also look great. Our utility lines run through the middle of the bed and I am going to put in river rock and put a large planter with Joe Pye Weed in it to cover the view of the utility box. I think it will be really pretty.



We extended this south side bed to swoop out in front of the raised garden boxes. These boxes and the playlet beyond are easily viewed from the street and I thought it would be nice to my neighbors to provide a bit of screening. We put in a Natchez crape myrtle and I am going to be planting three David Austin roses in the bed as well. They are Lady Emma Hamilton, Grace and Carding Mill. All the perennials mixed in around the roses will be purple to contrast and include russian sage, salvia, catmint, lavender and some ornamental grasses. I threw in some dwarf evergreens for structure. The roses shipped yesterday so this bed will be completed in the next week.



This tree island in the back yard that blocks our view of our neighbor's garage and driveway has really come a long way. We have almost no back yard so we thought that trying to put in a solider row of narrow evergreens would actually visually make the problem appear worse. The usable space is limited so I'm glad we put in a dense, pretty island of larger trees and didn't try and save the extra 10 feet which in the long run really wouldn't matter much in terms of practical usage. The japanese maple is starting to leaf out and I am glad as it is my favorite garden purchase for this house. It is lovely. We put two adirondack chairs in the back to provide comfortable adult seating while the kids are being supervised on the play set.



North side of house, shade bed. Down near the railing the bed gets a good amount of afternoon sun so we have more plant choices. We added the skip laurels around the AC units last fall and added the trellis this spring. I planted a zepherine drouhin rose along with the gold flame honeysuckle for the trellis as I've read that particular rose is somewhat shade tolerant. I think it will get 6 hours of direct sun a day in the late afternoon so we'll see if that is going to be good enough.



This Korean Spice Viburnum is the best smelling flowering shrub of all time. It is worth having for the two weeks of spicy perfume it provides each spring even if it fades into the background after the flowering is finished. The vitex is starting to leaf out and really steals the show in the hot summer. All the day lilies are perking up along with the rudbekia, hosts, yarrow, balloon flower and so on.



We added wide center stairs off our porch this spring. We hired a super carpenter and he fabricated a gate system out of the pre-existing rail. We need it because we have very young children who cannot easily escape off the back porch. I am really happy with how they turned out and the entire railing/pillars need a new coat of paint to freshen them up.



-Jess

(Stealing the title from the exceptionally funny Bill Bryson book!)

-Jess

My husband decided to try a new recipe last night. As he loves to cook this is not an unusual occurrence in our household. As I like to eat this works out well for me!

He made Salmon and Mojo sauce from the cookbook Tapas by Susanna Tee This has to be one of the tastiest sauces I've ever had. We liked it so well we were both dipping our bread and broccoli in it as well as using it for the salmon.