Bed of Roses

Okay, so there aren't actually any roses in the flower beds I worked in over the weekend. Since the flower beds are by the pool, I wanted something a little more tropical.

Pretty much everything died in between these two trees from the hard frost we had several times this winter.

I actually can't remember everything that was there, but I do know there were several established plants.

My mother-in-law started with the big stuff and cleared most of that out of the way. Thanks Debbie! Then I went in and finished clearing the rest. One thing that wasn't kept at bay by the hard frost- weeds. I kind of have this love-hate relationship with weeds. I grew up weeding my parents' and aunt's flower beds and actually don't mind it too much. It gives me thinking time and lots of satisfaction when it's done. But by the time it's weed free, I really don't want to look at another weed for awhile.

The pavers in the back of the flower bed had to be reset. I got halfway through, saw an enormous snake (okay it was about three inches) and then D finished up the rest. Here comes the fun part- the plants!

Some of these are my favorite. Here's the hibiscus.
I love it for the colors, its growth, and it's pretty much hard to kill.

Then there's these - Lilly of the Nile or Agapanthus.
My aunt would have tons of these in her yard. It blooms a tall shoot of green and at the very top is a blue or sometimes white dainty round flower.

These brown sticks were once beautiful bushes of blue flowers called Plumbegos.
Now, they are about the only thing left from the freeze. I almost pulled them up, but could see just a little bit of green poking out from the bottom. To the left of the sticks, I planted a new Plumbego bush to give the older one some encouragement.

Then these nice little bedding plants add lots of color.
The pink one is a Petunia, although they comes in tons of different colors even a cute new variegated yellow color this year. The white flower on the left is a periwinkle. (Thanks for helping me remember the name Mom!) I haven't planted these very much but I do like the delicate little flowers. And the yellow one in the back is Lantana which are always nice as fillers. They do get big though. I second guessed myself about planting them so close to the pool, but my mother-in-law assures me we can just keep them cut back.

This flower bed is perhaps my favorite.
It was just grass before this weekend, so I weeded it, added dirt, mulch, Petunias and Agapanthus. Since the Agapanthus do grow larger and the Petunias won't come back after this year, I figured the bed could eventually just be filled with the green and blue flowers.

So that's the tour of the backyard flower bed. You either enjoyed or tuned out a long time go.