Thursday I took a few hours off work while we had nice weather and I cleaned out the roadside and driveway flower beds. That consisted of cutting down spent flower stocks, and clearing out most of the leaves. the first picture I didn't take until I had taken down a bunch of stalks on the right hand side, but between the two pictures, you can still see the difference.
I am not renewing the mulch this year as I did so last year. I prefer to skip a year if I possibly can. I do need to loosen the mulch that is there to help rain penetrate the top level.
Here is before and after of the driveway garden - and again, I forgot to take a picture until I had removed the right most false indigo stalks
Now to the pretty pictures. The pretty giant hyacinths are in the front part of the shrub garden. The tree buds are from the Burgundy Belle maple in the driveway garden
Daffs in the roadside garden
Apparently I hit my picture quota of the day as Typepad is refusing to load up my last picture. I am grateful that I was able to upload as many as I did without too much difficulty though.
Had rain and cool temps all of yesterday. Supposed to be darkly overcast today with scattered showers and highs in the 40's. A couple of days ago I saw predictions of 40-50mph winds for today, but I don't see that any more - which I am good with. Naturally, Monday is supposed to be sunny and warm. That theme has been the same for at least 5 out of 6 of the past weekends - rain or snow/gloom/cool or cold during the weekend, and then Monday at least being sunny.
No worries, Monday's will soon be gloomy too as I have every Monday off in May for various medical appointments (eyes, teeth, annual physical, and Lila's first shot/general checkup).
Like you, I generally forget to take "before" photos, but it is easy to see the difference in your gardens. Super! As to mulch: I've been unable to buy good mulch for the past couple of years. I still have 3 bags of mulch, saved back to insulate the irrigations system backflow valve when necessary - but - I will not bring them inside, so the mulch has pretty much decomposed. I did not do enough yard work last year to use them.
Yes, every second year - with fluffing up - will do if the mulch was generously and well laid.
Beautiful blossoms. Look at that maple!
You are brave, doing your medical appointments on Mondays. At least, I try to avoid the crush that Mondays usually bring around here. Great! That Lila will get some attention. She/you have made much progress.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 27, 2025 at 09:58 AM
P.S. I have my first dental appointment in three years, on Tuesday. I had other things on my mind/plate. I had to cancel my 2023 appointment for my bout with COVID-19, which I would just as soon have skipped considering what it did to the hearing in my right ear.
Happy that you may escape the higher winds.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 27, 2025 at 10:04 AM
WIND - MAN, WAS THERE SOME HEAVY WIND AND GUSTS. Had fairly constant power flickers, one power outage (for about a minute) and tree limbs all over from what I read on the town's FB page. I had at least one good size limb come down in the backyard.
Mondays are the easiest for me to take off as I rarely have meetings scheduled for that day.
IDK, my dentist is a small business so they only take so many patients anyway. For my eye doctor, I'm pretty limited on the days since I have to catch days that she is there (2 days per week - she is at their other facility the rest of the time) and the test people are available.
My doctor is rarely so busy that my appointment is set back in any meaningful way. They are in the same building as an urgent care and testing center.
The vet - their worst day is Friday as they usually only have 1-2 doctors and somehow emergency visits seem to happen when I am there. Monday's are much safer when they have a full staff available.
Posted by: bogie | April 28, 2025 at 01:09 AM
Those winds come, whether predicted or not.
The healthcare professionals seem to ride a circuit to see their patients. (Oh, we can't see you on a Tuesday, on the East side of town, how about Thursday?) I've started driving into Wichita to see my kidney doc because he is only in Derby one day each month and is, consequently, overbooked - and without support staff. Instead of weighing people in Derby, his patients tell him their weights - lol.
Interesting about your vet's having heavy Fridays.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 28, 2025 at 09:35 AM