April Showers Bring May (or June) Flowers

We seem to be jumping all over the place with our projects lately. First painting the lower half of the bedroom walls, then outside to work on the front steps, then back in to put up the chair rail for the board and batten wainscoting (which I haven't written about yet), then on to the bathroom demolition.

But that's how our life usually is. We get as far as we can in a project, and then sometimes it'll sit unfinished until we have time to search out new stones for the steps, plane and paint the rest of the wainscoting boards, or alter the plumbing so that the bathroom can be re-tiled. And speaking of that, the contractor starts the renovation on June 23rd! The calendar just might have a circle and a glittery star and a heart on that date.

So while waiting for all these other things to go down, I took time after work one night to spruce up the flower beds. If you know me at all, you'll know that, as much as I like looking at flowers, I hate looking after them. So this year I took the easy route and planted hostas and coleus along the wall leading to the front door. Plenty of colour and minimal work. I know hostas aren't exciting to everyone, but I still love their big, dramatic leaves. And the purple/burgundy of the coleus is one of my favourite colours, in nature and otherwise.

I had about 15 feet to fill, so I just laid them out in an alternating pattern, with the last hosta on the other side of the clematis vine. I'm so thankful for that clematis - it was planted by the previous homeowners and provides pretty purple flowers without me having to sweet-talk it. Are you catching on that I'm a lazy gardener? I don't want to be, I just can't get excited about the fussing around that's necessary. Our next-door neighbour is a greenskeeper by day and he has the most beautiful grass and flowerbeds at home. I'm sure he considers me a lost cause.

I think they'll do well though. This is the hosta that we transplanted last year and he's absolutely huge.

Beside that hosta is the lovely "Iris",

And when it's blooming, here is the aforementioned clematis (it hasn't bloomed yet this year),

The final decoration in our flower bed is this stone. Our previous dog, Bailey, passed away a few months before we moved here. We lived out in the country then, and we buried her in the forest on our property, marking the spot with this rock.

When we moved, we wanted to take a piece of her with us so we brought the rock along. It's been in the front garden from the first day and kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. This week I tucked it in beside the clematis to make it blend with the surroundings a bit more. She was a wonderful dog and we miss her so much - it's nice to get a little reminder of her when we catch a glimpse of her stone.

Now with the flowerbed finished, cedar trees in place, and pots of flowers on the porch, our house looks inviting to outsiders. Bumping up the curb appeal even makes it nicer to come home to.