What's Blooming & A Significant Achievement

Flowers always start the week around here...so let's see what's blooming this week!

This yellow one is from the wildflower mix. I still can't figure out what it is, so we'll just call it "that pretty yellow wildflower":

This one I know - it's a Black-Eyed Susan.

And my favorite flower - the Shasta Daisy:

I'll have to show you the entire row of daisies once they're all in bloom. I also planted some daylilies. There are three different colors: white, light purple and this one:

I love the yellow striping. I've tried a few times to grow daylilies, and killed them all. So here's hoping these live.

A random marigold also popped its head up this week:

These are a nuisance, if you ask me. Maybe I'll transplant it to Doug's garden so it can repel bugs. But since the carnation-like flower isn't something I like very much, I think it'll have to get out of my flower beds. I know, I'm not very nice.

Okay, now for the significant achievement. For the past two weeks (or three or maybe more), I've been working on the long bed that adjoins our major street. We planted Eastern Redbuds there last fall, so it looked a little like this:

A minor flood had wiped out much of the mulch - which wasn't a color we liked anyway - so we didn't bother to put it back. The trees were just sticks, but that's how they come. Basically, it was pretty bare. Now it looks like this:

The trees are a little older, so they look a little healthier than just "sticks". I also added good garden soil to the bed and Doug rototilled it. The original dirt was as hard as cement, so it was rough going. Hopefully the plants will start to loosen it up at some point. Then I added plants: Tradescantia, Black-Eyed Susans, strawberries, and some pretty groundcover with white flowers. No, I didn't find out its name.

The strawberries and the white-flowered groundcover came from a neighbor's house. They had a fire last December and are having to tear the entire structure down after months of planning a rebuild. So we salvaged some of the plants and they gave away many more as well. I'm hoping they grow really well so that I can dig some of them up once the neighbors move back in and want some more.

In the meantime, though, that parkway (as we've taken to calling it) is starting to look a little more civilized. And (whew!), all I have to do now is water and weed. 

Hope you have a great week!