Busy, busy!

I haven't taken many pictures lately but I sure have been busy in the yard. This last weekend I took a 4 day weekend to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. At first our plan was to go to Wis. Dells and do a couple things but dh asked if I'd rather start on the deck redo that we've had planned. Well I chose the deck! So, dh tore our old deck down and got most of the new one framed up and wow is it going to be a BIG deck, I can't wait til it's done. While he was working on the deck I just did some putzy stuff around the yard, I finally got most of the trim painted on my shed & I restained the door, now I just need to replace the deck on the shed and get some mulch in the flower beds and that area will be done. Oh yeah and I need to get some shutters put on too. The back yard is a mess but it'll eventually get back in order again and all the decking material that's been laying around since last year should be in the new deck!

There really aren't any perennials blooming right now but anyday now they will be. Thankfully I have lots of annuals to brighten things up. I think my nieces lilies will be blooming back in the "holding bed" (that's what I've decided to name that section since that's where the flowers that don't have a home currently go until they do have a home lol) soon. I did pick up some foxglove for 1/2 price last week and I have no idea where Im going to put it but I couldn't pass it up because I loooove foxglove. I also picked up some Irish Moss 1/2 price that is suppose to go in between my pavers under the arbor. I just need to get the pavers now :)

Oh yeah I also finished up 3 of my glass plate flowers this weekend (actually it was 4 but one broke) so I'll have to get some pics of those.

That's all for now, maybe I'll get some pics this evening if it's not raining. Some of the annuals are filling in nice while some of them seem to be a little slow.

Irises

Amongst all this rain we've been having the Irises around the yard have started to bloom. It actually wasn't raining last night so I went outside and battled the mosquitos and gnats to get some pics of these beauties.

These light purple ones I took this weekend, they were the 1st to bloom and they are in the clump of flowers that I am housing for my niece until they buy a new house so I've been enjoying them and I like her colors better than mine, maybe I should snag a few of them hehe :) Nah, I don't have a spot for them currently.

Another color of my nieces

And these are ones I planted by my fence this spring that were from the garden group I went to in May and got for free! I was excited to see what color I was going to get. The color is ok, not my fave but I like it, for some reason it reminds me of a rootbeer color, I know I'm weird lol.

In this same flower bed the asiatic lilies are getting super tall, makes me wonder if they'll get taller than me and I would expect some buds to be coming out on those in the next couple weeks. The iris on the other side of the fence didn't give me any blooms :( Oh and the clematis that I thought wasn't going to do any thing this year has just taken off! It must like all the rain we've been getting. I'll have to get a pic of that too and I need to add some more chicken wire to the arbor so it attaches to it.

Besides the Iris in bloom my Peonies are just starting to bloom. I found one opened up yesterday. This is my sadest looking bed this year but it's getting tore out this summer so I didn't do anything with it. The peonies are still my fave though.

One last one, I finally found a bike I just loved and I found liners for the basket so I was able to get it planted this weekend. I like how I have it propped up against the tree, unfortunately there's usually vehicles parked there so I don't get a chance of enjoying it as much as my other flowers, I may end up finding a different spot for it. The tires need some tlc too. I can't wait for the surfina petunias to start filling in some more, it'll be gorgeous soon!

Some pics

I loooove how my flower beds are coming together and all the little "embellishments" (some would say "junk" lol) are really adding a bit of whimsy to the yard. There's still lots to do and even a little bit more planting oh and still more treasures to pick up :) I just thought I'd share some pics that I quickly took last night.

This is the shed, pretty much everything is planted, now I just need to work on the shed. This is the fullest I've had the beds, I love it. These are my hanging tipsy pots that I finished planting yesterday, I really like how they turned out, hopefully they won't dry up too much in the small terra cotta pots.

The birds love all the little bird feeders I've added around the yard. They're quite the little piggies actually. I filled one feeder last night and it's almost empty already! Here's a pic of a feeder I just whipped together yesterday. I think I want to add some crystals to it or something, it needs some bling :) I have a bunch of tea cups & I think I'm going to make some to sell.
Oh and the lily of the valley is in full bloom and smelling absolutely wonderful! I wish it lasted all summer long. I think the peonies will be opening up in the next couple days.

One last bunch of my bleeding hearts. They are getting huge! They're on the downside to blooming now so I think I can probably split them soon.

And this is my little baby bleeding heart plant :) It must've been a stray seed from last year. Look at how cute it is with the two little blooms on it. I was going to dig it up to give away but Im not sure yet :)