Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...

We, the unknowing....

...led by the unprepared....

....are doing the impossible....

...for the ungrateful .

I, Andrea Scott, dug to china (with my husband and baby) as threatened and woe to discover more clay! (And interlocking underneath). While I was sick, I thought it would be a good idea to move the soil pile to the garden. Good idea? Wrong!

I'm paying for it now by being sicker and sore. Amen to Nyquill.

New Layout, new boots and TGIF

We're enjoying our Friday. TGIF.

Simply put, I hate my new boots. Maybe hate is a harsh word because I don't usually say it and yet when I do, I usually reserve it for the latest 80's song I've heard on the radio, or asking myself how many times Pitbull tells me I should know he wants me. My other coworker has them and though I know she got blisters countless times, I thought that I could pass this unfortunate rubbing by wearing two pairs of socks. Now given, I always wear two pairs of socks, even on the hottest days of the year. It keeps my feet nice and cool.

Side note here: if you work outside or in any kind of heat, wool socks over sweat socks is the way to go. Sweat socks absorb the sweat and the wool pull that sweat away from your feet, keeping you cooler. In all my years (since I was 16, I'm 29 now), I've never once had a foot problem, nor do my feet EVER stink (nor my footwear either). Try it. It's a beautiful thing.

Carrying on, these new boots rub the top of my foot and it rubs the back of my heel, wearing down my sock in almost one week. I think Im going to end up taking them backand you may see a new website thinger up above, replaced.

Originally I tried hydrangeas (City Line Venice) in my picture but it looked funny. I tried our spot, the duck pond and it looked busy. This one also looks awful but I dont' have another picture, that or I'm too lazy to go and find one. Either way, I don't particularly like my layout or the pictures or the colours but Im making due with what I have at the moment until I do something better.

Right now I'mtrying to write something up for a grant and its going very slowly, if not happening at all.

Wow Factor lacking

It's wedding season so I thought I would do up two wedding planters. Pictures never do them justice and at first, I hated these but I got the flowers down right and now they look okay. This is the second one.

The first one didn't turn out as well obviously....

A bit boring but that's what wedding planters are. Wow Whites without the WOW factor. Boring.....

Pink Skies, pink Hydrangeas and tons of plants

These are all sitting at the side of my house, watered and getting a lot of sun but honestly, I havn't planted anything. ha! I'm going to rip up the front and do the garden there, but its going to take me a bit.... a bit....

this is my fullshade hanging basket that seriously, I only ever water once every three days, if that. It's doing amazing

This is the hydrangea group at work. I bought three. I think I need three more.

our my backyard...

Trials Date

I know! I have a lot to post but I can't wait!!! It has to be now and I've a lot to catch up on!

Grower Trials are coming up August 12th! LOTS of pictures to follow and information! I WILL keep you posted on varieties to look for, for 2010!

http://www.focusgreenhousemanagement.com/sawayagardentrials/

Lots of growers there. Looking forward to it!

New Annual grass for next year - you know you want it

Pennisetum Fireworks. We planted it. We're waiting to see what it does. 2 feet, zone nine which means we need an insane amount of heat in a zone 5 to get this baby flowering. So far, slow as hell due to cooler weather conditions and rain. Like we're in august now people. What the heck is happening? We're having October weather here! Anyways, I think we're going to heckle our grower to do this one. VERY excited.

The rain storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05ip-N0H1Ig

HOLA from the grave!

I finally cut the garden in the back. FINALLY. It only took me from April until the end of July to do it but I got it done! Ten bags of soil later, mixed into clay and I was able to finish planting the veggie plants I got free from work (end of season stuff). It has my Jap maples in it but you can't see them so well.

It nearly killed me.

My son is learning to mow the lawn now.

The dog run! We finally built it and YES we know its crooked a little. One of the posts didn't go in very well and we couldn't get it out. Solution? Just build the damn thing and shove an arbor in front of it. Now... I just need to build the Arbor (and put caps on the middle posts because the two I had, I broke). Otherwise, Stain, finished and EFFECTIVE. ha. The dog hates it.

The before picture, just so you can see how it looked.

NEW JAP MAPLE!

I bought a Japanese Maple Acer palmatum 'Olsens Frosted Strawberry' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BE JEALOUS!!!!!!!

I have no pictures yet of my japanese Maple collection yet because man, am I scoring these babies left and right. I wish I had bought Ghost but I didn't. I wish I did. But I didn't. Sigh. Next time, I will. I have to stop impulse buying these trees but it's hard. I have a long property and keep thinking to myself that I can just keep them small and short. But anyways, my frosted strawberry is variegated and so sweet, brand spankin' new Variety. I got a few other things, new varieties and weird perennials in the greenhouse which im going to try but I have to pay off my big tree bill before I can go throw money to plants, left and right.

Sorry I fell off the face of the earth. Work's been driving us steadily into the ground and we're all tired for it. I can barely get my baby to bed before my eyes are closing and my head hits the pillow. Actually, It's gotten to a point where I'll be reading him a story, fall asleep and maybe wake up an hour later with him in the crookof my curled up body, reading ME a book!! Another few nights its been where we've fallen asleep together. I know! Im so sad! I can't stay up past nine sometimes. It's killing me.

That aside. Once I get everything planted, I'll go around and take cheesey pictures. I love trees. I seem to love Jap maples even more but my number one goal is to buy a six foot weeping Jap maple, cut leaf. heh. I'm waiting for it. That's going to be my big purchase for next year. Not this year. Only so many trees I should be buying in one year. Really, at this rate, I should be having a limit.

The trees are planted - FINALLY!

Okay, my pictures are backwards here. Just visualize okay?

the front yard.

The back yard (last year's planting)

Peony at my sister's house. a TREE peony. It's huge.


Allium. This was my no frills purchase last year. Remember the 3 allium bulbs for a $1.99?? Oh yeah, it was allium all right.

Tulip bulbs 'queen of night' and yes, this was also a no frills $1.99 purchase. It rocked.

The weeping green beech in the front.

The Tricolour Beech (upright) in the front. mmmm Nice huh?

The japanese Maple.

The long haul home. This was when I just got them home.

A planter I had to do at work. Looked nice.

Greenhouse Monday pictures.

So the long weekend madness is far from over. Because of the cold weather, it carried over into this week and it's far more busy than I anticipated. We're loaded and ready to go and even sold out on a few things (which is insane because I've NEVER been THIS sold out before!). I thought I would take a few pictures of the greenhouse monday morning, even though I only get to it wednesday. It was decent but messy. The week is our recovery time though I have to say, truck after truck after truck is killing us. KILLING US.

KILLING US. But in a good way of course.

(above) This was changed this morning because it wasn't holding enough, so instead of that big blue thing, I changed it to two flat tables (we move furniture a lot) and now it's looking really good. I'll try and take pictures tomorrow.

(above). Don't get too excited. It's an impatient. I'm not sure if I posted this before but I have this in a four inch pot and it's thick enough to grow it as a standard (in tree form). Mental, Yes, I realize this. It's also $12 bucks. Imagine. haha. Well, thats what we live for over in our greenhouse, the weird and unusual if we can.

Joey (Ptilotus). If you see him bloom, let me know. I'm still waiting on it. ha. We put him next to Angelonia and Iresine, but those two don't like him just yet. Wait until they see him blooming! Drought tolerant baby! Full sun and looking smashing!

Hibiscus. Not a thriller but a double! Guess what I found though?? A yellow double hisbiscus standard! In my greenhouse! yes!!! I was so excited, I picked it (I know, I'm such a noob) and showed my sister. Her excitement was less significant.

MINE! It was suppose to be mine. Of course, I waited until the weekend was over and they were all gone before I considered buying one. Way to go Andrea. Way to go.... Andrea.

Geraniums, Nemesia. I thought it was a pretty picture.

What's blooming in the Greenhouse!

Geranium 'Esspresso'. Looks like someone needs a spellchecker, but I kid you not, this is how it's spelled. Do I know a lot about this perennial? Not too much. Hardy to zone 4, full to part sun, May-june blooming. It's actually a nice little plant, more english garden feel to it.

Dicentra ' Burning Hearts'. If you don't know this one by now, get to know it! It's a sister to 'King of hearts' , dwarf variety but witha beautiful dark red flower. Full Shade and just a stunning plant all around. It's a new variety and boy, do I love it.

Sisyrinchium 'bermudianum'. Here's the greenhouse worker admitting that I didn't love it until I tried to sell it to someone. I wasn't thrilled with it at all until (of course) there were two left and snatched up, walking out the door. Didn't I regret that judgement because suddenly, I had this "I must have this plant" panic and couldn't do anything about it because I had just sold it. Just. Shame on me. SHAME ON ME.

A collection of Heucheras, burnnera. Can you name them?

I think I've spoken enough tonight and it's creeping well past my bedtime.

The painful Gardener

There's nothing like going out to get your hands dirty in the garden, hunched over, one hand supporting your body, the other working frantically against the time it takes for your back to call it quits. Your wrists complain with a increased ache that climbs up your trembling arm and you push your back into the opposite of an arch, trying to stretch that dull ache out, just to hold off a little longer until you get this weeded/planted/pulled.

You know your limits and so does your body (maybe your body knows a little more of your limits but tolerates your stubborness for only so long) and then it hits. That slow uprighting position you take when your either on your knees (heads out of gutter - thank you!) or standing up, finishing the job. Your hands immediately go to your back and you arch it, but you're not really paying any attention to the pain that hammers up your spine and right down your sciatic nerve. No! you're patting yourself on the back, a brief nod to the good day and time well spent on your garden. Your plants will thank you later.

Too bad your back won't.

Isn't that when we treat our back to a nice hot shower and a silent promise to take it easy the next few days and enjoy smelling the flowers.

I know back pain. I had a back injury four years ago and as someone who's walked out from two spinal taps, I can tell you that at thirty, it's not getting better. I thought to post this to a different journal but it really does apply here to other people, many other gardeners who ignore their back and keep on working. It's not the way to go. Plants will be fine and while my front lawn and backyard grow faster with each passing day, it's not that big of a deal to cut it down. It'll get done. Just like the house cleaning.

I can honestly say that my back has no time to recover. What, with working a labor job (yes, THIS retail job falls into a heavy labor category) and working out to repair the damage, my back has been nothing but forgiving. Chiropractors are the way to go, especially when I can't fix the problem myself. Mind you, I go to the gym, I run, I stretch, I do weights, etc ,etc ,etc, but I also take two days off on the weekends and those days off are for me and my back. I've had my chiropractor take up the position of personal trainer too only because back corrections are so hard to fix and you can easily further the damage. This applies to gardening too where people are hunched over for hours, picking weeds (oh my, you should SEE the weeds in my garden!) and digging holes. Save your back. Rent a machine or get some young thing to do it. Especially where holes are concerned.

For me, I wake up early early in the morn (5am if I can) and I run with the dog. I come home, drop the pet off and head out to the gym, spending forty minutes there, lifting weights and stretching. It really sets my mood for the day, pushing me into something positive that I can ride for the next eight hours. It also does wonders for my back. I come home at night and again, once the family is fed, baby put to sleep (I have a 19 month old), then it's grabbing the dog and out for another run!

I am by no means a thin little thing (okay... welll im 5'2") but I weigh 160 lbs of overweight flub that I'm trying to get rid of. I packed it on in december (wow hey! Where did All that WEIGHT come from!) and have not been able to be rid of it ever since. I wont allow myself to buy new clothes but wear hand-me-downs (my punishment for gaining 20 lbs in a month!), I've cut out the sugar, cut down on the breads and I drink lots of water. I find that when I exercise, my body naturally shoos away the sugar cravings and I have more urges to drink water than I do anything else. Ive heard of people cutting out a lot of eating in general but I work a labor job and lets be honest here. I cut my portions down but by no means do I cut food out. Doing so would be foolish to my body and downright abusive. My body needs fuel to run and just like a well oiled car, it needs vitamins. Tea has nearly been cut out of my diet and I don't drink pop. Pop drinkers! Cut it out of your diet and guarenteed you'll lose 20 lbs in three months just because you left that behind!

It's a trialing task and listen, we didn't gain that weight over night. It always takes time and it's not about the end result, it's about the journey. This also means going to bed at a respectable time, giving my body the time to regenerate and relax. On my days off, on the weekends, I take a pill to fully relax and wind down, usually the robax (back relief thinger?) and I do it only when I can't come out of a work high (it's a mode thats difficult to phase out of once home). I try not to take any medications because they make me groggy and they also can't be that healthy for you.

A back injury like mine is by no means permanent and the soreness in your back can be changed too. You just have to want it bad enough and find ways to make it work for you. I change things up all the time, after a program runs it's course for 6 weeks, it's changed, challenging my muscles to new and fit ways to maintain a healthy and workable body, especially in the job force.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Hodge Podge Friday

At work, across from vegetables, in the shrub and tree lot, we have a pond. It's where we send everyone to go to talk about trees and shrubs. It's a key meeting point and everyyear we plant stuff into it. Well, last year, one of the employees pulled a lot of stuff out, cut back and opened up the garden so I could go in there and plant the hell out of this garden with bulbs. Here's the result of autumn planting.

You bet it was a lot of work.