Living With Squirrels: New Flower Bed

After 5 years of neglecting all my flower beds, I FINALLY felt like doing some pretty yard work. However, I wanted something in the backyard, not just the front & down in the lower 40. In the lower 40, one cannot just casually look & enjoy the flowers. You have to meander down there specifically to look at them. And let's face it, I'm LAZY. If I can't enjoy it by simply looking out of a house window, I won't enjoy it at all. I spend much more time in our backyard than any other part of our yard, so I wanted a "happy spot"there:)

This whole project was taken on by our entire family. The girls were as excited as I was to get it started. They helped dig out the grass, which was about 18 feet X 4.5 feet. Terry & I had to do most of the digging, but they cut the lines to divide it up into smaller sections for easier removal. Terry then leveled the dirt & we were off to Lowe's to by the border stones I wanted!

Terry began to lay the foundation row & showed me how it needed to be done. While he was at work, I had to mark the "corner" stones & the "straight" stones so that I could see that they were exact & symmetrical. This is my anal gene coming out in force!! The front & back "straight" rows were marked with alphabet letters & they had to be across from one another. Terry just laughed:) Whether mentally or physically, I'm sure he rolled his eyes, too. But it's what works for me!

The "corner" stones I marked with numbers 1-4 twice. Don't ask.

When building a flower bed against the house, most people use the house for support & build up the other 3 sides. But with our vent holes & wood siding, that's a bit of a problem. So of course I create more work to build it up by stoning it all around.

The girls helped throughout the entire 3 weeks to get this done. They shoveled dirt from the truck, into the wheel barrow and into the flower bed without a single complaint. They wouldn't even let me do any shoveling until they began to get tired. They did over half of it before they'd let me help:) They asked if we could divide up the flower bed into sections & allow each of them to care for their own. They worked their hynies off, so I thought they deserved that privilege. They each got a 3 foot section, I got 4 feet. Why did I get 4? Because it was my idea in the first place & I'm just selfish like that:)

There are 2 sections in this picture (above). The far left is Brynn's & all she wanted was Pansies. It's fun to watch her enjoy them. She smiles & giggles just thinking about 'em! The right side of the picture is Kara's. She loves Fox Glove's & chose 2 different sizes. They're in the back row with a sun flower between them. She also likes Marigold's. Brynn shared the extra Pansies to divide up between everyone else, too. I think there's a Dahlia & a Gerbera Daisy in there too. Honestly, I can't remember all the varieties that were planted by everyone! Everyone chose their own for their section.

The middle section of the bed is mine. I have a couple of Daisy plants in the back, a Dahlia & Carnations in the middle & a variety of the "extra" flowers left over from the girls' choices.

This is Olivia's & Emma's section. The left is Livvy's. I know she has some snap dragons in there, petunias, a Dahlia, gerbera daisy, marigolds, & a fun pink bells plant that I can't remember the name of. We did try to put the flower name tags next to the flowers as we planted them. But I'm too lazy to go out & actually write them down for this blog:) The right part of the picture is Emma's. I think her favorite plant is the Poppy, which is the tall orange & pink flowers in the back. She has some purple snap dragons & another purple plant that I can't remember the name of. She has a gerbera daisy as well & took advantage of some of the "extra" flowers as well.