Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts

Monday, June 30, 2008

Ashes to Ashes, Tree to Dust

Current Mood: SAD :(

We are very sad to report that we have suffered a great loss here at little bird cottage. don't worry, it's not a family pet or anyone human. IT'S OUR TREE! the tree in the front yard contracted some sort of disease and within a matter of days turned to a dry, ashy, matchstick. i kept thinking it looked thirsty and so we kept watering it, and watering it, and watering it.
apparently this was the equivalent of giving someone with a hangover a band-aid, bcs i'm pretty sure that tree has bit the dust.

This is very depressing for us since A) this is our ONLY tree in the front yard, and B) this tree used to house a nest which was home to several birds, and C) we now have a very ugly...and very sad...and rather scary looking "has-been" of a formerly healthy oak tree right in front of our house.

When i said in my last post i couldn't wait until halloween i certainly did NOT mean i wanted a spooky tree in my yard. we are at a loss right now as to how we will handle this. i'm trying to convince myself it's still hanging on and can be helped through medication or therapy. Andrew says it's a "GONER" and we need to get out the chain saw. since we don't even own a chain saw, we won't be making drastic decisions anytime soon. in the meantime, i'm certainly not going to post any pictures of a spooky looking tree, so i thought this pic was much more appealing....

That cake is not real, but i like to PREtend that it is. i pretend that i baked it from scratch and i need to reward myself for a job well done by eating handFULs of dark chocolate. i highly recommend that you try this. pretend you've dusted your chandeliers or cleaned your toilets and now you need to REward yourself with chocolate. i've found that if you eat enough chocolate, and really stare at your chandelier, after awhile it really looks like it's just been DUSTed.

I have not however, tested this theory out with toilets. i refuse to eat chocolate in the bathroom. a girl has to have some standards, even when it comes to chocolate.

Pray for my tree.
TTYL,
Angela

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A very young garden.....

So, just between you and me, Little Bird Cottage is only 3 years old. No, it's not an antique cottage with centuries of history, in a quaint little town full of antique shops and B&B's. It's more like an almost-but-not-quite cookie cutter style house in an over-developed subdivision. Oh well, it's home to me! Regardless, it's cottage to us, and we love it. All that being said, I think Andy and I have done a pretty good job in the landscaping department in our short time here. These are pictures of our backyard garden which we just developed last year around this time. Each of these plants is only a year old!!!!
This is the back section of our yard which was originally nothing but half dead golf course grass. Last year we planted 5 trees (two pear trees & 3 crepe mertyles) and a number of plants, along with sodding and mulching the entire area. We also stained our fence. Well, hehehehe, I say "WE", but all the credit actually goes to Andy bcs I was pregnant and he wouldn't let me do anything (what a gentleman!). I drew the diagram for the landscape plan and "supervised", which everyone knows is my favorite job, and one that I do VERY well!

Since we live in South Texas we are limited to planting things that are extremely heat and drought tolerant like Asparagus Fern, Rosemary, Slavia, and Lantana. I currently have absolutely NO shade in my backyard, so my dreams of topiaries and hydrangeas will have to wait until we move to a different house. Not everything is blooming yet, but when it is I will be sure to post more pics of our young garden.



Look at this other little bunny I found hopping around the shrubs............