Pond Plants Yay!

I added a photo to the step by step post, but here are some of the pond plants that just got added.

Dwarf Cattails

Aquatic Mint

Red Water Lilies

Dwarf Water Lilies

Dwarf Bowl Lotus

Parrot's Feather

Variegated Water Celery

Horsetail Rush

Black Gamecock Iris

Aquatic Forget Me Nots

Bloody Dock!

Water Hyacinths

Water Lettuce

Spider Lilies

And Water Hibiscus

I also added a couple aquarium plants just to se how they'd do.

Hygrophila - Spreading like crazy

And Bacopa

Portland and Washington

Last week I went to see my friend Sunshine, aka Alex Wrekk, in Portland, OR and then my brother and sister-in-law in Winlock, WA. Oregon and Washington are a plant lovers dream; beautiful, green, and full of gorgeous plants! The restaurant selection is also astounding. I could absolutely live there.

Sunshine's yard is amazing! Dumb me didn't get any pictures, but you can see a few in her blog. I covet her fantastic native plant bed. My brother and sister-in-law live on five acres of beautiful land across from a forest. Their home, which they built for the most part, is elegant and full of character. The lot is full of evergreens and I loved how perfect their tractor looked lazing away under them.

Just another beautiful Winlock scene

I need to make a trip back soon!

Picked Up More Plants from Pam Today!

I just love Pam's selection of Woodland plants. This time I picked up:

5 Jack in the Pulpit

 5 Blackberry Lillies

3 More Ostrich Ferns

5 Twin Leaf Jeffersonia

5 Sharp Lobed Hepatica

10 Dwarf Crested Iris

And 5 Dutchmen's Breeches

I can't wait to see them in my garden!

Our Future Yard

I was going to wait until all the work was done to take pictures and post about it, but well I'm just too excited about what's in store. Plus lots of what has been planted is just root stock and may not be visible till next spring, so I figured I'd list some of the things we've done so far and plans for the next couple weeks. A couple weeks ago I planted a Bleeding Heart. Luckily our freak spring snow storms haven't done any real damage. 

 Plants that have been patiently waiting through this erratic weather to go next to the pond are:

A pink/orange lily

Sweet Potato Vines (both colors)

Stone Crop

Snap Dragons

Labrador Violets

And New Guinea Impatiens

We also started planting our garden box. So far we've planted four types of tomatoes, jalapenos, and Crenshaw melons. I'm also planning on adding some watermelon, lettuce, and spinach.

I put a little box of Chocolate Mint and Peppermint on the brick pyramid that was there when we moved in. They smell SO yummy! 

A slightly sad little Fuchsia

Petunias in the pyramid. We also planted strawberries, basil, and Rock Cress here. 

Items that are in the mail, or about to be, include:

50 Peacock Orchid/Lily bulbs

10 Ostrich Ferns

10 Wild Ginger Plants

10 Trout Lilies (5 Yellow, 5 White)

10 Trillium plants (5 Grandiflorum, 5 Sessile)

25 Hostas (2 different kinds)

And 100 Lily of the Valley plants

Pants I'm considering for the pond include:

Monkey Flower

And Bloody Dock as well as several others

Ps. Many of these came from my new favorite Ebay seller, ClamPam. Thanks Pam!!!

*Note - not all photos were taken by me. Some are from garden stores/websites.

Irises

Honestly, I was a tiny bit disappointed. I LOVE Iris. When I noticed the large number of flowerless Iris in our new home's back yard I was excited. The home where I grew up was surrounded by a lovely dark purple shade of Iris and I suppose, for sentimentality, that I had hoped these might be similar or even a mix of colors. When they came back this spring, however, I learned that they are all a very pale yellow. They are definitely pretty, don't get me wrong, but I think I am going to have to pick up a few other colors for variety.

It's pond time - Step by Step

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a hole

This is the rock we chose for the border

The hardest part was putting in the liner

Liner trimmed and a layer of rock

And finally some plants