I mentioned in a previous post that I was planning on rearranging the garden. When I started garden building the year we moved in, I did not have a plan. Year after year, the gardens expanded, and still there was no plan. I just stuck new things in wherever I could fit them.

Naturally, that resulted in some things being over-shadowed by other plants. The front and side yards weren’t bad (they are smaller and get less sun, so I was more selective on plant placement). The backyard was beautiful chaos.

Last Sunday, the weather was perfect. I wasn’t really planning on tackling the task until the end of September, but it was hard to pass up such a good day. Plus, I told myself, this would give the relocated plants more time to put down good roots before winter.

I made an inventory of everything I had, and drew a quick sketch of where I planned to put it all..

That done, there was nothing to do but get digging!

Naturally, I had someone to snoopervise the process. It took all morning, and small part of the afternoon. By the time I was done, all the roses (with the exception of Navy Lady) were in the back yard where they will get much better sun; and all the rest of the plants were arranged according to height; and I had some very dirty hands.

Sign of a day well spent, if you ask me!

Naturally, everything went all wilted from the stress, but a few days later, most of it was beginning to bounce back. I may lose a couple plants, but most of them will be easily replaced come spring if they don’t make it. I’m not too worried.

The Lupin is already putting up new sprouts. So are the Oriental Poppies and Coneflowers.

I won’t really see the rewards of this until next year, but I think it’s going to be worth the wait!

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Princess Peno says those stinky boys get far too much air time. So today it’s all about her, and her her beautiful, feline perfection.

If you’re squeamish about spiders, I suggest you skip this post. If you’re like me and love the eight-legged freaks… read on!

Every night I have a little backyard ritual. I close up the umbrella, tidy up the patio table, clean up any leftover peanuts/peanut mess at Squirrelington’s, and just generally put the yard to bed for the night.

A few weeks back, I turned to come in and noticed a beautiful spider web strung across from the patio light, to the hanger that held the strawberry pot. On it was a good-sized (about a quarter) spider.

From her shape, I could tell he was some type of orb weaver, but with the back lighting, I couldn’t tell what kind (there are literally dozens of different types)

I ran back in to get my camera, but by the time I got back outside, she was gone.

I promptly forgot about her, until a week later when the same thing happened. With the same results.

Finally, the other night,s he was out – busily spinning up some dinner. He picked an ideal spot, as the moths fly right toward the light and into her web.

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With the lighting, it was tricky to get pictures, but I managed some decent ones. Again, the lighting made if difficult to determine her colouring, but I was pretty sure she was a Grey Cross Orb Weaver. I needed to get a better look at her in the daylight.

The next morning, I came out ready, with my camera. But she was nowhere to be found. In fact, the web was also gone!

But then that night… she’s out there again, building a new web!

This went on for another week. Out at night, building a web, but gone by morning with nary a trace. A little research told me this is just what cross orb weavers do – build a new web every day! (That seems like a lot of work).

So the other afternoon, I decided to do a little investigating. I poked around, all the places in the area I thought a spider might hide. Under the lights, in the strawberry pot, even down behind the garden cart that sits below the light.

Finally it dawned on me… Froggy hangs on that wall…

I inspected closer, and sure enough…

I spy a spider butt!

Carefully, I took Froggy off the wall.

Mrs. Spider stayed put, so I moved in for a closer look.

Isn’t she a beauty?

At long last, the body of the barnyard sweater is done!

Yep, that weird looking pile of knitting is the left front, back and right front. I have to do a little bit of origami and sewing to get it looking more familiar.

That will give you a better idea. Once it’s sewn together, I have to pick up stitches for the sleeves. I thought they were sewn in, but no such luck. Normally I wouldn’t mind knitting the sleeves on, but this sweater is really heavy. It’s going to be a big awkward knit for a while.

My goal is to have the whole thing done by the end of September. Here’s hoping I can meet it!

I had a free afternoon the other day, so I set up a little assembly line and started chain-piecing flannel bear paws.

And then four paws come together to make the final block (because bears have four paws, don’t you know?)

The background fabric is actually navy, not black as it appears in the pictures. The flannel is going to make a super soft quilt, but it is definitely different than working with regular quilting cotton. Not only is it thicker, it has a little more stretch, so piecing it takes a little more patience.

Still, I got the first three paw sets all together.

Only nine more to go!

The new lava sock are on fire…

Not literally, but as you can see, the first one is done. It just seemed to fly off the needles. It helps that it’s much smallter than the man socks that I just finished. It also helps that that lace pattern is only done over 1/4 of the sock (and only every fourth row.).

The rest is just a whole pile of vanilla. And as you can see on that second image, there is a bit of a subtle colour shift. It’s a long run though, so this yarn is probably better for shawls or cowls than socks. But I’ll keep trucking on this pair. I may even have the second one done by this weekend!

… Because I’ve been at it, yet again!

I picked up a couple small six inch terra cotta pots from the dollar store for some more painting adventures. It’s nice to sit outside when the weather is fine and paint away. I’ve also been watching a lot of art history documentaries lately, which I think has tweaked my creativity button.

The first pot I painted up for neighbour Krista. In addition to being a fellow crazy plant lady, she’s also a crazy bird lady. She has two African Grey parrots, and has decorated her backyard in a parrot-theme. We call it her parrot-dise.

I think this little guy will be right at home there.

Next, I wanted to paint some more flowers…. coneflowers, to be exact.

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I added a few little honey bees for interest.

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I put this funky, spikey peperomia ferreyrae plant in it to keep those bees company.

To be honest, I’m not as happy with these two as I am with my birdbath or koi. These pots are much smaller, and I think I really need a bigger canvas.

Still, I had one more pot left though, so I looked to Delighted Hands, and took some inspiration from some adorable watercolour mushrooms she painted the other day.

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Aren’t they sweet? A pretty Jade plant now calls it home.

I’m out of pots, for now… but Mom said something about having a couple for me, so there’s more adventures to come!

Something terrible has happened in my garden

Last weekend, I came home from quilting and EVERY SINGLE sunflower head was broken off and destroyed. The red ones, the poor fluffy teddy bear ones, even the big sunny yellow ones. This is all that was left…

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Nobody touched the beans, tomatoes or peppers, so I don’t think it was the raccoons, or Mr. Possum. I suspect it was the squirrels… but you’d think they’d be content with their peanut feast.

Sigh…

There’s many more buds on the sunflowers, so I’ll have new blooms soon. Hopefully they won’t fall victim to a hungry tummy.

With death out of the way…. I bring you resurrection!

I am so stoked to see my Passionflower blooming. As you may recall, she is one of the plants that comes in for the winter. I dutifully brought her in last October, and put her by the back door where she can still get lots of light. (same spot as every year before). But by January, all her leaves had fallen off, and she was just a sad mass of dead vines.

Because I’m lazy, I didn’t toss her out and reuse the pot. And it was about March that I noticed a teeny little green sprout coming up from the main vine.

As soon as it was warm enough, I put her outside. The vine continued to grow, but I didn’t really expect to see flowers (it took three years to get flowers on her in the first place). But here she is – blooming again, with lots more to come!

Elsewhere…

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…my physostegia (or false dragonhead, or obedient plant) has bloomed. She takes her time, but she’s worth it. As you can see , there are several bloom spikes on her, so she’s going to put on quite the show this year.

Speaking of shows…

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….Navy Lady decided to bust our all over the place this week. As she’s right beside the driveway, I have to keep her well trimmed (Dave doesn’t want her scraping down the side of his pretty white car), but I’ve managed to neglect her a little bit, and I think she’s showing her appreciation.

I think the squirrels have been a bad influence…

As promised, there’s a new sock on the block

You’d think I’d be tired of red after the man socks, but apparently not. You can’t really tell from the picture, but it’s a lovely marl of two shades of red. Colourway is Lava. It’s supposed to have a subtle ombre shift, but so far I’m not seeing it. Maybe I just haven’t gotten that far yet. What the yarn is, is super soft. Very nice to knit with – especially for the price. It was under $20 for the skein.

There’s no pattern to this, I’m just putting a panel of feather and fan down the front, to one side. If it works out the way I want in my head, I’ll write up the pattern and share.

And for all those wondering about the state of the stinky sweater… I’m still working away at it in the background. My goal is to have the knitting finished by the end of September, so I plan to have some sort fo an update for you soon. Stay tuned!