Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Just passing through.  Male Rose Breasted Grosbeak posing for the camera!

A group of deer feasting on kudzu in the pasture.

Indigo Bunting

Look who was at my feeder this morning . . . and was there again this evening!

The Garden Benches

Two very old, very heavy concrete garden benches came with the house and are so heavy that the legs have sunk deep into the soil.

This one is up at the main house in what I now call the wisteria garden.  Behind the bench is covered with small wisteria "bushes" that I am shaping and sculpting and will eventually produce spires of purple come next spring.

Bob unearthed the legs to the bench behind the farmhouse and could barely carry them since they weigh a ton.  Looks like we'll be hiring some high school boys to move these for us up to the house.

I thought there were just cinder blocks under the top seat, but turns out these have roses on the sides as do the ones up at the main house.

The top is still in the bamboo forest and will stay there until we get some help to move it.

That time of year again, the pasture is full of thistles!

With lots of hard work, the azaleas get better each year.  I have removed vines and fed them and transplanted.

Up close, this variety looks like an orchid.

The specialty honeysuckle is coming in strong, just in time for the hummingbirds who arrived just the other evening.

I never was a fan of azaleas, but these old varieties and being such large bushes have made me a fan.  And the smell awesome!

Now that Bob is a traveling attorney, he finds piles of afghans and I'm having trouble finding places to put them!

So this weekend Bob will be in Atlanta at a concert and I will be brushing dogs who are blowing their coats.  The birds love this stuff.  I have nests all over and they all have some dog fur in them.  These wire hangars are placed around the grounds and are being used!

I Love My Doors

Last week I started working on the iron cattail door that opens to our bedroom.  Just a little paste wax brightens it and protects it.

I planted this little red azalea in the fall, it is starting to bloom.

Also unearthing the stone path that is hidden under ivy and periwinkle.

You can see the difference with the paste wax rub.

View from the bedroom.  Wisteria is everywhere!

Spring in the mountains, looking through white dogwoods.

View from the kitchen onto the courtyard.

Azaleas in bloom!

My azalea garden in the front yard with the Japanese kerria I brought from Georgia.  

The white azaleas are about to burst!

Down off the driveway right off the road I discovered stone stairs and a stone retaining wall.

I started to unearth the stairs that were covered in ivy as is everything on this property.  These stairs lead to where Suzie Wong, Daddy Pops and Bamboo are laid to rest.  We will make this our little cemetery and are going to put a cairn on each grave to mark it.

Evidently, the gardens extended all the way down here as I found a hose hook-up.  They had to have full-time gardeners because this is a LOT for one gardener to handle!

This is the pile of wisteria vines that I removed from the Pearl Viburnum that is right next to the dog cemetery.  I removed them a few months ago and will burn all this in the fireplace next winter. I continue to work on the bushes down here to remove vines to see what I find!

The Pearl is beautiful and doing so much better with my care, I only wish it were up at the house so I could enjoy it more.

In rescue this week, I sent out over 100 magnets that I made and ordered online to thank all of our donors for their support of Luna and her pups.  I raised close to $3,000 for Luna and then with Pan's vet emergency from aspiration pneumonia last week I had to raise another $1650 and people sent gifts of puppy pads, bags of food, toys and checks.  I felt it necessary to thank each person individually, but now that they are receiving their magnets, everyone is writing me, so now I have 100 responses to reply to UGH!!

Our save this week was Onyx, a Belgian German Shepherd that was at my friend Debra's shelter and we got her all the way to my rescue friend in Lancaster, PA!!  We had three, 19 year old girls at the boathouse this week for spring break, have another renter Thursday, then Friday a couple from Ohio is coming for Easter.  Bob will be in Atlanta for a concert, so I will be in the garden all weekend!!