Saturday, June 30, 2012

Cleaning out the bog water garden

You ever wish that you hadn't started something, but because you did , know that you got to sort of finish it at least a little. Cryptic huh.?
Well that embraces the water garden/bog project. We have look at it for months not wanting to touch it, then one hairbrain idea last weekend made me decide to try and clean it out.
Two things you must know,
1. this bog garden is just that; very, very boggy, one step and you are up to your knees in muck and sometimes with out the shoes you went in with.
2. It is over grown with Johnson Grass and Pig-weed, better known as itchy, itchy icky scatchy weed, don't get it on your skin, cause it will cause a rash worse then poison ivy, especially if the Johnson grass scatches you.
But needless to say it is the home to my much loved Lousiana Iris's , Lilies, Cannas and Glades, and Hosta, and so over grown that I had to try and clean it out on one the the hottest days of the year.!!!

We worked HK and I at pulling weeds, cutting weeds, pulling weeds, cutting weeds, trimming the Iris back, then we gave up.
Too tired to in the short time we worked at it to do much more. What was I thinking???

as I look at this picture , you can't even see the Hosta , how big it is and glowing Silvery- blue in the shade of the watershed.
I'm kinda surprised in this picture , that it dosen't look boggy, but shortly after I took it, the waster started to seep, making walking across it dangerous. I guess it just took clearing some of the weeds away....

Chloe dog investigating  something!!! in the background.

pulling, cutting, pulling cutting.
Now it sits, at least you can see a little of the water, the birds can come and kinda splash in the pool near the water shed. No more close in encounters with the unknown sort that leap                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ap,run, slither though the bushiest of it all and make you yelp, when they move, .Yes, that may be what prompted me to do something about it in the first place.

my babies, blooming so pretty.

the Hosta, before it took off ...

a new color  this yaer, though it looks orange, it was really a soft salmon color.
The iris were absolutly gorgeous this year, so many pretty colors, the first time to bloom for some of them. ( these pics were taken in late April, when they bloomed and before it became so over grown you want to cry>)

We havn't finished it yet... i would like to lay down weed guard, then maybe river rocks on top of that. They say Johnson grass can go dormant for up to twenty five years, and the pig-weed, well it is just plumb aggresive. I don't know if cleaning it out will help will help in the long run, but one thing I do know is that I won't be doing it  mid day in July/ August. Maybe wait until the evenings are a cool 70... if thats possible. And before the seeds start to come on.
-TNfrmgrl
 Oh yaeah .. look for the  next post about our door we found, it was written up in the Hartsville Vidette paper this week. Interesting story. More about that later.

Hoppy Visitors

I took these pictures about two weeks ago. my father-in- law found these little guys one morning in our carport at the farm. Just taking a rest on the mower. They stayed there all afternoon, then around fiveish or so started leaving one by one, they saw them for about a week , just hanging out each day, Then one day they were gone. ( Probably buried in the mud of the creek to keep cool, with our 105 + days. Very weird weather for June.) These little guys, though not too little; are Green Tree Frogs.


I see them and smile! Hope you do too.

Beads: Wonderful Beads

While on vacation , I had a chance to stop in at the " No Name Cafe" in Port St. Joe FL. What a great little shop this is, cafe, coffee, books and crafts what more could a girl want. Anyway, I came home with the most amazing assortment of beads, clearanced priced at that. Some are stone, some handmade, some are glass and others are wood, I love them all.
Beads are used in my clutches all the time but usually they are a generic type, nothing too special unless I am feeling whimiscal, or doing a special project like the White Wedding clutch which I incorperated AB glass and swavarski crystal in it. But these new little gems are wonderfully great.
My favorite is a little Garnet stone bead semi-circlish in shape with ragged edges.

I'm back, started this post a couple of days ago, got side tracked , but  where was I?
Oh yeah , the little red garnet stone beads, too cute and such a great color of red. while going through them again this morning I found a similar one in dark blue, not sure on the stone of this one, there is also jade, some green  agates and other assorted glass types.




the assortment

my favorite one : garnet


shell slices I plan on using for closures on my clutches