Outside work...

 The shed's getting its casual landscaping! Wasn't it nice of Keith to wear that gorgeous red t-shirt that looks so good on my page? Last week we planted viburnum, butterfly bush, and a couple of hollies. Today we found the red twig dogwood we wanted, and a crabapple tree.  Other than a few perennials, that's about it...the birds will be DELIGHTED with all the berries and fruits this winter, and the hummingbirds and butterflies will love it right now...

Meanwhile, the bold little rock Pablo of Round Rock Journal sent me is trying to outshine everyone else in the rock garden...look at that glow!

Spring is coming!

 

And we're thinking about our mini-nature sanctuary!  Our friend Keith used to have a garden center and nursery, so we asked him for advice about our very-shady lot where the shed is.  I want to maintain an illusion of wildness, since it HAS largely grown up in the years I've owned it--the shed feels a lot like it's in the country, right here in town.

I specified things that would look natural, offer privacy, and that the birds and butterflies would like...

Mostly I want a crabapple and a couple of red-twig dogwoods right now...we'll start slow, what we can afford and what won't take much maintenance--both of us have bad backs and I've got arthritis, so hoping to have really hardy, mostly maintenance-free plantings, shrubs and perennials mostly.

Here are some of Keith's suggestions, many of which I wasn't familiar with, so I'm browsing the 'net and checking out what these are.  (You can click on the image to see it larger.)  Blue Muffin Viburnum is COOL, and the birds agree.

Sooooo...we'll see how much we can afford, and go from there!