closer you space plants, the less you typically need to weed. Weeds don't
germinate in dark, crowded spaces, so plant more perennials, ornamental
grasses and low growing shrubs that will spread out and fill the void spaces
in your landscape. Why not enjoy blooms and the colors and textures from
these plants rather than fighting weeds. Planting now can help you to avoid
weeding problems later in the summer.
Now that Steve is back from another extended trip to Africa, he and I will
be scheduling time over the next week to clean up our garden and foundation
landscapes. A little planning and cleaning goes a long way in making a
garden look good. Think about how nice it is after rooms have been picked up
and fresh sheets on the bed (at least). It feels good. You feel good. You're
smiling and you don't know why. It's the same in the garden. Even the
simplest walk through, picking up, trimming and raking will make you smile
and want to be outside in your habitat.
I am, what I consider to be, a lazy gardener. I enjoy reading and looking
for short cuts to limit actual garden work. My focus is always the end
result of healthy plants, lots of summer color and watching the bees,
butterflies and hummingbirds visit my garden. It is that picture that I keep
in my head as I pull, cut, prune, rake, and put aged manure mix back around
the plants. After what may end up being a Saturday afternoon of this,
basically the garden is good to go. Now, don't get the wrong idea. This
didn't just happen. It took some years of planning for the garden to
somewhat take care of itself. Even as a lazy gardener, I was willing to put
forth quite a bit of work and investment into the garden and landscape so
that as it began to mature, I wouldn't have to work as hard to keep it
maintained. Steve and I don't have a landscape maintenance service to take
care of this for us. We are still capable of doing this ourselves and
besides, we still have our youngest child at home (a live in lawn mower!).
Fortunately, for him, we don't have a huge amount of lawn area.
Really look at your garden or landscape and see where you can plant in more
perennials, ornamental grasses or even herbs so that you, too, can limit
your work in the garden, but can focus on enjoying your garden instead. With
the way the media works at stressing us out, we need every possible getaway
we can find. Steve and I have made our garden a true retreat and we want to
help you make your garden your own sanctuary.
As we approach Mother's Day, I hope you enjoy the new pictures in rotation
on our homepage, www.greenwoodnursery.com . We have featured us mom's here
at the nursery, Indy, Brenda, Cydney and me, with our children as well as a
few inviting setting pictures. Don't miss our new Gift Ideas Department with
wonderful plant collections that will delight your favorite person as well
as our popular Gift Certificates.
Don't forget to visit our Monthly Member's Value Page, Member's Only Spring
Bonus Plants, and Landscaping Ideas Slideshow. We have some great items
featured on both the Monthly Member's Value Page and our Homepage so be sure
to check them out.
Last week, I added new pictures to our Landscape Ideas Album on our Facebook
page. Check them out for landscaping and gardening tips.
Until next time...Cheryl
