Adventures at The Bunny Manse

We've been enjoying the spring, not-spring, spring weather and getting our yard in order for the year. We basically create something new each season or so, one day the whole thing will be done and lovely and just what we want.  Today, there are pockets of magic.  Like my roses  From eye level  And from above!  I finally planted blueberries - and forsythia as our yard somehow had none. Harris spent an entire afternoon re-setting these curbstones that had sunk over decades.  Little Pebble Creek is filling in nicely. That's one pretty drainage ditch!  The front yard bench near the roses.  Otherside of the front yard And PLUM TREES to compliment the peach trees! Our Orchard is starting to take shape.  it's all pieces here and there because we do have this whole set of girls who need... quite a lot of our attention. We're happy to oblige most days.  Easter...

We've been very slowly attempting to convert the South Lawn into more than a grass pit and parking lot. We started earlier in the year by having TROSA come and remove all of the leaves, ivy, and debris from the yard. We then fixed the fence at the back property line so none of us would fall over the 8ft drop into the church parking lot behind our house. Fun times. One day, the tree that is on their property that leans over their church is going to fall.  We've talked to them so many times, offering to let them use our yard to trim or remove the tree... their response was that they have insurance if anything happens.  OK then.  Then, we finally got started building the swingset. Hard to believe, but when Harris and our friend/neighbor Rob went to disassemble and bring the parts back from Raleigh, the dolphin swing was for Margot. She got her ride in it, was joyful, then moved on to the big girl swings.  Madeline taking pictures of me ...

Digging up the little area next to the driveway to plant monkey grass - Harris thought I was the only one in the world who called it Monkey Grass, not that it was the proper noun of the plant in the south. The lawn and garden guy at Lowes helped him reach acceptance.  Anyway, in digging that little trench, I found a buried pipe that runs from plant three back to before the missing gate in the front yard fence. But it is a good thing Harris is here. He had the foresight to ask 'does it run under the house' to my 'would you please just pry it up?' You see that middle grassy strip? One day it's going to be rock, or moss, or maybe grass because you know, there is three inches of rock under that grass. I'm going to have some fun with a hose.  And Little Pebble Creek, looking more complete but still not complete. I planted hosta on the left side. On the right side in the new bed I planted the little potted hydrangea that I have Harris for vale...

The South Lawn (aka the other lot, aka our yard) suffered benign neglect for at least the past 10 years. The previous owners had a service that came twice a month to mow and tidy up,  but they were not doing anything else. Last year, we had a service for the same thing. This year is different. So far, we've created the rose garden. Here we have deeply scented roses from Lowes and a climbing Joseph's Coat from Witherspoon. A cedar shrub was growing out of this little strip of land. Every time we opened the gate we got a hand or face full of prickles. It was quite unpleasant.  Our best guess is that at some point there was sewage work done that required digging up a portion of the patio. There is a cleanout in the middle of this bed of rock. prior to the pretty rock it was rock covered over in dirt and brush and grass. I spent a lazy couple of hours with the hose washing the rock and removing the mud so that we could put in new rock and stop the growth there. We also h...

Harris and I held our commitment ceremony at SEEDS on March 22, 2008. It was the anniversary of our first date. In the run up to have the house have walls and running water - we broke a sink pipe as Harris's mom arrived to help - we also took a look at the front yard. It was ugly and barren. We went to home depot and purchased some annuals, two pots, and two peach trees. We flanked the stairs to the porch with these to add beauty as we walked in to what would be our home. Each summer there after I took pictured of our little girl - our anniversary baby-  under the branches of those peach trees.  When we sold Der Krackenhaus and moved to The Bunny Manse, I said a very sad goodbye to the peach trees, thinking of Anne of Green Gables saying goodbye to the white lady under her bedroom window. Thinking of the fruit and love we shared. Thinking of the damn squirrels who stole the fruit running across the porch roof. Those damn squirrels. The very kind and thoughtful peo...

Because Sunday was glorious for December I got Bill and Davie to come help in the yard. They raked up 20 bags of leaves while I dug up the plot of Tuberoses. Very happy to report that so far, the tuberoses are fine and should store fine for the winter! I was afraid I'd waited too long to get them out of the ground. In their place I put in 200 tulips. Come March we should have a lovely little garden bed of flowers greeting us just beyond the fence line. And so being outside I started thinking again of colors. Like Purple. with red and white accents. Maybe some green too. We have three buildings to paint so was thinking of inversing the colors on the smaller ones. Will keep playing with these ideas until we get the right color scheme.  Our Bunny Manse is huge, but from the outside doesn't immediately appear large. I like being able to choose a really dark color for the exterior to have you walk in and feel open and huge. It's like Willie Wonka's hallway. The ...