Is it that time of year again?

Given that I was in a horrible mood yesterday I thought I would post about something that gives me great joy in the warm months. My garden.

I have been so focused on getting our bathroom redone, which is set to go the first week of March. Wohooo!!! However, we have to poly the new vanity sometime before then. Booooooooo!!!!!! And we are contemplating getting a new car. Sniff Sniff. I love little Minnie but she is not in tip top shape. That means doing a lot of research and going around to dealerships. So somewhere in the midst of this I see that it is time to start thinking about my little plot of land and what I want to do with it this summer.

I have perennials and shrubs (mostly flowering) surrounding the house and even beds out in the front. I try to choose low maintenance plants, however, no garden is without some form of maintenance.

Here is what our outside looks like in early summer. Now these photos are from '08 so imagine that these plants are much much larger now.  And unfortunately the big task ahead of me this summer is thinning them out. I absolutely hate thinning out my plants because I feel like I am killing my little beauties. But it is a necessary evil because if left unchecked they will begin to crowd each other out.  Perfect example are my spider plants which are lovely spring/early summer bloomers but spread like the plague. Those little suckers are the bullies in my garden and threaten to push out everything. Plus they pop up in the most surprising and unwanted places. And I hate to tell you this but echinacea or pink cone flowers are another bully. If you give them an inch they will take a mile.

Our door is to the side

Our side view or should I say front view.

You can see the lamb's ear at the bottom which has literally gotten out of control this past summer and the white irises that Roe finds a nuisance since they fall over right by the door.  By mid-summer you start to see the gladiolas, hydrangea (which is quite frankly a bush now), black-eyed susans, and echinacea.

A  pick of the back with our ornamental grass and butterfly bushes (which are my favorite since they bring so many lovely butterflies to the deck - quite a delight when we are relaxing outside). You can also see some lilies and cone flowers peeking out.

Picture of one of the big bullies in the garden. They are in a turf war with the spider plants for control of the side of the house. Little do they know that I will be the enforcer this summer.

These are the biggest thorn in my side. My roses are in the front beds off to the side of the driveway. I blame it on myself for not investing the time into learning the proper care of roses. Some of my bushes have grown like weeds while others loose their leaves mid way through the season but still bloom (WTF). It looks so horrible.

So I am faced with the decision of what plants I want to scale back, which ones I want to get rid of completely, and what new lovelies I want to introduce to our garden.

What are you planting this summer in terms of flowers? What has and hasn't worked for you? Does anyone have any tips about roses?