dianaschnuth

Last year, I planted Lilies of the Valley, some purchased from Michigan Bulb and some gifted from Scott at work. None of them appreciated the fact that I often forget to water my outdoor plants. And that I had planted them underneath an overhang, so they wouldn’t receive any direct rainfall. Or sun.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage my plants, I moved them from the overhang to a large container outside. I had intended to move the container inside before the snows came — but, like most of my autumn garden chores, that didn’t happen. So, this container of Lilies of the Valley has been sitting outside the back door all winter. I expected that I’d killed them from drought long before the snow came, anyway, and had pretty much written them off.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the back door this evening and found this:

How’d that happen?!

Add one more to the list of Not Quite Dead plants, I guess. Also on the list: my poor, neglected rose; the tiger lilies Scott gave me; my miniature daffodils; and the seedlings I’m growing indoors.

While I’m on the subject of gardening, let me air one of my grievances about my back yard:

All around our yard are these fantastic arborvitae tree-hedges. They’re easily 20 feet tall, and act as a very effective privacy screen. For some reason, though, whoever planted the arborvitae didn’t want to block out the next-door neighbors. As a result, every time I go outside to garden, the neighbors’ dog starts barking at me.

Now, I’m not scared of dogs, and I’m not scared of the neighbors. In fact, we’ve never officially met the neighbors, even after two years of living here. So, when the dog comes out and starts barking at me, and the young adult male son (Christopher, I believe) comes out onto the deck to see what the dog’s barking at, and finds me squinting up at him into the sunshine, it makes for an awkward moment. Especially when the only thing I can think of to say is, “Hello, puppy dog!”

Yeah, I guess you could say I have a way with words. *facepalm*

I’d like to screen off this section of fence with a natural screen, as well… but, now that I see how high up that deck is, I’m not sure I want trees or shrubs quite that tall on that side. You know? I’d like to have SOME sun in my damn yard. I was thinking of planting my hollyhocks there, but I don’t think they’ll grow THAT tall. If my Roses of Sharon have survived the winter, I could plant them over there, and they’d eventually grow tall enough, I think. It would take a while, though.

I don’t know. I do know that I don’t want to have to stay right by the back door for the rest of forever, in the shielded corner where the house meets the garage. If I were a social creature, maybe I wouldn’t mind. As I am, though, I just want to be left alone to garden in peace.