Fall Planting Spring Flowers

At the beginning of October my daughter's school had a frundraiser.  They sold flower bulbs from a company called Dutch Mill Bulbs.  I got 10 bags of bulbs and have been slowly, but surely, getting them in the ground before winter sets in.

In the ground......

Waiting for the huge pot I have......

I read that these can pull up other flowers if you need to dig them up and divide them, hence the putting them together and putting them in a pot.

Waiting to go in the ground........

And in the fridge....

I got super excited about these, because they are an indoor perennial.  However, once I got them I found out that they only bloom once and then most people throw them away.  Plants that don't come back year after year always make me kind of sad, and in my opinion are a waste of money.  That being said, these are in the fridge, because I am trying to delay blooming until Christmas.  About 4-6 weeks ahead of time you plant these in a pot, and set them in a dark cool place and slowly bring into the sunlight to "force bloom" them.  I think you confuse the plant into thinking spring has come, since most bulbs need a cold, dormant season to thrive.  Come Christmas I will have sweet smelling, lovely blooms that will eventually end up in my yard where nature will take it's course. 

All photos taken from the Dutch Mills Bulbs website:

http://dutchmillbulbs.com/

Tombstones

I'm a big Halloween fan.  When I was searching for tombstones last year to decorate our own yard, I couldn't find anything that I liked.  Either they were too small, bad quality, or had the same cheesy sayings on them that I knew everyone else would have.  So I decided that we should make our own.  I found the instructions on Martha Stewart's website, and pretty much followed them as they were given.

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tombstone-yard-halloween-decorations

The only real differences are we etched our sayings and scratches into the tombstone with an exacto knife, and used yellow and green to make a sickly looking moss rather green and red to make moss and rust effects.  Also instead of rebar my husband is drilling holes into them (as we speak, and I don't think that he minds getting a new power tool out of the deal), and he's inserting wooden dowels into them with glue (about 12 in. into the decoration with 12 extra in. that will go into the ground).  Then we will be sealing them with WATER-based polyeurathane which isn't necessary, but we have a good chance of getting snow in October, so I wanted to be extra prepared, especially since so much time went into these things.

These pictures are from last year.  I will make a post when they are completely finished, and placed outside.  I am thinking of adding lanterns on shepherd's hooks.  I also bought a pair of tattered hands coming out of the ground that reminded me of my husband (in a creepy way).  :)

Gardening in the Front Yard

Here are the pictures of my "garden", and also pictures of the plants when they are grown by a professional.  I got the latter from google.  Keep in mind that when I received these plants they had been in there original nursery containers for almost the whole summer so they are not going to look as pristine as they would if they were in the ground right away.  You can't beat free though and I hope they make a big comeback in the spring/summer.

First is the Daylilies in Chicago Apache.  This is what they look like now (well what they looked like in August)

Next is a "planter" I guess is what you would call it, that's in our driveway.  Hopefully I finish the rock border soon.  I'm just using rocks I find in the backyard when I dig up flower beds.

And a different view shot with the much prettier toy- cam app on my phone.

 These plants are growning in there. Coral Bells in Caramel

 False Spirea in Peach

Jacob's Ladder

It took me forever to find out that these are called Cardinal Flowers.  I don't have a current picture from the internet because I didn't know what they were called until recently.  However they don't look much different then this.  These will actualy be moving out back because even though they can live in the shade, they preform much better with some sun.

Lastly the Vinca Vines.  These are in the large "planter" by our front door.  These are supposedly fast spreaders that will grow almost anywhere.  Hopefully they will go from looking like this......................

To This!

Thank you for reading this blog.  This is just a small selection of the plants I received from my husband's grandma.  Also, since most of our front is shaded the selection that I could put out there is limited.  I will be posting a follow up to this showcasing the backyard (where the really pretty stuff is!), and the bulbs I will be getting from my daughter's school.

Am I Too Old....

A little background first. My father was an older man who had a very rare illness (go to http://www.alpha1.org/ to learn more), because of my experiences I told myself I would have my kids young.  My cut-off age is thirty.  Pregnant by twenty-nine.  Give birth by thirty.  No more babies after that.  The dilemma is that there is a big age gap between my first two kids (one is 2 and the other is 9) and I would like to have another child, but I only technically have this year and the next and then done.  No more.  I'm not sure if I'm ready though. I had an emotionally trying pregnancy and have worked hard over the past 2 years to overcome that, and my second child was a VERY difficult baby. So I guess the dilemma is do I go against a very strong conviction that has been with me for years, and wait until I am ready, but possibly live with the regrets of having another child "too late", or do I get pregnant now even though I really don't want to and may not be emotionally ready to.  Let me just say I am very convicted about the over 30 thing, mainly because of my upbringing.  There are two very strong emotions at play here and it feels like time is running out. Any of you have a similar timeline of when it is too late to have kids, and do you have any specific reasons for it?