I really wasn't going to do any gardening this spring/summer. It is so hard here and it gets so hot that I lose interest. Also, my flower beds were a complete mess and looking at them all grown over with dead hydrangeas bushes a rose bush that has gone wild made me twitchy. But then I thought, you know. I am better than this mess. It is not in my blood to just let this go and I always go back to the dream I have of a beautiful yard. That is how I grew up, keep planting, keep trimming, pull out the dead ones, make it new again. What fun would it be to enjoy the fireplace and patio and look at a complete disaster? So last weekend I tackled the back gardens. It took about three days but I did it. I bought the weed liner and put it down. i bought 20 bags of top soil and used all of them. I was going to go all veggie this year, thinking I do not need a cutting garden and then I thought, who am I kidding? I do need a cutting garden. I love the English gardens but the Alabama summers are not like English summers. It is rather impossible to grow lavender here. Lavender is one of my favs and it loves a cool summer and a rainy one. We might have rainy but we sure don't have cool. Rannuculus is also another fav. again, cool and rainy or even just not super hot and they'd probably grow. Can't grow them here. I moved some day lillies to the front. I also moved some of the hostas b/c we are putting a flagstone patio under the deck. This space will be beautiful when its done. It might take me 10 years but I'll get there. So far I have a cherry tomato and a beefsteak tomato in one bed. I was going to do peppers but really, no one here even likes them. I'd love to add baby's breath to the cutting garden but again, it would burn up here. Right now that garden has an Annabelle Hydrangea which is doing well there and in the sunnier spot I put a purple cone flower and a fabulous red yarrow. I'm excited to get back to the nursery to see what else is there. I will keep trying to garden here until I get it right.

I am filling out the swim club ap today and sending it off with our check. Joe is actually excited about the pool. He is never excited about going to the pool so this is a new thing. I'm glad b/c I'm a summer girl and I need a reason to be at the pool. It will be nice to be at Willow Trace again. We always loved going there. It is a beautiful pool and the committee has done a nice job maintaining it. They've made the nonresident fee a steep. But if we were to put a pool in our back yard it would be about 40k initially and then chemicals and inurance and then I would worry about accidents happening. So the fee we have to pay for a summer membership is relatively cheap! Bring on summer. :)