This Crazy Winter

The winter of 2019 is definitely one for the books. We've been through snow, rain, crazy temperatures swings, a winter thunderstorm, the polar vortex...and now another ice storm has hit the Chicago area. As temperatures hovered around freezing, the precipitation has rotated between rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. Aside from the treacherous driving and … Continue reading This Crazy Winter

Winter Has Arrived ❄️❄️

My husband had a running weather joke all summer, "Enjoy it now, it'll be snowing in 3 months". We'd all roll our eyes. Well, he really wasn't all that far off. We had the 5th biggest November snowfall last night, and it was a very messy storm. Thankfully, my college kids had left Saturday to … Continue reading Winter Has Arrived ❄️❄️

Cheerful and Bright Zinnia Bed

Last year, my friend Susan described to me how she grows a beautiful hedgerow of zinnias every year by collecting the seed heads in the fall (Fall Seed Gathering Means Beautiful Summer Zinnias). I thought I'd give it a try this spring, so I collected all the zinnia heads from my garden last fall. I … Continue reading Cheerful and Bright Zinnia Bed

Curled Leaves on the Bushes

Earlier in the spring, I began to notice that many, but not all, of my bushes in the front yard (Dwarf Korean Lilacs,  Judd Viburnum, Boxwoods, Burning Bushes, Annabelle Hydrangea) were looking a bit unhealthy. Their leaves were oddly curling and looking dry, even though we'd had plenty of rain. The worst was one of … Continue reading Curled Leaves on the Bushes

Yet another problem area addressed

As I've worked on the problem areas in the front yard, I created another sore spot in the area where we moved the Annabelle hydrangeas from. On the north side of the house were the 4 hydrangeas and a row of Hicks yews. The hydrangeas had to go because they were just too big for … Continue reading Yet another problem area addressed

Problem Areas

Everyone has problem areas in their yard.  This week, I'm going to show some of ours and some of the solutions we've finally come up with.  First was an area off the corner of the house.  When we first moved in, the landscaper designed the space to have 3 large Austrian Pines in the corner … Continue reading Problem Areas