Too much labor again...

My weather app lied.  It said it was 62 degrees outside at 1:30 PM.  That is cool.  It was hot.  But I didn't realize just how wrong it was until after I got started with my labors, so I pushed myself through the misery.

I painted the third and final and right-colored coat on the steps and the trim around the window and the door.  I did not paint the fascia board because Firewood Man still wants to cover it.  I don't because that means more painting for me.

I think that you might be able to see what I meant about the sheen being slightly different, but I think that the color match is good and eventually it just won't matter.

Yes, the replacement bush is in the ground.  Meaning ... after painting ...  I went to fetch the osmocote and look to see if I could find a lilac bush.  This time, Mary went with me for the bush part.

I must have stared at the four choices for a half hour whilst talking to Mary.  Usually, I know which bush I want right away, but these were all sort of small for the price and I finally made my decision based on the one with the most blossoms (or evidence thereof by dead blossoms in the pot).  I actually measured for the bush to be in the center, but doesn't look centered.  I thought about digging it up and moving it over but then thought that I was already almost dead from painting, driving, walking, riding in the cart, choosing plants, driving, walking, riding in the cart, picking up the osmocote, exchanging it because it was filled with the wrong type, choosing plants, driving, walking, planting, and watering.  So, I left it where it is.

This just has to be the last time I try to do any major yard things.  From now on, I am going to have to have someone go with me and then do the work whilst I manage the process.  I foresee many, many, many days of recovery.  I had planned on taking myself to a real restaurant for my birthday next week, but I doubt I will have recovered by then.  SIGH.  Actually, though, I am still girding my loins over the thought of going to a restaurant all by myself, so perhaps a long recovery is a good thing.........

I have been loathe to talk about these replacement bushes of other replacement bushes because they are quite beleaguered.  Firewood Man cannot figure out why the first ones died or why these barely survived the winter.  Actually, in March and in April, they looked absolutely dead.  Even Tim was certain they were dead.  However, the bulk of each bush is still alive, so I am gritting my teeth and living with slightly ugly bushes.

The planting I did was to put in some ground cover which, theoretically, should spread out and come back each year like the thyme in the back yard.  I actually only bought two, one of which was immense.  I broke one in 2 pieces and one in 3 pieces and then planted them in the bed.  I usually put begonias out front, but the ones I planted last year almost outgrew the bushes.  The resulting odd proportions in the bed was slightly embarrassing.

In the photo before this on and this long shot of the porch, you can see that I filled the six GREEN pots on the ledge with flowers.  For years, even back in Alexandria, I had sedums that grew all year round.  However, I killed the originals the winter before last year by forgetting to water them in the winter and the replacements of last spring by not watering them this winter.  I decided to spent $1.49 on flowers and see if they grow.

In both photos, you can also see how utterly happy the Wandering Jew baskets are to be outside.

The house came with two hummingbird planters on either side of the front steps.  However, I knew from the moment I first saw the house in the listing, that my lions belonged there.  So, I convinced the movers to move the ginormous planters to the end of the porch and to put my lions up in their prior place.  Being December, I had to heat up water to thaw the bottom of the planters so that they could be moved.  The moving men were not happy with me.  But I sure was happy with their labors.

Again, the past four spring/summers, I kept the planters filled with sedums.  However, going with the mini-six-pack theme of not trying to have perennials that I must remember to water over the winter, I filled the hummingbird planters with a bit of color.  Oh, how I LOVE ME some variegated plants!!!!!

I went a little wild with color here in the larger of my two glazed pots.

But was back to sedate here.

The plant in the larger pot used to be this:

Obviously, over the past two years, this free slightly unattractive succulent grew and grew and grew.  So, I repotted it.

You can also see—aside from the growth of the slightly ugly succulent—that I am trying to start two more String of Pearls in the smaller pots.

Happiness is a magnificent fern bed, but happiness is also a String of Pearls plant that has loved you so much that in just three years it went from an itty, bitty baby to this gloriousness.

The original owner of the house has this pot (and an identical one) in her house.  When she died, my neighbor got the pots.  Last year, she gave them back to me.  I used one of the pots to put the left overs of the 6-packs for a bit of color at the end of the raised bed.  Hopefully, they will live.  Since the pot has no hole, I filled the bottom with rocks and then sand and then put in the soil.

[A proper photographer would have cleaned off all the dirt so that you could properly see the slight butter color of the pot.  They really are quite pretty in an understated way.]

I am showered and moaning and groaning and kicking myself at the moment.  I am still beat red in the face, even though I actually took a cold shower.  I am glad the pots on the front porch are no longer empty. I am glad the steps are finished as far as painting goes.  [I cannot work further on the steps until the 4 warped balusters are replaced.]  I am glad the empty spot on the one side of the porch now has a bush back in it.  I am glad that I have osmocote in my garage again.  I am not, however, glad that I worked far too hard today.  And, knowing that this was clearly my last hurrah, if any bush dies, someone else is going to have to remedy the situation.  ABSOLUTELY no more hole-digging for me.

I will say that I pushed myself because I knew that if I did not plant what I bought tonight, it would languish for days and days.  I also knew that if I did not purchase the small plants when I got the bush, I might have ended up with empty pots (great sadness) because I am just not wanting to go to large-box stores anymore without help.  And what help do I have?  None.

For the six GREEN pots on the front porch ledge, the two round glazed pots, and the hummingbird planters, I will need to find someone who likes to putter with small plants by next spring.  Or, rather, some teenager, maybe, whom I could pay to go with me to the store, help me pick out some annuals, and then help me plant them.  IF that is the only yard work needing doing, I might could manage.  Maybe.  Who knows.

For now, I walked around the entire perimeter of my house and spoke to all my perrienals, bushes, and trees, thanking them for growing and ask that they establish themselves further this summer so that nothing needs replacing next year.  Not tomorrow.  Not even next week.  But perhaps in two or three weeks, I will treat everything with the systemic and nutrients that I used last year, which really, really, really seemed to help my beleagured redbud tree.  And, maybe, accounts for the massive display of blooms on the weeping cherry and the crabapple tree.  I think, actually, I also treated the Rose of Sharons.  If not, everything will get that weird-blue-stuff-that-stains-if-you-get-it-on-yourself-after-it's-mixed-and-has-1,001-safety-warnings-on-how-to-use-it.

Since Firewood Man put off mowing after I called him to say that I painted the steps and didn't want grass blowing around tonight, the very last task I did—in my pajamas—was to go back outside in the dark and cut three blooming branches off the large rose bush that were blocking the walking (and mowing) path on the side of the house.  Yes, I wept, but it was a good pruning ... a right pruning.

You know ... when I got the new can of house red paint, I had a $10 coupon and ended up getting a coupon for a $10 rebate (already submitted).  The annuals (something I told myself I would never purchase again because of my tight budget) were actually just over $20, if you include the $4.96 rebate (already out in the mail) I will be receiving from Menard's.  So, can I say that they were "free" items, since I needed the stain, chip brushes, and osmocote anyway????

Myrte Math ... it can justify anything!