Yay!! Spring!

Been spending a little time in the yard every day...  And it's starting to show.  The jungle will be tamed into submission yet!!

This area on the northeast side of my house used to be covered in Balloon Flower vines.   They were 2-3 feet deep and wide along both the foundation and the fence line. The nasty things were even crawling up under the siding!  Still have a few more to pull out from around the heat exchanger unit and the front of that little shed, but this section is pretty darned close to ready to have the newspaper, mulch and compost laid down to make nice planting beds.  It may just sit like that for a year since I'm not sure what I'm going to be planting in this mostly shady piece of yard.

And in this section leading from the patio back to the northwest corner of the house, I've started putting down the cinder block edging.  Those things are heavy! I'm glad I'm only having to carry them a few yards at a time.  My plan is to plant strawberries in the holes.  A few more weeds to pull (I ran out of oomph before I finished that today) and this section will also be ready for its layers of newspaper, mulch and compost and a few other flowers and herbs that I want to transplant here from other places in the yard.

Here's a few more pix from around the yard today.

The now lopsided Ornamental Plum in the front.  A couple of encounters with limbs from a dying Maple in the parking strip followed by snow and wind did that.  I love the tree (except for the couple of weeks in July when it's dropping fruit) and how it keeps that corner of the house shaded.  I'm hoping I can get it trimmed back and balanced out again...    The flowers are just starting to decline now so very soon it will be covered in dark red foliage and plums.  The fruit is edible.  Well, maybe I should say it isn't poisonous because the skin and just around the pit are sour enough to pucker your bottom lip right up over the top of your head!

This little bed is in the strip between my driveways.  Thought all those daffodils were pretty even though showing you this picture does highlight the need for me to get back out and remove Star of Bethlehem and out of control Trumpet Vine that just started popping up out of nowhere a couple of summers ago.  My neighbor has a Trumpet Vine that's been trained over maybe 40 years to stand like a tree.  I had visions of doing that but I think I failed in the attempt and now I'm ready to yank them out and try something else with the bed.  I haven't absolutely decided but the Trumpet Vine may find a new home crawling over the pergola type patio structure in back.  It's that or climbing roses.  Hmmm... buy rose bushes or move the trumpet vine for free.

And just because they are so cheerful, these daffodils got a closeup!  That's the last of the red Tulips and some Columbine tucked in there, too.

I really enjoy this time of year.  Yay!! Spring!