Suzy Says

Yesterday when I was hauling the hose around, it occurred to me that it might be fun to compare how the garden is doing now that summer is over and things should be going to sleep for the winter.

I wish I could put these pictures side by side. The comparisons really surprised me. Come on and take a look!

Remember the little rose that could? The one I thought was dead until it put out a single blossom:

I dug it up, re-potted it, and now look:

The red bush is a little less red than it was:

But it’s way bigger, and has lots of little white flowers:

The fuchsia still has buds:

And the petunia, which usually hangs above the back porch with the fuchsia, got benched because it was in the way of the Christmas lights. It’s still blooming away and seems pretty happy in the company of the euphorbia and a couple of orchids:

The passion flower vine has somewhat incredibly gone from this:

to this:

Not to be outdone, the neighboring purple honeysuckle has gone from this (in August):

To this, in early December:

I notice that the geraniums have grown like crazy. As has the potato vine. Then:

Now:

The garbage-concealing pink jasmine still has a long way to go, but when you see how it was a few months ago:

and how it is now, you can see the progress:

There you have it. As a novice gardener, I am beginning to guess that every gardener wants to do more and more. Here’s my wish/to-do list:

• Get Rob to give me the vintage truck flap with “Ford” on it, place it in the garden (I know just where, near the passion flower vine), and have lavender flanking it on both sides, one of them planted in a pot Rose made which looks like a tree trunk;
• – Plant orange nasturtiums to cascade over the window with the purple honeysuckle. I’m leaning toward Climbing Spitfire;
• – Finally get rid of the horrible eyesore that is the non-functioning hot tub, though Audrey may not approve of this plan, since it’s basically her outdoor couch:

  

• – Sow that clover/ground cover stuff that my neighbor J has been telling me about;
• – Plant little shrubs by the house to conceal the unattractive space between house and ground; and
• – Add a little path between shrubs and clover to walk from the front of the house to the back.

Obviously some of these won’t happen any time soon, and some may never happen. But a girl can dream. And I do think this place has come a long way in the two years I’ve lived here so far.