A bit of beauty

I am sitting her looking back over the summer, wishing I would have blogged more but then realizing my reasoning for not, I was living in the moment.  I wanted to go with the flow of my days, giving myself permission to just be, enjoy my children because the time is coming all to quickly, that they will be on their own living their own lives.

Summer started out cool for Spokane and today marks the third morning of 48*.  I believe fall is arriving and I am not ready to close up the house for winter.  I want to enjoy a little more of my gardens before they go to sleep until spring.  This past weekend we were able to finally get all the trimming done for fall.  The first summer we were here trimming really didn't get done at all, last summer was fast maintenance because of the wedding.  This year our bushes got the much needed attention they were due.  It has been amazing to see how things just a transformed.  My eyes were opened, to really see the secret garden I have always wanted.  I am really looking forward to spring and to keeping it this way.

Before/After Hydrangea and Variegated Dogwood

 
We have had a few plants come back to life with a little bit of added loving.  The Azalea that had so much snow dumped on it the first winter that the inside was pushed to the ground, bloomed this spring.  The giant Hydrangea bloomed and a White Rose also rejoined the family.  We've been able to identify three more bushes this year with the help of one of our local nursery's, Ritter's.  We have two different kinds of Dogwood and a Mock Orange.  I'm hoping they will all bloom well next year since we have now cleaned the dead wood out.      

The beginning of our summer was spent getting the front garden into shape.  I planted 3 Russian Sage and 2 Oriental Poppies.  The Poppies were planted to late so they didn't bloom.  I sure hope we won't loose all the new plants this winter.