Yard Trimming

 This weekend, we decided to visit a local nursery who was having a midnight madness sale. Pretty much all their stock was marked at half off or so. We bought a couple of decorative plants and two herbs that were pretty well started at a shocking grand total of about $5.00.

We left a little disappointed though because we had wanted to find something interesting in their tree selection. It was, in fact, the main reason we decided to go. Unfortunately, they had already been pretty much cleaned out. On the way home, we passed by another nursery and decided to stop by.

We plan to purchase some pecan trees in the fall but we wanted one more for the front. We had thought we might get something smallish and purely decorative. I am forever practical however and we both like the idea of having producers growing in the yard.

So we decided to give apple trees a go again. We seriously looked at one that already had 3 or 4 fully matured (though smallish) apples hanging on it's branches even though it was still in a pot. We decided to get these two instead though:

 

This one is the smaller of them -- a Granny Smith. It's trunk is straight but the top is a little thicker on one side so it looks like it's leaning. We also got this Anna apple tree:

 So now we have two trees in the front and plan to add two to the back. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a windbreak yet. By the way, don't judge me too harshly. I will get them cleaned up around the bottom there.

I have been soaking them good and they got a good soaking when we planted them so hopefully they'll be alright when it's starts getting super dry as the summer progresses. The combination of Oklahoma red dirt and water was pretty muddy. When I commented on it to Hubby, he grinned and said, "Mud pies today. Apple pies tomorrow."

Let us hope so.

We also added this ficus and a caladium (not sure on the spelling) to balance out the bed in front of our dining room.

Now I only need to get a third of these type of bushes (and maybe -ahem- trim the other two) and we'll call it done.

As for the other bed, the suggestion of a friend on my other post inspired me a little to get the herbs I mentioned (for now, thyme and oregano). I think it will become an herb garden of sorts. I've even been trying to decide if I want to put my little basil seedling out there instead of in the massive pot I purchased for it.

I was also contemplating starting a jalapeno plant or two for Hubby that I think would be pretty enough to put in it. And I was considering what else might make a pretty little vegetable for it. It's a pretty long bed -- the entire length of our garage which we enter from the side -- and I could probably put quite a bit in there. But it's also sort of a focal point when you drive down the main street in our subdivision so I want to get things that will look fairly nice too.

That's probably silly. But I don't really care what they look like if they are growing in our backyard so if the plant wants to go wild that's where it will need to be. I mean, you should see that mutant monster of a tomato plant.

So that's where we are on that. We're putting a lot more effort into our new trees than we did the ones that didn't survive our drought last summer. Hopefully, it will be worth it.