Widened Path

With a brief interruption for a trip to LA last weekend, I've been very slowly working my way through widening the path. Since that includes dividing the daylilies, it was a bit more involved than just the digging.

Here's where I was when I last wrote about this project:

And today I finished at least the widening part (the path still needs some filling in with spare dirt to level it out, then a layer of wood chips to keep the dirt in place):

(Of course Goldie had to lie right in the middle of my work. Where else was she supposed to nap?)

Once we get the surface all cleaned up, it will be quite luxurious to use the path. Plus, yesterday we made a trip to the lumber yard to get some pieces for the arbor, which we plan to start to build pretty soon -- maybe starting tomorrow, even.

Part of this project was expanding the daylily bed (because they needed dividing, which meant they needed somewhere to be divided into). This is what it looked like before I dug up a bunch of sod and weeded grass out of the daylilies and irises.

And here it is after. I'm having to admit that my little wild onions are expendable; I keep treating them as if they are precious and rare, but the truth is that they're doing just fine and could stand a little thinning. Actually, I think digging them up is doing more to spread them than being more careful would.

And finally, this is our new hummingbird. She lit on this lemon branch and spent a bit of time very obligingly looking at me and preening while I took her photo. The Salvia clevelandii, their favourite plant, is maybe a week from blooming, and the hummingbirds have been coming by every afternoon to check it out. The younger ones always check us out, too; once they get older they are a bit wiser about distance.

posted by ayse on 05/15/10