Tornado Touch Down

I'm so glad we moved. This all happened at our "old" house today while we were at the new house a few blocks away standing in the garage. I don't have pictures of the backyard but a huge tree split in half and broke through our neighbors fence. This is my front yard:


This is unfortunately my roommates car.






Gotta love tornadoes and minnesota weather. Our street area got the worst of it in Fridley or so it looks. A block over someone lost their roof and we got insulation all the way over at our house and after driving around, it's all over Fridley.

Mild damage to my plants but nothing they won't recover from I hope, though a huge branch took out one or two of my irises.

Hope everyone in the area made it out okay. I know North Minneapolis took quite a big hit too. It's great to see everyone out helping each other and talking to one another. I met a few people in my "old" neighborhood during the process.

Best wishes to all effected by the storm

I'm So Anxious!

I can't stand the waiting anymore! We close tomorrow morning, 24 hours from now and though I'm excited to move, all I can think about is gardening! I must have a gardening sickness of some kind, maybe an addiction but I can accept that. Acceptance is good right? Here is my new house, it's glowing!


See the rock I'm talking about. Soon to be all flowers I promise!

I've already planted 2 rose bushes in front of that AC unit in attempts to beautify the curb appeal.
And here's the back yard. .23 Acres


What you don't see is the super long driveway that extends to the very end of the back yard minus a few feet. The more I've visited it, the more I think I'm going to tear that out too.
Here's an idea:


See that trailor back there? Way back there? Yeah the driveway continues on another 8 feet or so.

How sad. But it will be my future raised garden bed (or 4) whether I tear it up or not. So, good things to come. Oh my gosh I can't wait!
I tore out my purple clematis last night, lots of work untangeling it from the lattice and other viney thingamagigs but I think I did okay, and only pulled off maybe three of four leaves in the process. It had to be done though, they are my favorite. Or one of my favorites anyhow. The plant is about...well taller than me so over 5 feet!

I did some last minute weeding as well so the neighbors don't hate us. And gave a quick flower lesson to my sister. I guess I did some productive things last night, just not exactly what I'd like to be doing.

24 hours!

Things To Do At The New House

As I have mentioned there is rock in the front yard for landscaping. It looks nice but it's just not practical for the type and amount of plants I have. I was talking to a co-worker and she said "you know you're just going to pull that all out." I guess I hadn't actually thought that far but now that she mentioned it, why not? It's my house, it's my yard and I need a place for all of my beautiful flowers. So in a few months or sooner I may have a bunch of rock to give away. I thought about keeping it but it's not practical at all, where the heck would I keep all that rock?

I would much rather have the freedom to plant wherever I want and I love the look of red mulch.

So many projects but it's already planting time. Thank goodness I got that community garden plot or I would be out of luck.

My Lovely Response from Burgess

All I am going to say is:
How annoying.

"We are sorry to hear that you are unable to return the original shipping
labels. The guarantee is VOID unless the original shipping label is
returned.

However, we are willing to make a single EXCEPTION and send a replacement
order if you will send us a COPY OF YOUR CANCELED CHECK or CHARGE CARD
STATEMENT as proof of purchase. You will need to send this information via
mail. Please include a letter that states you no longer have the shipping
label and are therefore sending the proof of purchase in its place. Also
include a full list, by item and quantity, of what item(s) need to be
replaced.

This is a single exception and applies only to nursery stock and not
replacement orders.
Thank you,
Customer Care Department "

And that I'm moving, I dont have time for this.

My First Time at the Minneapolis Farmers Market

I am just blown away! And found my new favorite place- The Minneapolis Farmers Market Maybe I'm a nerd but I'm absolutely in love with the farmers market. I probably couldn't have picked a worse day to go but it was still packed with a hundred people. I'm sure I looked like an idiot walking around with a huge smile on my face just taking it all in. "cool, wow, oh my gosh" I was just taken aback.
Two words, Flowers Everywhere! I definitely got my fix of flowers this morning. Five dollar bouquets, two bucks for soap, a buck for a tray of potatoes. I got a bunch of stuff and didn't spend much at all and what's better is it supports someones small business which I am all for.



I would love to be there someday. Maybe with my pottery or plants or food. Who knows but I would just love to be there.

I had a wonderful morning.

Finally Photos

I can't believe this is my 3rd post today. Unfortunately there has been no sun to speak of for the last few weeks so these pictures aren't anything impressive. Also because of the lack of good weather, it's all greens and hardly any color yet. This year is so different from last year's blog. So far behind.

Minneapolis Farmers Market

On a side note, I think I will make my first trip to the Minneapolis farmers market. I have always wanted to go and never gotten around to it. There is a note saying they're a few weeks behind on produce but they'll still have things like honey, cheese, eggs, chicken, herbs and other products. It's worth a look around anyways. I'd just love to buy some local, fresh produce. I might just have to spoil myself with some flowers since I harldy have any of my own yet.

Gloomy Weekend Weather

Another weekend without sun, I'm surprised my plants are doing anything at this point. What a bummer, I could use a trip to Florida right now.

I actually got some things moved to the new house last night. Not as much as I had hoped but some is better than none. It was cold and wet and sprinkling and I'm sure I looked questionable at a house that has been mostly unoccupied for a year. Some young girl trudging around the yard in an oversized hoodie with a garden tool and some tiny plants.

At the new house there are rocks instead of mulch, with a complete landscaping fabric layer, something I have never had to work with and I'm not sure I like it. I feel like it limits my planting creativity because every plant takes careful placement planning. I've gotten used to my way of throwing things in the ground and just seeing how it looks. Now it is very difficult to just plant one small plant.

I discovered a raised patch in the back yard. Not sure how I missed this before because it's great but I have found it now. It is very overgrown at the moment but once we get in there, I will clean it up, add some new dirt and plant away. It is right up against the back fence so I will probably end up putting my clematis there, maybe some grapes eventually. I temporarily planted some carnations and Pam's Choice Foxglove. They were looking miserable inside the house and I'm glad I could give them their freedom. I also planted two new rose bushes in the front of the house to hide the AC unit. The owners have a nice white plastic fence to cover it but now it will look even better.

Those glads I planted too early are just starting to poke out of the ground. Maybe I did okay. I was worried because this last winter was the first that I kept gladiolus to plant the next season and hey, I didn't kill them (yet). I'm excited for those, they are my second favorite next to hibiscus. I also noticed big buds forming on my irises, also a big deal for me because they didn't bloom for me last year after transplanting them at a bad time. It seems they forgave me.

I cannot wait for this weekend. I will take some pictures, move some more items and probably make a few more rounds to check out what's growing, blooming, dying etc. It looks like all of this will be in the rain but oh well. It's rain not snow and that's all I can hope for at this point.

Read the Fine Print

I have ordered from many seed/plant companies in the last few years. Most have guarantee's on their products and I have used them many times for dud seeds, dead plants, dormant plants that never wake up, you name it. The one's I have dealt with in the past have a simple process and all I've had to do is shoot them an email decribing what has died and they send me a new plant or give me a credit. Today however I ran into an issue.
I ordered multiple items from Burgess including a red clematis and red, white, and blue hydrangea. The red clematis that I have had now for 2 or 3 weeks has done nothing. It is simply rotting in the pot. As for the hydrandea, my red one of course is wilting away. Not sure what happened there but they both need to be replaced.
I went onto their website this morning to ask for replacements and noticed their note that if you don't have the original mailing label then they won't replace it. Well come on you guys. I've ordered so many plants, do they really think I keep all that organized. I guess I should but I haven't, things have been hectic. So they send me dead plants but if I don't have my original mailing lable I'm out of luck. I feel that is very unfair. I can prove I ordered it and that I received it, heck I'll mail them back the dead plant but they won't replace it? I've got to admit I'm a little ticked.

Eventually I will probably send them a nasty email demanding a refund/replacement and explaining how unfair it is but in the meantime I'll search high and low and see if I can produce said mailing lable.
Wish me luck.

Some Good News!

I have been given permission to plant at our soon to be house before we close! This takes a lot of stress off because I thought I'd have to try to do it all while also painting, moving and mega cleaning. I will start this week after school every night around 7 or 8pm. There's still a few hours of daylight to get a few things moved anyways. I'm so glad that we're only moving a few blocks down. It's very convenient that it's so close.

We close on the 20th so anything that can't stand the cold will be moved that weekend or the weekend after. Hopefully by then the Community Garden plot will be ready for planting. There I intend to plant peppers, watermelon, cucumbers, corn(possibly), beans, zucchini, and we'll see what else.

With tmy wedding next June, it seems my vegetables have taken a back seat to wedding flowers. Once everything is settled in though, I'm sure I will get back to my veggie garden. After all it is one of the most rewarding things in my life.