The last few weeks

So, as many of you know, my Husband and I have been on the road and moving into our new home in Sacramento the last few weeks. It turned into quite the adventure as we ended up renting two Penske trucks and towing both of our cars, so I could bring most of my potted garden with me. As we settle into our new home I thought I would post some pictures and catch you all up on our lives.

Before we left we took a few walks, the first was around our neighborhood. I wanted to remember the trees and lucky for me some of the Magnolias were still in bloom.

We also went to our favorite park in town so the girls could have on last walk. The flowers were in bloom but I think Chaquita was sad to leave.
In the back garden a brave sunflower bloomed just for us and.....

while emptying our pond, we found Mr. Fish (thought to be lost due to a cold winter.) We released him in the pond at our favorite park.

Then it was time to pack up. This is truck number 1. The crane behind him was installing the sign for the new pizza joint that was moving in across the street (thank goodness that it wasn't there while we were!)

Then we were off. Chaquita was very excited that she could see out of the truck no matter which way she looked ... I was not so excited, in fact I was terrified. We didn't leave Baton Rouge until almost 7 pm and the thought of driving a big truck and towing my car on my own, terrified me. Luckily, by the time we arrived in Houston, I was an old hand and in a much better frame of mind.

After our first stop in Houston (were I met up with Aunt Rose and my goddaughter and of course my brother Matt). The next morning, we went onto San Marcos and had lunch/dinner with Nathan. Then we drove through Lulling, Tx. The city had covered all of its mini-grasshoppers with awesome sculpters like this aeroplane below.That night we stayed in Abiline, Tx (I had many falshbacks along the way to Nathan and I's Rita evacuation) and then drove onto Gallup, NM and route 66
We decided to make our next day an "easy" day and stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. It was beautiful. Unfurtonately it was also very hot and sunny and I got too much sun. We ended up making it a very short day and decided to spend the night in Flagstaff. I'm glad we got a chance to really see and enjoy a park on the way west though. Blow are some pictures:

The next day we made it to Bakersfield, CA and then it was onto Sacramento. We were all exhusted buthappy to be at out new home!

Spring Projects

When I got back from San Diego, I was lucky enough to still have two days off (I love working part time), so I decided to complete some of the projects for the garden I was working on before I left. Here is my completed pot:

I still have to put the Jade in it...hopefully it will be happy with it.




While I was gone Matt put the rest of the lights up. Here are a few pictures:


I also got the front porch rearranged. I clumped together the shade plants and also the tropical ones.
I also received 11 trees in the mail because we made a donation to the Arbor Foundation....we are starting them up in pots.
Any tips or pointers would be appreciated, since Matt and I are at a loss as to how to make sure they are protected from the Baton Rouge wind but still get plenty of light.

In other news, my Dad left for England two weeks ago. We miss him but have discovered Skype. We added a camera to our laptop and now we can all see each other whenever we want (well not including time changes and working). He posts pictures from his weekends and it looks like he is enjoying the nice weather they have been having going to see gardens and museums.

New directions

Well, Matt and I were going to update this with stories and such from our lives but we haven't been very good at it so far, so I thought I would also start a line about my gardening follies and fun.
I grew up with a Mom that had a green thumb (inherited from her Dad) and always thought that I wasn't very good (not that I am now) at helping things grow. When I married my husband (last year) and saw a yard completely devoid of life, I realized that I too wanted to be surrounded by plants and life (luckily for me Matt was all about it). My mother helped by donating some of her plants and unfortunately, I also ended up inheriting other plants from both her and my grandmother when they died within months of each other and of my wedding. The catch (that I haven't mentioned yet) is that Matt and I are renting a place, so we have had to figure out how to do everything in pots for now, let me tell you that has been fun. (We did end up digging a little spot in the back for me to through seeds and grow random flowers)
Of course the other part is that neither of us really know which plants can be grown in pots, so we have just gone out and bought what we liked and then potted it, with various results.
I guess I will talk about different things we have put in pots and whether or not it worked, that way others may or may not make the same mistakes as we have.

To start, Matt and I both love birds, so we thought it would be good to put some large bushes and a tree or two in our yard. Here is Baton Rouge everyone has some sort of magnolia in their yard and we feel in love with the early blooms. So we went out and bought a Japanese Magnolia and put it in a large pot. It started off well and we actually got one bloom the first year. This year it has put out lots of buds but has not bloomed (even though everyone else's in the neighborhood has). We also bought a small Satsuma and put it in the same sized pot. This one has not bloomed once and we have no idea if it ever will. I guess I am pretty impatient, so there is still hope after all it is only February. Around the same time we bought two bottle bushes, these have done very well (even though one always falls over) and even attracted hummingbirds into our yard last year.