A lavender birthday

My birthday was this past week so, like any good pseudo-gardener, I bought myself a garden toy.  Of course, there were a few plant purchases and a fairly large internet order I plan to place when the temps drop, but my power-toy purchase was more of a need than a want.

My new hedge trimmer 

You see, I love lavender.  And that can create a problem.  Which it has.  Those diminutive 4 inch pots of silvery-blue scented loveliness quickly turned into 6 foot-wide mounds of all-reaching, shin-scratching, path-obliterating messiness.  They still smell lovely, though, or their days would be numbered.

The 5-foot wide walkway is nearly covered.  

In the only nod to formal organization in the front garden, years ago I lined the path to the side of the house with lavender.  Since the plants were tiny and cheap, I actually planted them before the stone path was installed.  Originally, they were a good 3 feet apart and some 20 inches from the walkway, but no more.

What walkway?

For the past few years, I've been cutting back the lavender with garden shears, but it is tedious, back-breaking work that I have to do over the course of several days.  With the electrical hedge trimmer, though, I was able to get most of the job done in just half an hour.

What a difference!

It still needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I need a longer cord to finish the left side.  Plus, next time I will definitely wear a back brace.  But, I am very happy with the results and discovered an added benefit: although not exceedingly loud, it scares even the yappiest of dogs into silence. 

Still needs some work.

And, of course, look what I forgot!

Walk This Way

(What can I say?  I grew up in Boston, and I couldn't think of a more appropriate title for a blog post about a walkway than an Aerosmith song...)

If there is one good thing that came out of breaking my back this spring, it was having enough time on my hands to finally plan out our front walkway.

Tah-dah!

Itn't it purty?  The stones are irregular and look almost like the slate from my native New England, but they are actually granite from this area.  Yes, those are real railroad ties bordering the walkway.  Many of them were found on our property when we bought it, so I figured that, since the toxins have been leaching out anyway, we might as well make it look pretty. 

By the front gate, there is now lots of cleaning and planting to do...

... but I think the bed to the right of the walkway is starting to look pretty spiffy 

(sage, thyme, abelia, ivy and Abraham Darby rose).

As you can see from the black tube in the photo above these lines, we still need to find some outdoor lighting that we actually like (which is no small task).

Along the sides of this part of the walkway that leads to the side of the house and kitchen porch, The Pilgrim rose (left) and Benjamin Britten (right) are just begging for an arbor, don't you think?

This is a photo of the same walkway, taken in the opposite direction, 

with Benjamin Britten reaching out over the path, and Lady Emma Hamilton below.

Luna still thinks this is her own private jungle.  Lavender seems to be her favorite plant.

So, come on in and walk this way... or run, if you please!