Azaleas! Wisteria! A Spring Tour

I'm nursing a hurt back again. Dang, getting older sure sucks. It used to be I could dig in the garden all day and just be a little sore - not this whole back hurting thing. Oh well. I did stop before it was awful but then I went and worked on the studio door, bending over it. I think that's what did it. Sigh.

In spite of that, we had a wonderful weekend. The weather was just gorgeous! My mother-in-law and I headed up to the farm on Thursday. I was able to take care of securing hotel rooms for the wedding and we bought groceries for the weekend. We drove back through some neighborhoods and saw some pretty azaleas blooming in front of this old house:

Love the wisteria "tree" out front:

Then on Friday, Bonnie and I headed to Tyler to go see the azaleas. The Azalea Trail doesn't officially open until this weekend but since everything started blooming early, we knew we'd better get up there to see them before they faded. We walked around a historic neighborhood:

Bonnie capturing the beauty of the azaleas

And we weren't disappointed! Oh my! How beautiful the bushes were.

We even found a home that had a sign saying we could come on in and walk around.
Let me tell you, their yard was magazine worthy!

 Everything was landscaped so beautifully - this was in the front along the driveway:

Even the driveway retaining wall looked beautiful with ferns growing in it:

Back of the house from the pergola at the top of the yard:

All the houses along this creek had pretty stone bridges going across so they could reach the rest of their yards. If you look toward the back along the creek, you can see one.

There were niches with fountains

and statues, pergolas, patios, and loads of plants.

The pergola at the back of the yard, across the creek:

Another view along driveway looking into front yard:

Not only were the azaleas blooming, but the dogwoods and wisteria were also in full bloom:

pink dogwood

 Not a great picture with the power lines but I had to show how the wisteria is all up in the trees:

Then we got back in the car and drove around the rest of the azalea trail. This huge clump of white azaleas caught our attention.

I'm glad we went when we did. The flowers were already starting to fade. Fortunately, there were still plenty to see.

We really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful yards full of flowers. Spring sure delights with all its blooming splendor!

I'm sharing here:
Vintage Charm Party #71

Progress at the Farm

I've been hard at work on the flowerbeds - along the driveway, around the house.

Leaves had to be raked and briars dug up. Good grief. Those things have huge tubers...no wonder you can't kill them!

I kept finding more and more until I had a huge pile of potato looking tubers.  The plant is Smilax. It grows all over the place.

They fought me leaving me scratched up but I won! The bed is cleaned out. 

 There were several creeping lantanas in front of the garage. They take over the sidewalk every Summer so I dug them up - all sixteen of them. I transplanted them to the driveway bed which should be the perfect spot for them. They can spread out and bloom away. A big bonus - butterflies love them!

I know it doesn't look like much now, but soon the slope will be covered in yellow blooms.

My oldest sister gave me 4 native lantana bushes. They got planted along the driveway too in the back of the bed.

Oh! While digging the briars out, I kept finding these concrete edger pieces buried under the dirt. Once upon a time, I think there were some really pretty flowerbeds here. #thankyouformerowners! 

I used them to edge the back flowerbed behind the garage. It should help keep the dirt and plants where they belong. :o)

Jay and Bruce got all the leaves raked up in the front wooded area where the little dogwood tree is budding out. I see a flower peeking out at me!

I'm excited about getting this area cleaned up! I can't wait to plant a woodland garden!

Random bulbs that were half buried in the leaves!

I can just picture a pretty bench in this area facing the house with pretty plants. With the years of leaf accumulation gone, I can finally see my vision coming to life!

Plus, I started weeding the front flowerbed. Can I just say it's going to take time? #neglectedforwhoknowshowmanyyears and full of weeds.

Spring is showing up early in all sorts of ways - tiny wild violets

With several of the trees sporting a hint of green and the redbuds blooming.

The bees were buzzing all over the redbuds! #buzzbuzz

And all the outside trim on the studio is up and painted! Woohoo! It looks so good!

Next time the door will get its new red coat. Then the outside will officially be done and it's onto the interior!

Definitely making progress! It sure helps that the weather has been so mild. I just hope we can get most of the outside stuff done before the heat hits. All in all, it was a very productive couple of weekends.