Building The Love Shack

When the doctor put me off to rest, his words were “do some gardening”. As I am a very good patients who listen to her favorite doctor, most of the time, I took his advise and did some gardening.

So let me take on you on a little tour of how I have been spending my weekends at the cottage while Husband has been finishing up his details on the front deck.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that gardening is not only a passion of mine, but I consider it a sacred place to keep the people who matter the most to me close to me. No I don’t bury them there. I plant their gifts in the garden this way they are also close to me and when I see them, it reminds me of them.

I do think I have mention, OK probably several times, that I have some pretty special people that I work with. I’m going to share with you a little more of how special those people are and how they have been made a permanent part of the Love Shack.

I have also some others to show you that have come from our neighbor at the cottage and of course the Warriors. Who also added to making the cottage a pretty place to be.

A couple of years ago I mentioned to my co-workers that I was going to start working on the gardens at the Love Shack and one offered me some plants from her garden right away.

This was the first gift given to me from one of my co-workers. When she gave it to me it was a clump she dug up from her garden. As you can see on the back side of the picture it has now spread to the other side of the shed and has made the shed area it’s home.

The butterflies are very greatful and so it the toad who lives under the shed as it makes great camouflage when he comes out to find his lunch.

What you can’t see in there and neither can I without moving them, is a Clematis that Vania and I planted two years ago when her and I built the trellis and put it on the shed. Also under this fabulous bunch of Rebecca is also a hosta and two lilies that I will have to find new homes for next year in the Spring that were also given to me as a gift from my same coworker.

My next gift I received was again from a coworker.

This little guy has a story. This was once a Christmas gift to one of my coworkers from her mother. She raised it from only a few inches to the two feet it it is today. The problem is that it will one day be a twenty-foot tree and it didn’t fit on her property. It needed a home and so now her Christmas gift has a home.

While I was picking up the little guy from her home, she asked me if I could also find a home for a couple of other plants that she had no place for, and so this hedge of Rose of Sharon was created.

Soon the two became six, as Sharon one of the Warriors mother, gave me three more and then one more was bought. Now how can I not think of Sharon when I look at the Rose of Sharon’s?

Right now these little guys don’t look like much as they are not flowering, but a few weeks ago, they were covered in white flower with red centers and the others, purple blooms. The hummingbirds and the butterflies were in their glory as they are perfect food for them. This attracted a lot of other cottagers who came to watch them feed.

They will fill in and this little hedge in a few years will be eight foot tall, covered in blossoms, humming birds and butterfly’s.

The flowers in early August.

Next I started on the front of the deck. The front of the deck now has the gift of Astible’s given to me by my neighbor at the cottage. It also has Hydrangea’s, Hosta’s, Carnations, Lavender, Geraniums, Hibiscus’s and Succulents.

Again what you can’t see, is the two hundred Spring bulbs that I hand dug each hole for and placed in the garden bed. I’m looking forward to the showing of the Daffodils and the Crocus’s in the Spring.

And finally my last planting so far this year was the three Rhododendrons that were placed in from of what will be the next deck to be completed.

Theses little guys can grow up very large, are evergreens, and have a magnificent showing in the Spring. I plan to keep them as a hedge.

As you can see the flowers and shrubs were planted to have flowers for all three seasons and then Winter effects. The butterflies and hummingbirds were taken into consideration for each plant. There was also nothing poisonous or invasive planted to keep it safe for both the wildlife and also the lake.

The planting is not yet completed as I have more gift from our neighbors that I am looking for homes for on the property. But I’m happy to say, I’m done babysitting the plants that have been at the house since Spring. They are now in their forever homes.

The next few years these gardens will grow from small plants and flourish into wonderful gardens. I’m one hundred percent positive they will do great as when I came up the other day, I found my neighbor who had dragged his hose out and was watering the gardens for me.

How can they not be fabulous with all that love.

And yes Doctor, I did some gardening.