Finally!

I'm so excited to announce that the shade garden is D-O-N-E. Our backs are tired. Chuy escaped out the front gate (she's back). There were many Home Depot trips.

Andrew and I spent a few minutes just looking at it after we finished. I realized I wanted to take some pictures with my phone and I realized couldn't find my phone. Losing my phone is a pretty common occurrence but this time took longer than usual to find, so the pictures are from the next morning. Andrew has found my phone: in the garage, in the fridge, in the laundry, and this time: in a stack of Grayson's diapers in Grayson's room.

But back to the point. I'm so happy to check all these off my mental to do list:

1. Remove rock border
2. Find homes for rocks
3. Blow leaves out
4. Remove pebbles 
5. Research edging options
6. Stare at edging stones at Home Depot
7. Pick, purchase, and transport 68 stones
8. Dig a shallow trench for stones
9. Turn soil and remove weeds
10. Add mulch 
11. Add extra mulch on the low side to level the area 
12. Plant bulbs
13. Rejoice!

I planted hosta, Lily of the valley, and Astilbe. I have high hopes for the astilbe based on the wikipedia entry. That area gets water logged after rains, and the soil isn't amazing. Hopefully they will do well!

As Andrew said, there's not a lot that looks nicer than a freshly mulched area.