This is one of the shrubs that Alice and I planted in my back yard last week. It's called a Dwarf Fothergilla . . . I call it the bottle brush bush.  It certainly was not on the list of shrubs we set out to purchase on the day we visited the nursery, but it really caught my eye. I asked Alice if I could have it and she said "Sure". You see, I reminded her as we arrived at the nursery that I'd be inclined to want to take one of everything home and that she should advise me, bearing in mind that I know nothing of what will grow in Oklahoma and what doesn't have a chance to grow here. So, when I saw something I liked I asked for her imput as to whether a "non-green-thumber" like myself ought to get that plant or not. The tag says that in the fall the foliage colors explode into yellow, orange, purple and scarlet. That will be pretty too.

We planted a crabapple tree the other day, and it's showing signs of spring already.

Here's a closer look at one of the branches. And below is a really close up. 

Today was another long work day in the back yard. I wanted to get a head start on the day so right after I got dressed and had my breakfast I stuck my head out side and decided it was still a bit nippy to be working outside. I waited another half hour and started working outside around 8:00 this morning. I had one more banded cube of bricks (452 bricks) that needed to be moved before the earth moving guy could come back over and evenly distribute the huge mound of dirt that's sitting behind my back fence. To do that I had to cut the bands and move the bricks by hand four at a time. That took a while, but now he has room to maneuver his bull dozer. 

Then after lunch Alice and I moved all the irises she had ear-marked for me down from her yard to mine. That took a couple hours and after that she went back home to work in her own garden while I crawled around on my hands and knees forcing sand into the cracks and crevices of my brick sidewalk.  Unfortunately, I'll have to do that chore several times, because as soon as water hits the sand it goes down into the cracks even farther leaving more gaps to be filled with sand. But, it's looking good and we ARE making significant progress on the yard.

While we're on the subject of growning things . . . . . look what's been growing in my bedroom.  I moved the bench that sits next to the windows to vacuum, and low and behold . . . weeds.  I remember when the house was still being constructed, I kept picking weeds from several places on the East wall and also between the concrete slab of the garage and the house slab, which were poured at two different times.  I found it hard to believe that plants could somehow make it up through tiny crevices in the concrete, but I never dreamed that they would still be able to come up through the concrete, the padding, the carpet and the baseboards once the house was completed, but there it is in living color.  I sprayed it with RoundUp and I hope that does the trick. I also sprayed the ones out in the garage.

We are about three fourths done transplanting all the day lilies that Alice had set aside for my yard. As she dug up her lilies to thin them out she moved a bunch of them (47 clumps to be exact) to her side yard, where they've been patiently waiting to be moved over to my yard . . . once I had a yard. Although we worked for over 4 hours in my yard today, you can barely tell any difference from yesterday, because the only difference is those little green shoots sticking out of the mulch every few feet. 

I want some sort of water feature in the flower bed adjacent to the patio, but until I decide exactly what I want to do and until I can afford to pay for what ever I do, this bird bath will have to suffice as the water feature.

The work continues on my backyard. Here Alice is helping me plant a bunch of my shrubs. We planted boxwoods, Nandinas, Yaupon Holly bushes, Honey Maid Holly bushes, Dwarf Fothergilla, HomeRun Roses, Quince, Loropetalum, a Prairiefire Crabapple tree, Double Knock Out Roses, Gold Cluster Forsythia and Spiraea. Whew, it makes me tired just listing them all.  We worked from 8:30 this morning until 3:30 this afternoon, taking out just 45 minutes to go grab some lunch.

Here I am planting one of the holly bushes.

I went out this evening for a few errands and caught this sunset just as I returned to our sub-division. 

I believe it was gandywhite who asked if I'd share the recipe for Alice's Orange Chiffon Cake . . . and here it is.

2 Cups Flour -  4 TBS Corn Starch - 1 1/2 Cups Sugar - 3 tsp baking powder - 1 tsp salt - 1/2 Cup Salad Oil - 7 egg yolks (save the whites) - 3/4 cup orange juice - 3 TBS grated orange rind - 1 Cup Egg Whites (7 or 8) - 1/2 tsp cream of tartar.

Heat oven to 325. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder & salt. Make a well and add in order: oil, egg yolks, orange juice, orange peel. Stir till smooth. Put egg whites and cream of tartar in large mixing bowl. Beat until very stiff. Very gradually pour egg yolk mixture over egg whites, gently folding in just until blended. Do Not Stir. Pour into ungreased tube pan. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Invert tube pan over a funnel or bottle neck and let it hang until cake is completely cool.

Frost with orange butter icing:  1/3 cup solt butter - 3 cups powdered sugar - 3 TBS grated orange peel - 3 TBS orange juice.

Blend butter, sugar, orange peel and juice until smooth. Ice cake when it is NOT in any way still warm. If you don't wait your icing will slide down the sides of the cake.  

I've done this before, but not for a long long time, so here we go again.  Can anybody tell me what this is a close up of?  I'll let you know tomorrow what it actually is.

MONDAY:

I thought this might be a little harder than it evidently was.  The above picture is of the hole in the center of Alice's Orange Chiffon Birthday cake that mom and I made yesterday.  Alice and I will go over sometime Monday to have a piece with ice cream. YUM.

VOILA!!!  We have a fence.  I know that's not such a big deal in the grand sceme of the world, but I'm excited to have my fence.

The sides are both 6 feet tall, but the back fence is a 4 foot spaced picket fence. 

Here's a close up of the back fence and the back gate.  Tomorrow the guy should come and plant the Lacebark Elm tree in the back yard and also edge the flower beds. 

WHEEEEE!  Did we have fun today! We went shopping at TLC (a local nursery) and Home Depot. My patio looks like I'm getting ready to open my own plant nursery.  We won't plant any of them until after the fence goes in, because I don't trust those guys to put the fence in without stepping on my shrubs.  What a busy week.

Alice and I started working on the BACK sidewalk this morning at 9AM.  Here I am placing rocks as a border for the sidewalk.

Here's Alice as she's also burying rocks as a border for the sidewalk. We finished around 2:30 or 3:00 and both went to our respective homes for a long hot bath.

And here is a shot of the back portion of the sidewalk after we finished today.  I like the look, as I'm going for the "cottage" look. The fence is being built this Thursday and Friday.