Time for some pretty

Work is stressful. Flowers are pretty. Enough said. Here's what's been growing for me lately in my front yard:

If you are a female who logs into any social media account in April or May, you know that spring is all about the peonies. They're so fickle and fleeting, but absolutely worth obsessing over. My first peony bush popped before we left for vacation - this color is ridiculous in person. Can I get a gown made out of this, stat? (And also an excuse to wear one?)

 

I knew a bunch of our bushes were going to pop while we were away on vacation, and sure enough, I missed the peak bloom for our most unusual variety. Here's what was left of these ladies upon our return.

Our white peonies were in bloom when we returned, too. Pretty pretty. And huge!

The showstoppers - and longest-lasting blooms - this year were definitely the light pink pretties.

Next up, heading into June - roses! I didn't used to be a rose person, to be honest. Valentine's Day red roses never did it for me, and I lumped them all together in my head. But discovering garden roses and double-bloom varieties that look more like peonies than lame holiday bouquets changed my opinion. These roses are o-l-d - who knows how long they've lived at our house. Even though they're not my favorite kind of rose, I feel loyal to them because of their history. It felt wrong to get rid of them, so instead we split them and moved them last year. Blooming against the house now, they do look nice - even if I wouldn't pick them out of a catalog.

I bought a new yellow rose at the beginning of the season with my mom - I've been wanting more yellow and these beauties did wonderfully until the scorching hot temps came. I'm hoping for even more blooms next year. LOVE these gals!

My biggest garden acquisition this year was a David Austin rose (two of them, in fact). Meet the Crown Princess Margareta. Her color completely stopped me in my tracks. I'm getting new blossoms even this week in July heat, so I think they're happy in their new home so far, although the plants themselves are still small. I planted them near our front fence, with hopes that they'd eventually hang over the sidewalk and greet pedestrians. Here's hoping next year these lovelies go wild. The color and tissue centers totally do it for me.

My hydrangeas, which line the side yard path start to finish (11 bushes total!), aren't doing as well this year - I think the long, bitter cold winter did a number on them. Hopefully I'm wrong and we'll come home after the 4th to find them going gangbusters - they're already really late, though. We shall see!

What's growing in your yard right now?

Cherry Blossoms, and goodness

It's High Cotton over here these days. I have a fridge full of milk and am working on a freezer stash. Hazel's dealing with teething but still being the snugliest, funniest, happiest babe she can be. Vacation is inching ever closer. I'm fitting into my old clothes almost consistently. We spent a happy family Easter in NC. Work is rewarding. And finally, it's that time of year again... our cherry blossoms are blooming.

I can't even express how happy these puffy blooms make me every day. Cut to mornings when I'm taking Eleanor out or afternoons when I get home from work. That's me out in the yard with my camera, goofily snapping away at the flowers. Just. Gorgeous.

Semi-serious semi-philosophical question: Are cherry blossoms more gorgeous than they might otherwise be, just because they're so fleeting? (Cue dreamy wonder-sigh...)

  

 

 

Landscaping our hearts out (thanks Mom!)

Thanks so much, everyone, for sending such warm thoughts about my grandfather. I thought a nice way to honor him here might be to share the love that his daughter - my amazing mom - puts into everything she does and everyone she loves. We've been so lucky to benefit from her green thumb and zeal for gardening here in DC, something for which we have my grandfather to thank.

A refresher, then. When we moved in two years ago, our yard was... a dud. And six months later, it was still a dud. We had the space to do something, but weren't at all sure what to do. And since our efforts were focused on some major projects indoors anyway, we were happy to let it be.

A year and a half ago:

Late last summer, we hosted my parents for a weekend of brainstorming and space-planning. We talked about how to salvage (or not) the ugly yew hedges that border our side yard, how to make our side yard more inviting, and how to maximize the space without making it too linear. They came back in October for a H-U-G-E planting weekend, all under the eye of our visionary commander-in-chief, my mom. We decided to rip out two of the worst yews to create more breathing room in the border, to weed our butts off and mulch the hell out of the side yard (I think we put down 30 bags that weekend), to define true planting beds for the first time, to plant some large, pretty things that would be dormant until spring (lots of peonies and hydrangeas), and add some great fall color, too.

My parents came back in late April to implement Phase 2 of our plan. Thankfully, everything we put in the ground in October lasted through the winter beautifully, and we were starting to see some real growth with the warmer temperatures. This time they pulled up in the BusyBee (nickname for my mom's car - long story) with a few more large plants, spring and summer color, and lots more classic "Mom" yard touches. Our big goals were to refine our space-planning now that our little plants were big plants, define edges, switch out cold-weather color for warm-weather color, and develop a path for the side yard. About a month after their visit, I'm pretty thrilled with our results. And to know that the color out there will just continue to intensify (the peonies are just beginning! the hydrangeas are coming!)... we are giddy.

Our front yard today:

(Hi E!)

Aaand... color! (Only two of our five peony bushes have bloomed so far... I cannot WAIT to see them all!)

(apologies for the ADT photobomb)

 

 

Here's our fantastic side yard. Keep in mind that most of these large plants haven't yet bloomed,  so as it gets warmer we'll have color there, too. Because our side yard is so shady we chose hydrangeas - blue, white, pink, green, and ivory lacecaps, too. The stepping stones are sandstone, and we've dotted the pathway with white star creepers, a groundcover that will slowly spread and turn our entire pathway green. As you look at these photos imagine a swath of green cutting through the mulch in between the stones - that'll be our path before too much time has passed!

(looking back to the front of the house)

And that's that! I'll be back with peony and hydrangea updates soon, so stay tuned. My Instagram feed is pretty much going to become a flowerfest for a while, so prepare yourself!

And I really do have to give another HUGE thanks for my parents for being the vision, the brains, and half the muscle. We could NOT have done it without you!

Pretty in Pink

It's that time of year again... DC's Tidal Basin explodes into bloom, tourists descend, and just like that, the peak is over. But just as the craziness winds down a couple of miles west of our house, our very own cherry blossom trees - one in the front yard and one in the back - explode into bloom.

I can't get enough of them.

Can you blame me?

Happy spring, everyone!

Still kickin'

It's been pointed out that I'm a bad blogger, which is entirely accurate. Instagram is so much easier and fun to update lately than the blog, I have to admit (I'm "magmaeA" over there, by the way). In other words, I'm tired and lazy right now. And yet, our days have been peppered with liveliness, too. A little taste:

This girl.

Getting a dog was such a good idea. She's worth it in every way, even if she's turning out to be a little shrimp who'll be probably 1/3 of what I consider to be the ideal dog weight. She's our little shrimp, though, and she's perfect. DNA test results coming soon!

This weekend getaway.

We spent a recent weekend on the Delaware beaches with one of our favorite couple friends, J and A. The four of us see a lot of each other around DC, so when they invited us to hang at their parents' place in Delaware (whose beaches I'd never visited), we pounced. I think we can all agree that finding couple friends can be pretty tough, and when it works, you hang on tight. A and J were kind enough to invite Eleanor to spend the weekend with us, too. Watching her big grin and tiny body on those long legs running free on the beach warmed my heart more than I should admit. Our Delaware weekend also featured one of my all-time favorite meals: a lobster BLT served with lobster creamed corn. Yeah, I said it. NOM. This getaway happened just when we needed it most, so I'd like to raise a virtual bloody mary to the couple we like even more after a weekend away with them - no small thing. Next up: foursome scotch tour of Scotland! (Which admittedly might take a while to come to fruition. We can dream, right?)

This weekend at home.

My parents spent last weekend in DC and true to form, we kicked some major butt under their direction. They planned two weekends with us this fall. The first was to be the "yard planning" weekend, and the second was the implementation weekend. Although we were technically supposed to be just planning last weekend, we did a heck of a lot of implementing, too. My mom's grand vision for the yard is slowly taking shape - it's about halfway done. We put down 23 bags of mulch, ripped out multiple ancient and sickly plants, found all manner of glass and trash buried in the yard, put in lots of new plants, and developed a concrete plan for the weekend of October 20, when we'll finalize it all. Yard stuff is so funny - I never prioritized having one or really caring much about the fact that for Capitol Hill, we actually have a big yard. Now that Eleanor's with us, though, I love that we can play fetch right at home and she can actually run up and down that side yard - all the better now that it's no longer covered with ivy. We love our walkable neighborhood and big local parks, but seeing this yard finally becoming an amenity rather than an afterthought is pretty spectacular. And it's all due to my parents, who rock. Big time.

Oh yeah, one other thing...

It's on.

Friday I'm in Love

I'm looking forward to a weekend in DC where we shall slooooooooooow down. My plans include tinkering around the house, garden, and neighborhood, hanging out with friends, and booing the Yankees. Sounds pretty perfect to me right now. I hope your weekends are filled with slow goodness, too. Here's three little links from me to wrap up the week. See you on the flip side!

'Grow Your Own' Calendar

 I'm obsessed with this gorgeous planting guide print, available here and discovered here. I'd love it if they would expand their reach and include planting seasons for places other than England. Perhaps my Grandma Jessie Mae can be the planting expert for the Eastern NC calendar... But would I choose that one, or the Mid-Atlantic guide? Hypothetical decisions abound! Regardless, this piece would be perfect hanging in any kitchen or back porch, don't you think?

Bedroom Upgrades

 I recently received a much-deserved (if I do say so myself) promotion and raise, and to celebrate, I ordered a piece of furniture I've been ogling for ages. Actually, I ordered two! These gorgeous Bedford Chests will serve as beefed-up nightstands for us, filling out a wall where we have space for more substantial furniture in what is otherwise wasted by only using small nightstands. I'm so.flipping.pumped that we're about to have more storage in our bedroom. We are ever so slowly getting a vision for what that room can become (only a year and a half after moving in... why does the bedroom always get shortchanged in my world?). I think I might even do some painting this weekend... it's been too long since these hands wielded a brush! The dressers are delivered Saturday... color me excited.

More Belle Boggs

 I know I recommended a Belle Boggs article last week, too, but this one was just too beautiful to go without mention. It was sent to me by my friend Cate (join me in wishing she was blogging again, why don't you?), and with good reason. In this piece (Yearning for Conception: The Art of Waiting), Boggs reminds me of Barbara Kingsolver in my annual spring/summer read Prodigal Summer. There's infertility, sure, but it's woven into the fabric of the NC Zoo, biology, and nature. Gorgeous stuff.

Small steps out front

Until a month or so ago, we'd done absolutely nothing to our front yard. The plants in the yard were... random, at best. Old and not particularly healthy. Planted haphazardly. No continuity or relationship between plants. Random.

We've invested so much time and energy inside our house that the outside has been firmly on the backburner. We finally brought a great landscape designer over to help us plan our dream yard, then started prioritizing his plan. We realized our biggest priority was probably the most expensive piece (our rotting deck), and so we stalled again. 

But those old roses out front that inexplicably looked great this year changed things for me. Seeing something grow and look pretty in our front yard made me realize that just because our bigger picture effort is stalled, there's no reason I can't begin making small improvements on my own. And so over the last month, I've planted lots out front: a new rose bush, a gardenia bush, three peonies, a hibiscus, and a hosta. There's more to come, too. I'm still waiting for some of these to pop open for the first time, and I know that this year might be their smallest. But a year from now they'll all look much better, and the year after that, even prettier. Incremental progress that I made while we were stalled. That works for me.

I'm happy I got over my can't-plant-because-we-have-a-huge-landscaping-plan-in-mind rut (which lasted a year, I should add). Not to mention... passing the gardenia on the way up our front steps makes me - and my nose - all kinds of happy.

I'll show you the backyard soon. We still have the crazy blue deck, but at least it features lots of seasonal color. Small steps!

Back in the saddle

When the habit of blogging is broken, it can be so hard to jump back into it. The pressure to compose something worthwhile is greater than the pressure to say anything at all. A reprehensible marriage amendment has to pass before I'm compelled to pick up the blogging pen. It's a bad cycle. So this is me trying to recapture the habit, with odds and ends from my corner of the world and without artful composition. You'll notice that I'm sharing some of this news woefully late... so it is:

• Black Wings Won! You'll remember the Austrian hockey team we fell for over the holidays, due in part to our relation to the goalie, but also, you know... because they rock? They won the Austrian League Championship! We couldn't be happier for Alex, who finally won a championship after 13 years as a pro, and for T's sister Avery, who's the most badass hockey wife ever. Linz ist Meister!!!! #32!!
  
  



• I'm going to be an aunt again! Shortly after their wedding in September, my brother and sister-in-law announced that they were expecting! My nephew will join big sister Taylor in late June, and we couldn't be more thrilled for them.
   
  



















• Prom. My cousins rocked the prom in their dresses we shopped for until our feet fell off. Rocked it.
  
  
  


















• We have roses. Lots of them. I didn't like these roses last year, but that's because they didn't grow like this. We just planted a slew of new stuff, too. Updates coming soon... really.






















• Wedding shoes, at long last. Nearly three years later, I finally had a chance to wear my wedding shoes again, at the wedding of one of my favorite DC couples. So many memories represented by that red satin... I really should've worn them years ago. (Rare awkward photo of T = cutting his head off on purpose)

Simple summer pleasures

I'm keeping things simple this week, breathing in summer. Here's what I'm loving:

Juicy nectarines...

 iced tea made with mint from the garden...

a blooming gardenia bush...

this light-as-air robe from Plum Pretty Sugar...

simple pesto spaghetti with a heap of golden cherry tomatoes...

...and the promise of even more from my basil plant out back.

What are you loving this August?

PS: Today on Oh So Beautiful Paper I'm highlighting gorgeous place-based art, which includes revealing what those weird little paper cut-out squares are all about.