Our little backyard oasis.  Here are the ponds, which are a little bit of work.  We still need to put some plantings around them, but the money tree is getting a little bare.  We are going to wait on some late summer or Fall sales maybe and then get some groundcover plantings to go around them.  We bought some lilly pad plants and Brian and our friend, Mike, put a few boulders in the large pond.  They are looking more like ponds now.

Brian purchased an electric pump that we can submerge in the water and attach a hose to it.  That works pretty well to bring out the water.  Much better than the 5 gallon buckets I was pulling out to water the plants. 

We added a fountain this past weekend, and some fishies.  The kids really wanted fishies, so Brian went to the pet store with them and they got some cheap goldfish.  Good thing they were cheap, as we have seen no trace of fishies for a few days…besides the bodies that rose to the surface.  Not quite sure the water is sustainable for aquatic life.  At least it’s pretty.

The pretty big iris bloomed today, too.  Love those pretty flowers.  It looks like it may have a few more buds this year.  Now to fill in more plantings around the pond.  Someday we may be finished with this area…but that day is not today.

I added these stones on the hill garden to show a more permanent path to the small ones.  I planted some dahlias and new perrennials in this area that I don’t want them to walk across and destroy.  A few of the perrennials said they were invasive.  I sure hope so.  This really needs some filling in so the oregano doesn’t seed itself so much.  I know the Dahlias will really take over the path come late summer, but that is a-okay.  I can’t wait for my big pretty flowers!

We also planted a new apple grove in the front corner of our backyard.  Brian cut down a hedge of sad looking bushes that had roots and shoots going everywhere.  Hopefully in a few years we will get some actual apples.  We planted apple trees in 2003 when we first moved in to our house.  One died on us and the other one has never even flowered.  We hope for better luck this time!

The majority of the Bearded Iris’ look like they are on their last budding.  I love it when they are blooming, but it only last so long.  Usually the Asian Lilies take over, but some small furry and annoying little flop-earred varmits ate a bunch of the bulbs over the winter.  We still have a few, but nothing like we should have.

I need to get some pictures of the peonies that are blooming.  We planted three new ones last year and they are looking pretty right now.  They were planted too late to bloom last year, so it is nice to see the colors that they have.

Our little piece of serenity outside our door! 🙂