Update on New Dooryard Garden and Patio

After the delay caused by my introduction to the joys of asthma, I finally laid the last paver of the tiny patio between the house and the new raised Lavender garden that I built in May. The umbrella table and chairs are in place and a few pots of flowers were stuck in the corners. I have a couple of glazed pots that I plan to turn into a fountain but that has to wait until we get back from our annual July Fourth campout at Snowblind Campground in the Gunnison National Forest. While sitting on the new patio I realized that the wall of the house is a large bare expanse that needs to be decorated. Now I'm trying to decide what kind of flowering vine I should plant and what style of trellis I need to install. I've planted various herbs in the narrow bed along the side of the house for their scent as well as their beauty.

I've used the red concrete pavers in the Toad Haven garden because that is what the woman who built the house had put in; a few red

concrete pavers and garden edging around the house and the trees in the yard. Having lived in Boulder for many years I love the red flagstone that is quarried in that area and I adore red terra cotta pots so I figured I'd stick with the original materials here, instead of trying to replace them all. Then I discovered that blue glazed pots look great against the red pavers so I began collecting different sizes and shapes. The table and chairs are generic green plastic Wal Mart specials. How can you go wrong with green in a garden?

Granny Fran relaxing, admiring her new patio and garden, while resting her poor soy swollen ankles. She hopes the allergy doc she goes to see on Monday, after getting back from camping, will figure out how to help her get over both the asthma and the edema.

My garden decor is very shabby chic (well, shabby, at least). I love weathered wood and all kinds of old rusty metal pieces and parts. Some of my prized possessions are a couple of long old rustic wooden benches that I picked up at a farm auction north of Canon City about 18 years ago for probably $2 a piece. I used them to display wares in our antique store in downtown Florence for a while. A German film company, that was filming a western in the Wet Mountain Valley, offered me $300 for my benches, to use in the film, but I couldn't sell them, even at that huge mark up. I told Joe, you can't create benches like that in a few short years, and I'd just spend the money and not have my lovely benches. They did buy some of my pieces that were for sale and even paid me some ridiculous price for the tattered and holey old green window shades from the vacant rooms upstairs over the store that we would have thrown away. I guess it's true that one man's junk is another man's treasure. My junque is treasure, Joe's is just junk. (Don't tell him I said that.)

Have a happy Fourth of July! This will be my bed and breakfast for the rest of the week. No fireworks allowed but we will have a campfire each evening with hot chocolate and s'mores. I do have battery operated simulated fireworks for the grandkids and me.