Moved the wood pile from the east side of the garage to the new wood crib on the new farmerÂs porch. Turned over the now naked soil that was there and planted hybrid tea and climbing roses, euonymus, dwarf mugo pine, Asiatic and hybrid lilies, dwarf reblooming daylilies and some annual  marigolds and dusty millers. Roses will probably get moved, as I rethink my garden plan in light of the changes in the construction of the addition on the house. Divided the three, ancient giant clumps of hostas that were where the new addition is going and made 20 smaller clumps that I planted in front of the farmerÂs porch on the north side of the house and the rest of the north wall. They should do well there and will be supplemented with seven Ânamed hostas and some astilbe (the led zeppelin plant) on the way from Bluestone. Moved some giant, ancient phlox from the construction site and moved to the south side of the main part of the house. Moved some basic, orange daylilies from in front of the house to along the drive, on the hillside, and down by the mailbox on the road. Used the blade on my heavy duty weed whacker to cut down about 100 sumac trees that had grown up under my power line. Did it two years ago and some of the new ones were already 15 feet high and getting into the wires. Also cleared out a lot of wild rose and have the cuts to prove it. Retrenched both sides of the drive on the hill  clearing out the old leaves, weed and collected sediment and rebuilding where the rear tires of the farmerÂs tractor smooshed my ditches. My Kubota does most of the heavy lifting, but thereÂs still a fair amount of shovel digging. Went out in the rain yesterday and transplanted about 50 clumps of sedum onto the bare slope above one of the ditches, which is just under a stone wall near the top of the hill, to keep all the dirt from running back into the ditch. Planted various perennials that had arrived in the mail. Weeded, weeded, weeded. Smacked at black flies. narcnh

Red Rose tea isn't Canadian anymore, it is owned by Lipton. I didn't like it when they changed the packaging from the green and white box with the red rose to an orange coloured box. Even though I drink it still, somehow it doesn't taste the same as the old Red Rose Tea. While I was drinking my tea earlier I was thinking about mugs. When I was a child mugs were used for cocoa, coffee and shaving cream. LOL As far as dunking donuts in tea I have never done that but I used to love cookies dunked in tea and the best of all was hot toast with peanut butter dunked in my tea. I can't have anything with peanuts anymore so I really miss that. LOL Moni, my Aunt in North Bay used to have a koffeeklatsch with all the neighbour ladies. I loved it whenever I visited there.Sometimes they were more elaborate than any of the high teas I have been to. My Mom always had the ladies over for tea in our house. LOL Lori, you made me laugh because my Mom held her pinky finger up but she didn't do that until she had Alzheimers. I used to get a big kick out of it and I would ask her if she was having "tea with the Queen" LOLOL In many British families "Tea" can be a meal just like lunch is and it can be a hearty meal at that. Grandma used to say "come for your tea" which translated meant "come for lunch" Sometimes it was the heartiest meal of the day. Tea is not just a beverage, it is social gathering with friends and family. Anne

Get the Pavers Ready! The Unilock pavers that have been sitting in my driveway for months got put to use today. The wall crew switched gears and compacted the final rough grade before jumping on the pavers. These are the Umbriano that require a little different install (No Poly sand). The PB also finished tile today around the spa. If all works our we will be swimming by Aug 1 :). The only kink today was the wait for electrician for the deck bonding which is a grounding wire 4-6 inches below grade 18 inches from water line. It's throwing off the paving somewhat as the crew can't build the deck right up to the pool. That's getting installed Thurs morning with an inspection hopefully end of day. Entry way to Pool I think the crew is excited to get a break from building that wall Final Tile Placed in Spa My Daughter has Little Fun with the Paver Sand

I think the holly is an excellent choice! Evergreen, dense, very prunable and a not very touchy-feely plant so good for keeping unwanted visitors out of the yard. But if you go with Blue Princess, get a couple of Blue Princes in the mix for the girls to make some berries.