Working on my garden (very slowly)

I must be the slowest gardener on the face of the planet... A few weeks ago Winn Dixie had hibiscus on sale for $12 each, so John bought me two, and I've been getting the side of the driveway ready to plant... this is as far as I've gotten in two weeks, but at least I'm trying! Since we rent, I'm trying to get the garden in as cheaply as possible in case we have to abandon it for some reason, but I'm very excited to finally have some plants of my own. I've been staring at the empty grass all year long and imagining it with hibiscus and other tropical plants making it interesting. If we're still here another few years, it'll be the back garden's turn but for now I'll settle for a properly edged driveway...

Day one - Buy shovel, dig hole and plant pink hibiscus... (John dug the hole for me)

Day two - root out grass in start of garden bed area...

Day three - buy flowers (dwarf zinnia and some kind of miniature yellow daisy thing), and bricks for edging... Day four - buy hand trowel and start burying bricks. At this rate it's going to take me a month to finish the bed, I just hope I can get it done before it gets too hot...

I'm very happy with the front of the house now... I got a garden bench with the last of my Christmas money, and a cute wind chime for Easter...

Doesn't this look lovely... the gardenia is flowering like crazy this year! (ignore the recyling bin in the foreground, it was trash night) You can smell the perfume from the house when the wind blows in the right direction.

Cranes in our garden!

Last night I saw a pair of sand hill cranes circling in for a landing by the drainage pond, whooping their little hearts out. I thought that was pretty cool, and I rushed outside to take a picture before they walked away. This morning they came back and got up close and personal! John looked out the window and saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes on our front lawn. What glorious birds they are... and this pair was soooo tame! Our neighbour spends a lot of time outside and he's been feeding them snacks, so they expected us to do the same, and they came right up to us begging for treats. I pulled some bird seed down from the feeder and put it on the ground for them to peck up, and they had a snack... but then the male got overly interested in our car and started pecking at his reflection in the side mirror to scare away the 'intruder'. Silly bird!