Hydrangea Heaven and Lizard Lust

I don't know what frogs like more lizards or hostas?

Blooms abound this time of year in Indiana hydrangeas, smoke trees and spirea are peaking. Kousa dogwoods, lilac trees and spring bulbs are waning while the grass is needing to be mowed twice a week. Annuals are beginning to hold their own but have not yet attained the full glory of height and color but perennials are bursting and flaunting strength and size.

While our work week was productive I was disappointed that we did not accomplish all our goals. Irrigation and driveway installation at Craig and Jane's has ground to a halt. The flat work is contracted to King Concrete and Brian King takes no chances when it comes to rain and pouring. Of course beyond the one 96 degree day when Brian formed the driveway we have had pop up showers every day. Bruce tried to back a load of soil to drop at Jane and Craig's only to become mired in mud and had to be pulled out with Brian's big Bobcat. Sloshing in the mud has become the norm for us this year.

Bill started the pond job in Angola. We have repaired a block wall, torn out pavers to establish new bed lines, removed and stacked the old fire pit so we can re-install it later. The old pond built by our customer Gregg is shown in the photo, we have removed it and will be installing an Aquascape designed pond. The pond will have two pumps and measure 24 x 7' with a depth of 30". A seating area in the water at one end will offer a contemplative relaxed atmosphere while the other end of the pond will feature the bio falls that will fill the pond with rushing water. We have not installed a full pond in a couple of years so we began this one by reviewing the Aquascape video. The pond is more of a meditative feature than one where the noise of the water is the star so this will be a challenge to achieve the proper balance.

This customer has some pets that have a keen interest in our every move, two collies and a fluffy black and white cat are making sure we get the job done right.

The irrigation finally was completed at Trish and Doug's so we began the installation of the yard last week. Even though the new fence is not installed we have installed the flower beds that run the length of the lot. Next week we will complete the landscaping and install the final pavers that will become the porch for the new garage. With the prominent location of this house we are getting lots of people stopping by asking questions and admiring our work.