A Nice Suprise in the Garden!

This patch of weeds- which I can only call a garden because I did originally plant flowers there- and try to tend it with some regularity- used to be known as the "space rock" garden.  Behind the assorted foliage is a rock full of craters and crannies, unearthed when we excavated to build the house.  It is at the end of the driveway near the mailbox- sadly, the first impression visitors might get of my gardens.




I have planted various flowers here over the years; some did very well, others didn't.  It currently contains assorted bulbs, wild tiger lilies dug from the side of the road, Liatris , rudbeckia, a couple of achillea plants which are losing their battle and some Ajuga, which has mostly migrated out into the grass. 


Every few years, I have dug it all up and replant due to the weeds that had taken over.  I don't know what changed after the last "reboot", but suddenly I started seeing horsetail .  There is really no easy way to eradicate it.  Even digging it all up won't do it,  unless you can spend all day every day cutting of the stems for a couple of years.  (Not making it up!)




So I have mostly abandoned this garden.  I go out with the grass clippers and "mow" it once in a while.  These pictures were taken a couple days after I sprayed vinegar so hubby could find where the edge was to mow. 




While I was getting the mail one day I decided to pull the dead lily stalks.  (you know- to make it look like someone actually tends this weed patch)
I got near the center and a spot of yellow caught my eye.  Do you see it in the center?






It's my favorite garden visitor- an argiope aurantia. (known as Princess Argiope in my house)  She had made such a great web, I left the stalks she was using.  It is easy to see why many people call these "zipper spiders" when you see this web.   I hope she is still out there, getting fat on grasshoppers, and maybe leaving an egg so I will have more next year! 

A bit closer to the house, the Ibiscus are finally blooming.  These pink ones are my favorite.
















I had to grab this picture- kind of looks like "Wall-e" doesn't it?










I read an interesting article at "Ecowatch" last week stating how important adding carbon to the soil is to improving the climate.  I had never read this kind of information before.  There is a farmer near me who no longer tills.  For home gardeners, I recently read about adding cover crops during the winter to prevent soil erosion and improve the topsoil.  This may not be news to some people, but it was to me- so I thought I'd share.

I am grateful for:
Spending time with friends- even when I didn't think I wanted to go anywhere.
A job where I can take time off without needing someone to cover for me.
Time with Kiara!
Learning to find the positive in many things where I used to only see negative.
my TENS unit