the Backyard B'zmany hands make light work!

Last Sunday was the monthly meeting of the world famous Atlanta Gardening group, the BYB’z! and it was a hot one. These Southern summer meetings are always dicey. You never know how unbearable it will be, and it’s important to stay hydrated! We met at Sharon’s in the lovely city of Cass, GA, and were there to help her get her weeds under control. No, not her WEED, her weeds! Here’s what we started with:

This is the kind of thing that makes you tired.

We all face this: weeds have taken over. How is it that during the drought in Georgia which plagues us seemingly every year, when all the plants we love and have paid good money for are threatening to keel over, or have already bit the big one, the weeds thrive and survive? I guess that’s why they’re weeds. Maybe. Well, they are no match for the B’z in any case.

Oh now we feel better!

That didn’t take long at all. When four determined women are on a mission, anything or anyone had better get out of the way, and this includes chickweed and crabgrass, not to mention blackberry and greenbrier. While working to dispatch the weeds, we talked about the books we had read recently (House of Sand and Fog, Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Teacher Man to name a few – we are all big readers) and the merits and demerits of each.

The thing about us is that we have so many things in common that we never lack for conversation. Another hot topic was things that surprised us about this group after we had been into it for awhile. One thing we never expected was how much fun it would be to work in someone else’s yard! As it turns out, it’s just as much fun as working in our own, and more, actually!

On to the next area: Along the fence, where we envision a cottage garden of lilies, daisies, black eyed Susans and the like.

Someday this will be a riot of color!

We have vision! Someday this will be gorgeous! Gardeners have faith galore, that’s for sure. Who else can take a barren piece of red clay and shale ground and create an oasis of beauty? We worked on this until lunch time, I’ll show you how it turned out in a minute.

Meanwhile, one of our favorite pastimes, besides gardening our brains out, is scrounging. No yard sale, thrift store or junk pile is safe from our creative eye. We look at things not as they are, but as how they could be. This is very useful for finding unique garden art, but sometimes isn’t so good when you’re dealing with real life. Note this fabulous use of cast offs and 99 cent bargains:

Isn't this grand?

After lunch we attacked the fence line with renewed vigor. We took the pole saw to dead branches and discussed how a row of azaleas would make a fine floral wall along the tree line. Isn’t this an improvement?

Much nicer vista now!

All of us are artistic, you really have to be to be a gardener, I think. Suzi paints, Jane quilts and paints with words, I make jewelry, and Sharon is a collage artist. We forced her to trot out her latest creations, and judge for yourselves, but we were blown away by their awesomeness! Here’s one that rocks my socks off:

Wow! Just. Wow.

And then there is this one:

Love the garden theme on this one!

We also spent a good amount of time lounging in the lovely sitting area we helped create for Sharon during our first meeting here, and discussing the possibility of an upcoming Bitchezz, oops! I mean B’z Book. That’s right, my friends, we could be on the road to a collaborative masterpiece. It’s all really hush hush, so don’t tell anyone, and seeing how many comments as we (don’t) get on this blog, I suppose there is no danger of word leaking out. Ha!

Speaking of that, we would really LOVE for you to comment on any and all of our posts. Just scroll to the bottom of any individual post and there you’ll find a little box set up JUST FOR YOU! We want to hear from you. We want to hear from your friends, your relatives, and your relative’s friends! And Lyle Lovett, we’d really like to hear from him. He’s from Texas, you know.

Next meeting will be at Nancy’s where we will be trying to make some sense of her driveway and front, as well as beating the ivy off the trees and spreading mulch. Bet you wish you could be there. Sorry. But I’ll write all about it so you’ll feel like you were there!

This month’s lucky recipient was Jane!  We were saddened, however, that Sharon was under the weather, so to speak, and couldn’t attend. But the Universe smiled on us once again with a sunny and mild day. It seems like whenever we meet the weather is just perfect!

Suzi and Nancy gathered at Jane’s to drink coffee, assess the situation, and see what needed to be done. After missing two month’s meetings due to winter weather, we were all ready to get outside and get our gardening on! So we outlined the day’s projects, marshaled tools, and determined which plants were needed to spice things up, then we headed to Pike Nurseries to drool over the rows and rows of luscious plants, and make the purchases. Did you know that Pike guarantees their plants for life?? That’s pretty amazing. So hold on to your receipts…

Three winter daphnes, three lorapetalum (purple diamond), a camellia and one spreading evergreen

After the purchases were made, it was back to Jane’s to begin the process of placing the new plants, cleaning out the spaces where a little more garden definition was needed, and getting to work. It’s funny how we all seem to gravitate to certain jobs and take up our own mission to accomplish.

We pool resources and tools. Here are some of our favorites!

Jane had removed two dead evergreens from the area in front by the steps leading up to the house. It left a rather large vacancy that we planned to fill with two of the lorapetalum and all three of the winter daphnes. We also have lots of fun gathering all available yard accents and ornaments to be redistributed to more visible and appropriate places.

There's a lot of blank space there!

Some of the yard ornaments that need a new place.

Although we didn’t get a picture of it, the Wonderful Worx mulcher was in attendance, and we were able to process the pine straw and leaves that we raked out of the beds into superb mulch! This is a handy dandy yard tool that will saves hundreds of dollars by allowing you to make your own mulch. Don’t send leaves to the landfill – spin them into gold!!

This area needs help!!

The area above is a bed for lilies, and ground cover. There are some roses as well. It was not well defined, and had become quite overgrown. Early spring is a great time to clean out beds like this, because the plants are breaking out enough to be visible, but not enough to be harmed by raking around them. We raked out all the pine straw and redefined the edges of the bed with rocks.

The new plantings by the steps!

These lorapetalums will grow to about 4.5′ tall – not too tall for the space. They will add drama and punch all year round with their glossy dark purple foliage and hot pink flowers. The daphne will fill out, and when it blooms it will treat guests to a wonderful fragrance as they come up the stairs. We placed the birdbath and bells as focal points.

This frog was a bit of an eyesore before. But we found just the right spot for him, and now he is a handsome addition to the overall landscape.

The church has found a sheltering home

The church birdhouse fits nicely beneath the branches of this variegated aucuba. Tucked into this little space it makes a charming accent.

A new and beautiful view

Now the view from the top of the stairs is of a neat and tidy garden bed boasting a new camellia and the third lorapetalum. Later in the year the lilies and roses will add to the colorful display.

We even styled the entryway!

This would make anyone glad to be home. We Bitchezz are big on details!

The olive oil jar finds a new home, too!

Fortunately Jane had a wealth of things to work with in her yard! We made a triptych of metal vine supports and placed the olive oil jar in front of them. A clematis will weave it’s way through the supports which will make a beautiful sight indeed.

We think that Yard of the Month will be a certainty! This one gets our votes! What do you think?