Irene had a tree at our house that she picked out at a nursery last year. It's a Golden Monterrey Cypress, a plant that is used in planters in these parts. She has pampered it and trimmed it. She named it Tree-y. It spent the winter in the greenhouse.
This year I thought it would be the perfect centerpiece for a pot for the front porch of their new house. Irene wasn't so sure it should move, but last Friday I got her involved in planting it into a bigger pot, with some companions.
Yesterday, while Jill and the kids were ending their trip to Disneyland, we took it over and placed it on the porch.
The day before we were over preparing the porch. See those stone squares under the pot? That was a planting hole in the concrete which was just an eyesore and not good for planting in. Tom filled it with gravel, topped with sand, and then placed the stone that had been recycled for someone else project.
Also for Jill and family was the table project. She had an old oak table that had served several members and generations of the family over the years. It was decided to make a coffee table out of it. To try it out, the top was removed from the base and was sitting on cardboard packing boxes since early November. I said it was time to get that project done!
Tom cut down the base and I decided I could handle refinishing the top. I stripped it with a soy based stripper, then stained/dyed it.
Then over several days I applied a layer of shellac and three coats of Varathane, and finally a layer of paste wax. Tom is the expert on this stuff, so I just followed directions.
I refreshed the finish on the rim and the base, and then yesterday morning it was ready to go.
Oh, oh. Hundred year old bolts don't match up with new nuts.
Several trips to the hardware store later, the project was finally complete.
There were a dish of Easter M&Ms and a few tulips from our garden to welcome the travelers home.
We picked them up from the airport about 8:00 and delivered them to their home. All of the new additions were approved and admired.
And the travelers? Well, they had just the most wonderful time!
Another on-going project here has been Tom's Bonsai collection. He finally had the time to get to his trees and do some serious refurbishing.
There is root pruning and re-potting, top pruning and reshaping, wiring and wrapping. Each tree gets its own special treatment based on its needs.
All but one of Tom's current bonsai trees were started by him from nursery stock over a period of about ten years beginning in 1983. That makes them 20 to 30 years old in training. Over the years there have been other trees, some that didn't make the grade, some experiments with native material that didn't take to being tortured, and some that just up and died, as plants will do. These are the survivors.
This is a Trident maple over rock - heavy!
Quite a mass of roots in that old, too small pot.
The maple just needed light pruning on the top to keep it in shape.
Happy in its new pot.
Here it is today.
This cascading style Japanese Black Pine needed to be restyled, given a new pot, and trimmed top and bottom.
Here is is, redesigned with less cascading, dramatically needle thinned, and wrapped and wired for shape training.
This black Pine needed root pruning and a serious haircut.
New pot, needle thinned, and wired.
Here's what came off.
The grove of Zelkova just got some top pruning.
This Shimpaku Juniper was completely restyled, reduced by two thirds, and needs to grow now and branch back before further shaping can take place.
The black pine got branches removed, needles thinned and branches wired and reshaped, roots pruned and a new pot.
The cork bark black pine just got needle thinning and a light pruning.
But then the Bonsai bench needed some work too. One of the supports had rotted out. Tom built new benches last year, but now it had to come down and get new posts.
Moving in day. Tom says it should read "Moving ON day".
"Hurry and get your shot. This is heavy!"
We didn't get any photos of this big project. This is a raft style Shimpaku Juniper on a 40 inch long slab of field stone. Tom had to rebuild the rock surround that holds the soil onto the slab. He top pruned and wired the branches.
This raft is too heavy for me to help lift any more, so it awaits help from a neighbor to lift it on to the bench.
There are a few more trees, like this Hino Crimson Azalea, currently being displayed on the patio table as it begins to bloom.
This miniature crab apple will soon have a few blooms,
and then a few tiny apples.
Eventually some of these trees will be moved to the garden deck.
But the garden deck is another on-going project, for a future post.
We've been busy around here with some on-going projects.
One of them, of course, is Project Me.
I had my first post-op physical therapy session yesterday morning. I constructed a chart for the seven exercises and stretches, and that's how I started my day this morning.
It looks like I have one more Shoulder flex to do. Two sets were enough this morning.
I'm back up to speed with my walking, and now I can start some gentle work on my flexibility again.
Gotta' keep moving!
..
........and thank God for Medicare!
I finally got my bill for my back surgery today. The total claimed by Virginia Mason Hospital was $57,294.28!
I am insured through Group Health Advantage plan and Medicare. Group Health is a non-profit medical co-op that has provided us excellent care for many years. When we went on to Medicare, they handled everything in a perfectly smooth transition.
Group Health used to have a central hospital, but in recent years has contracted out hospital care and surgery, while still using GH doctors and surgeons. They paid Virginia Mason about half of the original claimed cost.
My bill was $400, the co-pay for two nights in the hospital.
That's all.
It was another dry day, with a sunny afternoon, perfect for getting more gardening jobs done on the long list Tom made on the weekend.
Today he dug the Lambs Ears edging on the rose bed so it can be thinned, weeded and replanted.
I sat on my bucket stool and sorted, picking out the grass and the marsh marigolds. Those marsh marigolds have such pretty little flowers, but they are thugs in the garden, spreading by tiny bulb-lets into big spreading clumps. It was time to put them back in their place.
We pulled the saved Lambs Ear plants into the shade while we went in for lunch.
Tom had the border replanted before I got off the computer. I've been trying to keep up with the email directory of our growing garden club, as we make plans for spring and summer meetings.
Then we tackled the patio pot holding the Black Lace Sambucus. It is a large shrub when allowed to grow, but we are using it as a container plant as long as we can. It needed to be root pruned and the soil renewed to make room for friends in the pot.
I am doing what I can, probably too much, but I really need to get into the dirt! I planted the "friends".
I added 'Purple Shamrock' Hebe, a Heucherella 'Sweet Tea', and a grass, Libertia ixiodes 'Goldfinger"', plants I bought at Swanson's last week.
I tucked in a few pansies and violas I bought yesterday at Home Depot for some bright color, and then Tom cleaned up all the spilled soil.
It's looking a little better now.
No foollin'. The tulips are bloomin'!
The Dandelions aren't lyin'!
It's April!
