Day Five of Arlene's Garden

Yesterday the ducks went on their maiden flight. They flew over me at a low altitude in the 'we can't believe we're doing this' formation. They landed on the lawn behind the house with surprised looks on their faces. As they say, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing".

The last day of my Garden Tour I will be showing some new areas I'm developing. The first area I started two years and I'm dedicating it to mostly native plants. It's really coming along nice. I planted lots of tiny bare root shrubs and trees such as Chokecherry, Golden Currant, Blue Spruce, Service Berry and Elderberry. Last year I added two Maples, a Locust and a plum. This Spring I went completely nuts and planted some Lilacs and Viburnum. There's going to be a trail through the middle and hopefully it'll be all shady and woodsie.

Here's another new area. I've planted lots of shrubs such as different varieties of Ninebark, Lilac, Viburnum, Blue and Alberta Spruce and Summersweet. There are two groupings of shrubs and there will be a pond between them. Foxsun's grave is in the shade of the apple tree behind the little shrubs. To the left of the picture, in the distance, is the big barn and the little horse barn. I'm still planting shrubs in this area. I try to do a little everyday.

We completed the latest project on Sunday. Here's William bringing a large basalt rock in that Brad had drilled a hole through.

Father and son team.

It was important to set it right so the water wouldn't run in the wrong direction.

William seems to know what he's doing.

They plumbed it and now we have a nice little waterfall.

Day four of Arlene's Garden.

I've always wanted more shady places to plant shade loving plants. This Spring it occurred to me I could create some shade under some trees by asking Brad to cut away the lower limbs.

I planted a Rhododendron, Hosta, bright green Lamium and a Foxglove. I forget the name of the plant in front. I planted it a long time ago and it's been neglected. I'm not very good at remembering plant names.

Here I planted lots of ferns, more hosta, Bleeding Heart, and Sweet Woodruff. It'll look nice when it fills in.

Flintstone furniture. We have a lot of rocks and we try to put them to good use. Here is my throne and foot stool.

It is very big and heavy. Brad dragged it in behind a tractor. I enjoy sitting in the shade with a cat on my lap or a small dog. To the right of it is a Hosta I saved from the chickens by putting a wire cage around it. There were four other little plants I planted the day before that they scratched up.

Here's a side view of my throne.

I enjoy walking around looking at rocks and imagining what I could make of them. Much to Brad's delight, I usually forget where they are.

Here's my strawberry trough.

William put a net over it to keep the birds away from the strawberries. We all stand around the trough grazing.

Here are the chickens in lock-up. The ducks are to the left of them. The ducks don't wander far when they are let out. I think they can fly now but so far I haven't seen them do more than a few vertical take off's and some brief touch and goes.

There's the stone house that B.J. built many many years ago and my trusty lawn tractor/mower, which I'd be lost without. I kind of put a tarp over it.

Day Three of Arlene's Garden.

Before I took over as head gardener (only gardener, lol) here the tree varieties consisted of Apples, a few Spruce, Cottonwoods and Poplars. The Cottonwoods were not doing well and eventually died.

The trees I have planted are English oaks, Crab-apples, Cherry, Birch, more Spruce, Camperdown Elm, European Weeping Beech, Willows, Flowering Ash, Crimean Linden, Sugar Maples, Locust, Plum and Weeping Mulberry. The oldest which is eleven years old, so they have some growing to do.

One of my favourite places is the Finch Arboretum in Spokane. When I started landscaping I had that place in mind.

This is my youngest English oak. The branches are very horizontal which I love. The leaves are a bit lighter green than they should be so I'm going to give it some extra iron.

Looking east; my five variety cherry tree in the foreground.

One of the Bluest Blue Spruces. Every evening the Quail come home to roost in the Spruce trees. We love to hear them all talking to each other before they settle down for the night.

In the foreground is an American Fringe tree, which really is a shrub. It's very late to leaf out but has lovely delicate blooms which are well worth waiting for. In the background is a Weeping Mulberry, which is also very late to leaf out.

This is English Oak is ten years old and is big and sturdy.

It, like many of my trees, has a Robin's nest in it. I love this tree!

I've been visiting the Weeping Beech at the Finch Arboretum for 33 years and love it so much I have been growing on in my garden for almost 10 years. Although it's going to many years before my descendent's will be able to have a picnic under it!

This is my Camperdown Elm. It is covered in scales every Spring and I have to blast them off with the hose.

Day Two of Arlene's Garden.

We live on the same farm that Brad's grandfather, B. J. Lyons, homesteaded in 1890. He was only 20 years old when he came to Washington, which had just been admitted into the Union. His older brother, Will Lyons, had homesteaded a few years before, also in the Crab Creek Valley. The Great Northern Railway hadn't made it's way to Odessa, in fact Odessa wasn't even here yet. There were no roads, no fences, no stores and no fresh water. Any travelling had to be done by horse. It was an all day ride just to get the mail from the nearest post office.

The Lyons acreage has increased since the original 160 homestead acres but we still live on the home place. Our house was build for B. J. and his wife Grace in 1907. Family have been born and some have died in this house. We are surrounded by history. Here are some of B. J.'s dairy's milk cans. I use the beat up rusty ones as plant stands.

There are metal tags on the cans that bear his name.

Here is a old horse shoe I dug up in the garden last week.

It's very heavy and and is made for good traction. B.J. had to wrap his horse's legs when riding through snow that had an icy crust on it to avoid his horse's legs getting ripped to shreds.

B.J. built a root cellar deep into the side of the bluff. In the early Spring the smell of the Chokecherry is wonderful and is one of my favourite fragrances. The chokecherry shown here in the background has always been here, it's a native plant and grows at the base of the bluff where there are natural springs or run off. I have planted more chokecherry in my native garden area.

The root cellar door is on the left.

Here Max guards some newly purchased plants waiting for a new home.

In the back ground is lilac, viburnum, and golden currant.

To the right of Blondie are three big pots that I am growing my tomatoes in this year. I have a some green ones already but I'm afraid they already have some chicken pecks in them!

Day one of Arlene's Garden.

For the next five days I'm going to be giving you a tour of my garden.

This rock wall was built for me in 1996 by my dad, Colin Burridge who lives in Bedford, England.

I love it because beside being very attractive it's easy to take care of. Many of the plants re-seed themselves every year.

Sometimes they don't stay on the wall but find another place, like this crack in the side-walk.

Some of the plants growing are roses, California Poppy, Lamium, Viola's, Columbine and Alysium, which will look lovely when it grows over the edge.

Brad and William put in a trellis for my new grape vine.

I put wire around the little vine to keep deer from snacking on it before it has the chance to grow.

Day Two of Arlene's Garden tomorrow.

Echo gets halter trained.

Now I could secure a lead rope to lead Echo I needed to train him to stand still to be haltered.

The first try was a failure. I put the lead rope around his neck and started to put the halter on when the heavy snap on the lead rope tapped him and he bolted. The second try was also a failure. I decided to forget the lead rope and just put the halter right on him. All was going well till he saw the stiff leather crown piece going up and over and he bolted. Well he had a bit of an argument then. He stood in his corner snorting at me and I was shouting "Bad boy"! We soon made friends and had a nice cuddle.

The third try was a success. I made his lead rope into a halter and led him into a small pen. I called Brad and William over for moral support and put his nose through the nose band. He's used to me putting things over his nose and he stood still starring bug eyed and Brad and William. This time I carefully slid the leather crown up behind his ears and struggled to reach it the other side. William asked me if I needed a telephone book to stand on and that made me start laughing. For a reward I gave Echo a dose of wormer, poor lad. Worming actually is a none issue for him.

I brushed his mane and made him look very handsome.

I got him used to me brushing his forelock and now he's much better at having things above his eyes. He's not keen about me taking pictures while standing at his side and he keeps trying to turn to face me. I have to say sternly, "Eyes front soldier" and he snaps to attention. It's very cute.

I brushed his mane over to one side and took a picture of his rarely seen freeze brand.

Out in the big area, I practised taking the halter off and putting it back on. Once he found he gets cheers and applause for having his halter put on he was eager to put his nose through the nose band. He loves being groomed now. He's still not too keen on me touching his back feet though. Soon as I get my hands around his fetlock he pulls his foot away in a defensive move. We'll get there one day.

Echo escaped.

In between rain showers I was innocently weeding my world famous strawberry trough, minding my own business, and for some reason I turned around and looked towards the corrals. I saw the unmistakable sight of a newly liberated horse running with his wild herd mate.

Just as I spotted them, Brad and William pulled up to the corrals and saw the whole caper. I quickly drove over there to sort them out. That corral is the last place I want those two mustangs having one of their knock down, drag out play fights. It has wooden posts with panels in between, which would be perfectly good for horses but the wooden posts are old and need to be replaced. Years ago I remember seeing bulls fighting in there, oblivious of the fences, and whirl around and around and go right through them. Bulls and cows are much harder on fences than horses but I still didn't want the lads getting into a rumble there.

As I drove up I saw Echo trying to graze and Wildairo biting his bum wanting some action. Brad and I started to open up gates and stuff and when I turned around to looked at the mustangs I saw they had both dropped to their knees and were trying biting each others legs. It was the start of their well choreographed wild horse play. I knew where this was going. But then Wildairo looked over at us and saw gates wide open so he jumped up because Wildairo has never seen an open gate he didn't want to go through. And go through the gate he did! He ploughed through the sloshy mud like a big tank and parked himself in a small pen, and just like that, we had him secured.

Echo got back to unmolested grazing. Now came the big test, would Echo let me near him or even let me get him in? Brad went near him and he bolted off snorting. I thought I was in for trouble. I approached Echo but it never occurred to him to run from me. He was happy for me to put my arms around his neck and give him a cuddle. He even followed me a little bit!

Suddenly it occurred to me while I'd been teaching Echo tricks and monkeying around, I'd never taught him the best trick of all...standing in the open and letting someone put a rope around your neck or put a halter on. So I had to rely on all the monkeying around and games we played to get him in. He knew the sign for apple and step up and followed me back through the gate. Brad and William were behind him a ways to give him a little encouragement.

I was so proud of the lads coming in like that and not acting silly. The grass is long and inviting out there. I let Echo graze a bit on it but not too long because he's not used to it like Wildairo is.

Last year Brad rebuild part of the corrals and made it so the gates could be opened easy with one hand or one horse nose. Wildairo had slid the latch open and pushed the gate open towards Echo. Now they are tied or chained closed.

Since the big escape I taught Echo how to stand still while I fashion a lead rope into a make shift halter to lead him. We did half a dozen times and he's really fine with it. He also leads with the rope around his neck. I just have to be careful not to swing the rope around too much but he'll get used to even that. I also have been working on lifting his hooves. I have managed to lift up the front two although I only keep his hoof up for a few seconds. He loves the clapping, hugs and congratulations he gets afterwards for being a good boy. I'm still working on getting him used to me messing about with his back hooves and legs. I don't believe rushing this little horse is productive.

I also learned that Echo is extremely jealous when I give Wildairo kisses. The little stinker was shoving me quiet hard with his nose when I was with Wildairo.