elderberry

My coworker and work husband asked me to help him surprise his wife with planting a lilac bush and doing some bordering brick and wood around it. This was a fun little project and his father also helped us. I was quite comical to see the two of us with our DIYer tools and ideas and his father with the real knowledge and equipment.  An example is that we used these fabric bags to haul dirt, bags you would use for weeding or collecting leaves. Neither one of us own wheelbarrows. I brought my new hammer drill and a shovel. We cut some 4×4 posts and created a corner garden area for the one lilac bush.  It was my coworkers idea to not even take the grass out, just pile dirt on top.  I mean it worked in the end and we survived a very hot and humid day.

The local garden store that my coworker bought the lilac bush from was Ivy Trails Garden Center in Green Bay. When I walked into that place and saw the stock as well as the pots that said ‘Proven Winners‘ I knew I had found my new favorite garden center. I spent a good amount of money there and it was worth it. One thing I found was a black elderberry. I had bought four lemony lace elderberries directly from Proven Winners in March. So to be able to offset the yellow with a black/dark purple was a great find. I know a lot about Proven Winners due to falling in love with ‘Garden Answer‘ on YouTube. I am all about using YouTube to do research before I start a project. It has been so nice spending the COVID time watching and rejuvenating a passion for gardening and landscaping. I am so glad that Green Bay has a Proven Winners supplier and I do not need to rely on big box stores like Home Depot for plants.

One thing that is a bit crazy with the summer is that as I am adding more and more plants into my landscape, my parents are getting rid of more and more garden spaces. As I slowly became an introvert around Middle School age, I started getting involved in gardening and my parents transformed their landscape to work with my interests. So fast forward to years and years later, we are turning their yard into more grass.  My parents have given me some of their Asiatic lilies as well as some of their hostas.