Happy Halloween

I need to up my Halloween Game. We have no decorations. My costume is a purple hooded cape. Samuel wore a jean jacket. This was fine for the decades when we were lucky if any children came by and there were no parties, but this year we were actually invited to the happy hour driveway party - and they brought it. Plus, there were actual children coming by this year. We see them out the window because, like last year, we just put them in bags and left them on the stairs, but I suspect next year we can greet them at the door. 

These flowers are from a front yard shade garden within walking distance. Weeks and weeks ago I was taking a picture there and met the man the owner has help her with some aspects. I took his information because by the time I met him I'd seen Kate's pictures of her garden, realized I didn't need grass, and started to wonder if I could do something more interesting. Basically he does the hard manual labor. 

I've successfully done my own hard manual labor - but when it is time for the tree it may have to go deeper than I can get. 

Today I planted all the plants except two. They need to go in spots that required more than two soakings to get soft enough to dig, but I ran out of daylight. What a great technique! I dig, make a hole, hit something that won't let me through, fill the hole with water, wait until it drains while I do something else, come back and dig more until I hit something that won't let me through, fill the hole, waiting until it drains while I do something else, come back and dig some more until it is deep enough. See attachment. I have spatial relations problems so anything not in the right spot is entirely my fault, but I think I'm close enough. That said, the bare spots are either because plants will grow into them or because I'm going to get some more plants in Spring to go along the paths. 

It will take a while to get the tree so I moved the pot for visual aesthetics (it is just an empty pot) and to make it easier to dig around that area. There were a couple of spots where the vinca was still an impedance so I put cardboard back in those areas. 

Tomorrow I start planting bulbs and laying down mulch. 

Meanwhile, I've begun a spreadsheet modeled on one Kate created. It is to check off attributes of trees. Butterfly looks perfect, but maybe I should be open to other possibilities. I'm looking at other nurseries for taller options and ideally better pricing. One of them is .... out of love (?) with the Butterfly. If I can get a tall enough tree I can just have it planted and not use the pot at all - but probably need the fellow to dig the hole. 

When the construction guys tried to build the wall in my yard, they began putting their substrate behind it, so I keep finding gravel and bits of the wood retaining wall. Grrr. But on the bright side, I'm finding LOTS of worms. 

What a productive weekend, yes?