Garden Tuesday: Azaleas!

It should be a great day in my garden.  Temps quite pleasant (65 up to 75), sunny, not very windy.  There is so much to do!  But first an update.

Remember the beautiful white flowers on the shrub in my backyard?

I saw the same plant at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago: azaleas!  I never, ever thought there would be azaleas in Omaha, Nebraska!  I'd always believed they were not hardy, and should only be planted in zone 7 or higher.  These are a mini version, obviously, and I've never seen plain bright white (just pink, peach or red), so I never thought of azaleas.  Furthermore, I know from my 16 years in Atlanta, that azaleas require high acid soil, which is why they do so well with pine mulch, and under pine trees there.  Mine are under a crabapple tree, which definitely does not produce high acid soil.  "I'm so confused!"  Every year, when the daffodils and grape hyacinth in the same flower bed die out, I'd been tying the leaves so that the soil gets more nitrogen.  Last year, however, I got lazy, and just cut them all back.  I'm wondering if that had something to do with the abundance of flowers this year.  Regardless, I now know what they are, and can take care of them better.

So today I finally have the time and energy to get out there.  The daisies have taken over my yard, so I have to pull those up before they sow.  Some late fall bloomers were left unattended amid the hassle of my life, and their debris needs to be addressed (yes, I know it's the end of May).  There are many weeds in one particular flower bed where I cut the shrubs back last year.   I'm going to be the Terminator.

Already there is much trimming to do.  The crabapple has encroached the territory of the retractable awning (which is fabric and very hard to clean, no matter what they claim).  The fruit is plentiful, and it needs to be pruned so the branches don't bow too much.  The purple leaf tree in the back is suffering from something, and the low dead branches need to be cut away (this is new since fall).  The spirea are huge already, but I think I'll wait to cut those back.  And the shrubs I cut way far back two falls ago (the "chainsaw incident") already need a good trimming.

DADGUMMIT!  I just looked out and saw a young bunny!  What happened to the neighbor's cat?!

Anyway.  The problem is that I need about another 10-20 bags of mulch.  That means a few trips with my little sedan, and an extra $25-50.  But it'll be worth it.  We just won't eat much this month.  (Actually, with one teen gone for three weeks, that's entirely probable.)

So I'm off to Westlake Ace to fill up my trunk with another 7 bags of mulch, then out to the backyard to get some exercise.  This means I don't have to work out today, right?

Share your garden pics and enjoy the others at  Garden Tuesday, and Garden Party and Bloomin' Tuesday.