It seems like it's been forever since I've been on here. My wife has recovered well from her two massive back fusion surgeries. She's graduated from a walker to a cane. Her pain level has GREATLY reduced as well. All of that has been a real blessing and has freed me up to do more gardening. She's been encouraging me to get out and plant stuff again. So as time goes on I will be playing catch-up on here to list my new acquisitions and post pictures. Anyway, just thought I'd pop on and say hello again. I miss the interaction with many of you. I do spend quite a bit of time on the gardening YouTube channels.
I finally moved part of my Hosta this spring. I inherited it when I bought my house 23 years ago. I've been planning to move it for several years, but simply never got around to it. I am new to moving plants and I am always pretty nervous when I do it. But it seemed to really like it! I divided what I dug up and got three really nice sized clumps so far. So what did we get that night? The first torrential down pour in years. But for the first time in 23 years that I can remember, we had a huge hail storm with it. Mostly pea sized hail stones, but some quarter sized stones as well. The Hosta clumps I moved only had a little damage (whew!) because the trees I planted them under shielded them. But when I looked at the part I had not moved - it really got beat up! Wow! Later this summer I moved the rest of it. Had I moved it when I moved the other part I would have spared it the humiliation it experienced. I was surprised how quickly they started growing and spreading! They obviously liked being divided and moved. I don't know what kind of Hosta it is, so if anyone on here cares to help me out I would appreciate it.
After a second back surgery this January my wife has improved vastly! That has allowed me to get back into my gardening for the first time in probably two years. I'm making some hardscape changes which opens up areas of planting. So I thought I would begin resurrecting my blog here. Looking forward to posting some photos of my changes and the new plants that I am acquiring.
Sorry I have been gone for so long. After Yvonne's enormous back surgery I became her primary care giver. I did not realize what all that would entail, but has meant I am with her pretty much 24 hours a day. Over the past four months she has gotten progressively stronger and now walks with a walker instead of riding in a wheelchair. She was in a rehab center for one month, then came home and had two months of in home health care (nursing, physical therapy, and occupational therapy). That ended the last of May. She has now transitioned to outpatient physical therapy. She is getting stronger, but her stamina is still very limited. It's been an emotional rollercoaster for us too. Needless to say, my gardening has been minimal this year. My daughter bought me a Eastern Viburnum Snowball Bush, and I had to exchange an Azalea that died over the winter and replant it. Haven't really even cleaned up the leaves from two overbearing oak trees in my yard. Fortunately, the Clematis this year were in full glory and produced tons of huge blooms! My Knockout Roses were also on full display in the front. Then the Jackmanii Clematis in the front picked up after the blackspot defoliated my Golden Showers Roses. Now the Easter Lilies I planted have come up and are beautiful! So, for those of you who are praying people I sure would appreciate your prayers for us. This has been a long hard journey and it is far from over. I hold on to two passages of Scripture, actually three: Jeremiah 30:17 "I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord." Hebrews 10:23 "So let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 13:5 "God has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'; so we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid." So never fear, I am still here, only right now everything gets prioritized. Thank you for your prayers and for being friends we've never met.
January 18th Yvonne had her back surgery. Decompression and fusion of levels T10 - S1. After a week in the hospital she is now in a rehab center to regain her mobility and strength. Lots of kinks and twists in the road to recovery. If you pray, we'd appreciate your holding both of us up in prayer during this journey. Surgeon said it would probably be a 6 month recovery period. We are trusting God is going to restore her to health and heal her wounds (Jeremiah 30:17). I so hate to see my beloved wife hurting like this!
Today is her birthday. Just thought I would share a couple of pictures that I took after I got to Yvonne's room and got all of the stuff up that I brought. Her nurse this morning volunteered to help me carry the stuff into her room and then started singing happy birthday to her. I do believe it made her feel good! The metallic balloons were my original idea. She had asked me to buy her a new toothbrush and I was going to get her a box of Kleenex. So, I put them in a gift bag with some colorful tissue paper and gave them to her as a "gag gift" present. While I was getting the gift bag at the store, I also saw some really pretty flowers and put together a bouquet for her. I really wanted to make her day special!
