This morning, motivated by laziness and an aching back, I taught Sophie how to climb up the ladder and slide down the slide on her own. She’s been sliding down it previously, but always Dom or I have sat her at the top first.
It only took about two minutes to teach her to climb the ladder. I stood her at the bottom and put a hand under her rear and gave her a little hoist and she began to climb on her own. When she got to the top I began to reach for her legs to help her move them to the front but before I could coach her, she’d done it one her own and was on her way down the slide. Two times more I guided her through it a bit and then she was a pro and doing it on her own with no help.
She went down at least 2 dozen times in a row, just sliding down and running right back for more, only impeded by Bella’s wanting to take a few turns.
I feel like the gardening geek whenever I comment on these, but heck, I’m more qualified for that than most other topics, so:
—The little purple flower is a chive; if you look for the stalks you could dig out the whole plant and put it a sunnier spot.
—The rhododendron and holly really like acid soil; they may just need a boost of some acidic fertilizer (“MirAcid” or, to be organic, pine needles). If they are near the foundation, the cement can eventally make the soil more basic (less acidic), which what they do not like.
—I don’t have fruit trees, so I can’t really tell what that is. Probably a good thing!
Enjoy your roses!
Cathy,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I aspire to be a gardening geek, even though I don’t really have much of a green thumb. I don’t really have the patience and persistence to be a good gardener, though I love looking at the fruits of other’s labors. I am so lucky to have this gorgeous garden planted by some unknown hand because there is no way I’d have got even this much all on my own.
Thanks for the tip about acid fertilizer. We’ll try that. And perhaps I’ll try to replant the chives, though I don’t really have a place to put them. Good to know, though, for next time I need some. I’ve got this great recipe for beet, goat cheese and chive dip I haven’t made in a long time…
Meg, I’m leaning towards peach mostly because the leaves look like what I remember on the peach trees my parents had when I was a child.
There weren’t all that many flowers this spring, though they were lovely to behold. Of course it could be an ornamental tree and not produce edible fruit.
Hi Melanie,
That does look like a peach tree. I only know because I have one in my backyard. The leaves look the same as does the branch. We got about 1/2 bushel of peaches off ours last year, but it doesn’t look like we will this year for some reason. Hope you get lots of both peaches and flowers,
Meg
Those are funny looking cherries.
Yes, they are.