Get Those Toenails Dirty!

I got a lot done this morning despite the cool, wet, gloomy day.

I was outside about 8:00 a.m. with my shovel and wheelbarrow removing a few weeds and pink mallow.

As I walked down this grass path, I was suddenly overcome with the urge to remove all of the creeping phlox and yarrow from this area.

Grass is beginning to infest the phlox and the yarrow is too tall for this area--see it falling over in the grass? That's the area I redid. I spent a couple of hours removing it all, then finding other plants to replant the area.

I am planning to do a table with my polka dot vases tonight so I walked around looking for flowers to match the vases. I love to use spiderwort when it gets big round heads of seed pods.

While walking through the woods, I spotted some money plant and decided to use it with the outer wrapping left on. Then I spotted some of the dreaded bellflower that I've spent three years getting rid of in my gardens. I hate it invading my gardens, but I love it in arrangements, so was glad to find some way back in the toss out piles. I want these arrangements to be all blue/purple and green, so I used some Sedum Autumn Joy just for its pre-flowering green color.
Here are the finished bouquets. I am quite happy with them. I will probably post the table I do later tonight on my tablescape blog (link on the side panel).

The old wooden crate they are sitting on was recently gifted to me. The gifter could not believe that I wanted this old piece of junk.
I am thrilled with this old carrier. I do believe it is a strawberry carrier that pickers would carry through the fields and put their filled quarts inside. There are a lot of berry fields in this area.

After I finished the bouquets, I decided to rearrange some of the deck containers and use the old piece as the focal point.

It took less than a minute for me to spot a long container of pineapple mint that I thought would fit nicely inside--and it did.

Then I put a screw in the wood to hold the Dutch shoe planters.

By this time I was working in the rain -- I ended up working in a light rain for about an hour.

I was quite a sight by the time I was done!

I am afraid you may not be able to appreciate the sheer beauty of this piece from that little picture. Here's a better view:

See the long legs it has? I think that's so the strawberry picker does not to bend down to put the quarts in.
Here is a little wider view of the new arrangement.

I was outside for about three hours and I went through three pairs of socks. They were so full of mud that I had to hose them down before I could put them in the washing machine.

I have to say that gardening is not dainty work. If you don't like to dig dirt from your toenails, then it may not be the hobby for you!