It has been a really strange week so far. Work wise, I'm still in the holding pattern between my two projects. I am anxious for one to start up soon because I'm beginning to feel useless. I hate waiting around to see when I'll get my phone call to travel the next morning. Type A+ can you tell.
On the flip side, home life has been very busy. This week we got plants for the backyard. It was an adventure I would say. Two hours for my second trip to Evergreen Nursery. We had gone a few weeks to prior to see what was there and what we wanted to buy. Unfortunately, some of the plants were no longer there or at least the good looking ones weren't there. And some vines that originally had flowers no longer did so it was hard to tell which vine I wanted. By the way, there aren't a whole lot of signs out stating what the plants are. I was hoping Mr. Architect was going to come with me to recommend some plants and tell me which are good/bad based on our location and soil. I needed someone to tell me how many to buy and what type of plant (shrub, vine, bush, flower, ground covering, etc.) to purchase for the planters in our yard. He basically followed me to the nursery and then stuck me with two guys who didn't speak English to pick up the plants and put them in their truck. G has been so busy at work lately that he couldn't come with me. So I'm completely abandoned and to be honest it was a little stressful. Evergreen is HUGE. You could seriously get lost in there and I felt almost clueless driving around to find the plants that I wanted and saw two weeks ago.
I ended up with a huge truck load of plants of all kinds. Two fruit trees, 7 vines, 3mrose bushes, red banana plant, various shrubs of different colors and sizes, and a handful of colored flowers. Spent about $500 which actually wasn't too bad, I thought. The guys unloaded all the plants and then asked me where I wanted to place them all in my backyard.
That was heart attack #2. To some, this may sound like a piece of cake. And you know me, I love to plan, design, create, and organize. But doing this in a garden that will hopefully be around for years and years is kind of stressful. I'm looking basically at a dirt yard with areas that have been identified as "garden" areas. It's quite hard to visualize what to do with it all as there are so many different areas to cover. You have to think about what the plants will look like in 2 years, 5 year, 10 years, etc. I also thought Mr. Architect would be there to help me "landscape" it out. Nope, absent and left to my own...abandoned.
In my somewhat broken English, I was trying to ask the workers what they thought. I figured, the company has good business so the workers must do this ALL the time for people and should know somewhat what looks good. So I kind of said things like, "I want these here on this side and those behind that..." And then when they moved it to those areas they would kind of place them symmetrically apart. So I began to visually see it and placed things where I saw fit. I could tell by some snickering remarks when the guys thought it looked funny so then I would tell them to change it. Good thing I understand their body language and facial expressions. Ha!
I thought for the first round it turned out well. It seems so empty though since the shrubs aren't grown and the vines are tied to a wooden stick. I knew we needed more but I didn't want to get too much knowing that overtime all these plants will grow...hopefully.
Then G came home and wasn't happy. He left it up to me to figure out the garden but didn't like my choices. I got a full size lime tree and dwarf kumquat when we talked about getting the opposite. It's all that was available at Evergreen though. I was trying to explain how difficult it was to find things are the nursery this time because some of the items I liked were no longer there or I couldn't remember where they were in the vast area. They didn't have the enough of a shrub I wanted or the flowers this time looked dead. Do I substitute for something else? Quick, quick, got to choose now and no one to help me make the decision. And the vines that originally had flowers no longer did and thus I couldn't tell which vine it was that I wanted. It's stressful whether it sounds stupid or not.
So after back and forth discussions with the guys and my plants, I decided to go for a quick run and blow off the anxiety. I wanted to go to Home Depot with G so we can pick some plants TOGETHER. None of this abandoned stuff. Forget the 30% discount we got at Evergreen too. I hate when the hubby is unhappy with my choices and we argue.
We went to Home Depot that evening and picked out some more plants and then discussed what vines we wanted to get at Evergreen. I decided I was just going to go there in the morning without the landscapers. If they didn't give me the 30% discount, then oh well. I didn't want to feel the pressure of having two non-English speakers following me around and waiting for me to decide which plants I wanted.
When I went to Evergreen, I saw the same lady who rang me up yesterday. I reminded her that I was there yesterday with the landscapers and asked if she would still honor me the 30% discount. I only needed to pick up a few more vines. She said sure. What a sweet girl to help me get through my day.
Strangely, without people watching me, I was easily able to find what I wanted. So I purchased and came back home. I told one of the guys in my yard what I wanted to do with the plants. There was some confusion on the side yard so I had to call the landscaper. Then had to call my hubby out of his busy schedule to talk to the landscaper and discuss what we wanted. Not knowing about irrigation and sprinklers makes it a little hard for me to discuss on my own. But luckily, we finally came to an agreement with the landscapers and we should be getting what we want. After all, we are paying them a hefty amount of money so it needs to be done right and the way we want.
I had to do a little more plant shopping in the afternoon. Then watched the guys SOAK my entire dirt lawn in changing out the sprinklers. I decided that I might end up gardening the front yard on my own this weekend if they don't get to it by tomorrow. I don't want the plants to end up dying now that they've sat in their buckets for 4 weeks. Hmmm... decisions... stressful... hopefully not abandoned anymore...
