One of These Things is Not Like the Others

The first newly painted shutter is up! I meant to install its twin, but I realized there are a few spots I have to touch up first. I hope to install it in the next day or so.

In the meantime, our house is going to look slightly...off...

Roses

The roses in the back of the house are in bloom. At the base of the trellis, the Moonflower is starting to make its way up the chimney:

Equations of Mow-tion 1: r = aƟ

I figure if I have to mow a lawn, I might as well make it interesting. And who says you have to mow in straight lines?

Happy Memorial Day

Garten Update

Just a quick update showing some plants in place.

Window boxes:

The wave petunias still have some waving to do, but hopefully they'll get there.

Foxglove:

Salvia:

Scotch broom:

Icelandic poppies back and right, Alpine poppies left, edelweiss front:

Partial view of the colesuses around the patio:

 

Vegetable garden with black raspberry bush in lower right corner (watered it later, no worries):

Shutter to Think

One of the major projects for the outside of the house is to repaint the shutters. Currently the shutters are a faded blue-ish grey:I'm not sure if this is the original color. The shutter locks that mount the shutters to the side of the house are a hunter green. But the back of the shutters is a charcoal. So who knows. It doesn't matter. We're going to paint them black.

First shutter removed. I used a pair of clippers to cut the heads off the shutter locks and then I could just lift the shutter off the wall:
The tough part was to remove the remaining bit of the shutter locks. I had to use different size drill bits, awl, and needle nose pliers to get those buggers out. There has to be an easier way. Suggestions?

Now for the paint. I scrubbed all the grit and dirt off the shutter and once it was dry I applied a spray on primer:
It should seal the surface, cover over any stains, etc and give the paint a good surface to bond with:
After giving the primer 24 hours to dry, I could now apply the paint. A black satin finish paint:

To minimize any running of paint on the shutter, I applied a light coat of black paint, not worrying about completely covering the primer. Better to apply two light coats with no running than one coat that might run:

First coat finished:
After another 24 hours for the first coat to dry, the second coat was applied. And another 24 hours later (yes, that's three days total), the shutter was finished. Here it is placed next to the next shutter that I removed:

We really like how well the finished black shutter looks. The satin finish really gives it a new look. Now we just need to speed up the process. Doing the math, let's see...three days for one shutter...two shutters per window...at least 11 windows...carry the one...whew, that's going to take a long time.

Buried Treasure

The bonus of buying a house from people who apparently enjoyed garden is plant surprises. We've had irises coming in along the side of the garage for a while now, but, unlike their neighborhood counterparts, they have stubbornly refused to bloom – until today.

Here's an overview:

This is the side of the garage, loaded with irises, and one white bleeding heart right in the middle.

Irises close up. I'm extremely surprised by the colors, pleasantly so:

The bleeding heart:

Love that it's white, not pink.

Now to off to plant my many purchases from the last few days.