This weekend, the boys and I continued working on our gazebo rehab project. They “helped” me stain and seal the gazebo floor, and then we got to work on some landscaping.
We started yesterday morning with a trip to the local nursery to find some flowering perennials to plant along the border of the gazebo. The guys really got a kick out of the huge displays of all sorts of flowers, shrubs, fruit trees, and veggie plants. We checked out some decorative fountains, prodded at some lily pads, smelled all kinds of flowers, and discussed what our favorite colors were. The color discussion led us to the plants we ultimately chose – some with purple flowers (a Henry favorite) and some with red flowers (Finny and I like those). We picked up some soil conditioner and mulch, then went home and got to work.
The boys got to break out all their construction vehicles and wagons in the process. Here’s a photo gallery of our project. Finny and Henry were excellent transporters, dumpers, waterers, and diggers. I think Finny’s favorite part was filling his dumptuck with planting mix and dumping it onto the freshly dug “old dirt.” When Henry wasn’t resting and watching from afar, he decided he wanted to be in charge of watering, which was fine until he “accidentally” watered his brother from head to toe!
By lunchtime, the three of us were dirty and hot, but very happy. We got our new plants in and had a fantastic time doing it. Now we can’t wait for them to grow!
[PS–The guys were so amped up from the ice cream I’d bought them in Santa Cruz that when the three of us returned to the hardware store for mulch, they ended up tearing around the garden section like maniacs. I had to secure them like this. 🙂 –J.]
