What's Blooming at 19 Plymouth Circle?

So as I (Rachel) was knee deep into Round-Up and pesticide this afternoon, I started noticing how much is blooming at the Wilson Digs. We have come a long way from the bare bones landscaping we inherited a month ago. So, while Davy was at Best Buy pre-shopping for man cave materials, I decided to give everyone a tour of our yard!

We aren't the couple known for nurturing things very well (i.e. forgetting to feed Murphy) but I think we may have turned a corner.

We'll start on the deck

Hibiscus! One of my fav plants, every new bloom is like a miniature piece of the tropics.

Planters on the deck with petunias, basil , and sweet potato vine.

A spicy variety of basil that I think is delicious! I plan to use it in a pesto encrusted chicken later this week.

Matteo thinks this may be a black cherry tree, I'm not sure. Any ideas out there??

Peonies from graduation. Still smell divine!

Tiger Eye in the mail box planter. This one makes me smile every time I drive into the driveway.

Clematis climbing up the mailbox

Planted this on Day 1 right after we closed!

Murphy has been trying to help by using his own built in irrigation system

I have seen this blooming all over Bristol, but have no idea what it is.

Blueberries! I am so shocked at how many are on these bushes.

Our hydrangea and lenten rose, both housewarming gifts are also in full bloom in the back yard. Tiger Lily in bloom and Calla Lily getting ready to bloom.So you are probably wondering if we have had to buy stock in City of Bristol H2O to keep all of this stuff watered. We have been fortunate in the rain department, however our friends Lacy and Aaron stopped by the other day to drop off this beauty

This pic is really dark, but its a nice green, taupe color that will blend great with our new paint job on the house. It holds 75 gallons of water, and supposedly is full after one rain, so I can't to start using it! We are going to put it on the back corner of the house, and are considering this copper rain chain to channel the rain to the barrell. Any thoughts?
So that is the garden tour of the Wilson yard so far! Any suggestions or gardening tips are much appreciated! We are definitely learning as we go, but are pretty happy with our little footprint so far. Happy Tuesday!

Trust Me, I'm a Doctor!

This weekend was a long time coming! We finally got to relax in our new home with family and friends and celebrate Rachel's graduation from medical school. After a few last minute projects in the house department we were ready to sit back and welcome everyone to our new digs!

Rachel's graduation was in Blacksburg, VA at Virginia Tech. It was a beautiful day, however, unfortunately there was no A/C in Burress Hall, which made for a sticky (literally) situation. Nonetheless, we all made it through and Rachel officially became a doctor.

Nanny and the girls!

We made our way back to Bristol and enjoyed good food and good times that evening with family!

This weekend we also got brand new outdoor furniture for a graduation/ housewarming gift and we are loving it! We had some friends over for our first grill out.

Relaxin!

Mike grillin' our steaks. We also had one of our fav summer time recipes, three bean bake! You can't go wrong with a recipe that calls for hamburger, bacon, and beenie weenies in the same dish.

Not sure about this pose, but you can see our new (to us) fountain that was passed on to us from Steph. Love it!

We also had big plans to take Lilly to the pool on Tuesday, unfortunately we were rained out. However, we found two sleeping beauties enjoying a little R and R that afternoon. Murphy is a sucker for a little cuddlin' and Garfield.

Next time we will hopefully have pics of our newly painted house. We will update as progress is made. Any last minute suggestions for exterior paint colors? Right now we are thinking Quail Ridge (a gray taupe color we found at Home Depot)