A tree grows in Virginia Beach

Well, OK, a shrub. A couple of years ago, I ripped out the overgrown holly in front of the corner of my garage next to the front walk. For a while, the spot held some ivy and pansies, but I always figured I'd eventually plant another small shrub there, if I ever found something I liked that could be kept under control, size-wise.

"Eventually" finally arrived last weekend, when I got into the ground a Cryptomeria japonica (Japanese cedar) "Black Dragon" that I bought at Lowes the week before. (See, I'm getting a little better at planting in a timely manner.) They're supposed to stay relatively compact, so I'm hoping it won't require too much pruning to keep it from taking over the sidewalk. It's a nice deep green (more so than it appears in this photo, which looks slightly washed out), no yellow/gold coloration which I dislike. Now I just have to keep it watered and hope it lives through the summer.


In other gardening news, I spent a good bit of time this weekend digging out of my lawn some of the biggest damned thistles you ever saw. If the things I plant deliberately would grow even half as heartily as the thistles, I'd have a prize-winning landscape here. Pulled up a pile of clover, too, but hardly made a dent in it. I think it's going to take a dose of Roundup, which is also what the cracks in my driveway need. That's another place I manage to grow an amazingly healthy crop of weeds.

And finally, I bit the bullet and hauled the lawn mower out of the shed yesterday for the first mowing of the year. I was gonna do it last weekend, until we had a deluge. So I figured I'd best take advantage of a dry and sunny weekend to fend off the local grass police. It was so tall that I set the mower at maximum height (which I think is 3.5") so I didn't scalp it too badly. Of course, that meant when my buddy Tim stopped by just after I finished the front yard, he thought I hadn't started mowing yet. But then I pointed out to him the side yard where I hadn't mowed yet, and he revised his assessment of the situation.