Gardening Fun

This is the first year I've lived in a house with a yard that I really wanted to garden in! Until now I've stuck mainly to potted plants. The only plants I put in the ground were irises, and only because I knew I could easily dig them up and bring them with me when we moved. So now, my Texas irises are comfortably in the front flower bed, and I have several other goodies in the back! There are no formal flower beds, yet, so I haven't bought bulbs or anything like that. Here's what I've planted so far:

• the 2 crepe myrtles that have been in pots in Texas...though I think one may not have made it.
• 3 rose bushes
• a forsythia bush (makes a big bush of yellow flowers in spring; they're everywhere around here)
• a small azalea bush...it's fun buying small and knowing I'll be here to see it grow!
• a plum tree!

I'm really excited about the plum tree. There was a plum tree here before we got here, but the trunk was rotting out, so it was cut down right before we moved in. I heard, though, that it produced plums and people came and took them on their way home from church. The tree I have is fairly tall--maybe 6 or 7 feet--so I'm hoping it's old enough to make some fruit this year! I think it would be fun to be able to "share of our bounty" to the passerby who likes homemade plum jam. Not that I would make the jam, but I would be happy to share my plums.

Here's a picture of our little plum tree's very first bud. I'm so proud!