Not quite what I expected

Sorry for my absence. A dear friend passed away from melanoma (get those moles checked!) and I came down with a bug of some sort (Covid test was negative). So besides recovering from surgery, I am also recovering from illness. At least I was able to abandon the brace this past week. While I can't do much yet, my shoulder is loosening up.

I received a first draft of the yard design. Even though I told the designer to treat the yard as a blank slate (except for the trees), I initially was not comfortable with the design. There are a lot of plants I am unfamiliar with (mostly ground covers), so had to research those a bit. Now I feel mostly okay about the front yard (except for the placement of a white oak where I don't think there is room), but the backyard looks like a lot of work to maintain. Also, I was hoping for more shrubs and vines in the back. We'll have a chance to sit down and discuss my misgivings, then he'll do a final draft.

There are a few new houseplants inside now. I purchased some cacti for a coiled pot and my son and his girl friend sent me a planter of plants for my birthday. I had to repot the latter, as the container they came in was not very practical. Also, providing the names of plants seems to have become a thing of the past, so I can't tell you what any of these are.


Speaking of plant names, I could not find the name of the arborvitae in the backyard. Apparently, I never entered it into my blog. Fortunately, I found it in an old spreadsheet. Just for the record, it is Thuja occidentalis 'Techny'.