Stone walls, Bee boles and Peacocks in the Periwinkle.

I must be part Irish... 

  because I love to build stone walls... Mine are not as long as I would wish them to be, for it just isn't easy to get all that many stones, when you have to gather them one by one, with an aging back and bad knees.Therefore, I use what I have and stack them as high or as long as my stone stash will allow. 
The newest wall borders the front yard garden bed, where once upon a time, there lay nothing but a boring lawn.

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 But not anymore!

This bed is full of Iris, Daylilly, various perennials, hosta, hydrangea, bee balm, coneflowers and foxgloves. They are just coming up through the earth at this point... how thrilling!

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I know it must look a mess, but a week ago, this was practically barren.

Below, here it is 7 days later... WHOA!!!

We use a lot of salvaged brick, brickbats, found stone, pickets, fencing and timbers around here. I love the aged look of these materials. My garden style is something I made up.... I call it Hopalong Hollowscaping.

Building a dry stack stone wall is something of an art form.

You must fit the pieces together like a puzzle,

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 the stones must support one another in such a way as to prevent the wall from tumbling down.

  

We gather these stones from the hollow, the creek, the meadows and fields. We lucked out last year when a road crew dumped a huge load in our driveway... at our request. THAT was like getting a pot o gold!  

 Someday, I hope to acquire enough stone to build a REALLY tall wall, but for now, I think this one is just dandy. This is the opposite side of it, which faces Wee Minnow Brooke.

You know your stone wall is a big success, when a rooster crows atop it...

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and a kitty takes a stroll all the way across the entire breadth.

There were enough stones left over from this weeks job,to build a bee bole.

The Bar Beehive sits atop. It will be filled with bees as soon as my order comes in!!!

 The bee skeps beneath are just for looks, I doubt any bees will visit them when such a nice condo is sitting above. But don't you adore bee skeps?

 

The bee bole is near a water source, facing southeast and in a protected area. That is what the bee bible tells me to do. This is my first year raising Honeybees, so I am very excited.

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I built the one below, last year, in front of a side garden.

 

You can see how the stones fit nicely together.. My knees were in bad shape after this job, but I didn't mind, this wall will last a life- time.

 

 

I have been painting bees for my book and it really puts one in the mood for gardening!

 

An early Spring in the Hollow would not be complete without Peacocks spreading their new feathers amongst the blooms

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Can you see the tail in the violets and periwinkle?

 The Peabody boys are now 2 years old and are fully feathered

They will show those tails to ANYONE who cares to view...

I have just been ambushed by Hans Peabody.

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But Demelza, the red feathered beauty, is not impressed, she has seen this act before.

She just yawns and continues her sunbath.

 Good grief, this is so amazing... everything is coming up! My gardens are full of Iris blades and all those plants I thought I murdered last year.

 (If I had one dollar for every plant I've killed, I could hire a REAL gardener.)

Last year I signed books at a garden show and came home with 7 Japanese Maples ( it was a trade... don't you just love barter?!) The one above is quite lovely and doing well.

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Here is another garden simply lined in stones and salvaged brick.

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Of course, plenty of weeds have returned. But it just so happens,  there are SOME weeds that I love... that's right, Jeri loves weeds. I will tell you about my very favorite weeds in another post. Perhaps I can change your opinion on "the dreaded weed".

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This small stone wall was created using broken concrete. I was thrilled the day I drove by a little church in our town to see they were demolishing the sidewalk. James and I were happy to carry off the chunks for them, and they were all too happy to allow it. So, don't ever haul off your old broken cement patio... build a wall instead!

 or a bee bole.

 I hope you are enjoying an early Spring too.

 We send you a handful of periwinkle and a peacock feather!