My Finners Hurt

Have any of you seen Happy Gilmore?  Well there is one scene where Happy's Grandma is in a nursing home and the nursing home attendant is making the old folks sew quilts that he can sell.  She looks up at him and says "My Finners Hurt"!  I can relate!!!  I spent part of the day yesterday out in the yard cleaning up a flower bed that hasn't had any attention for 3 years - YIKES!  We moved into our house 3 years ago and it needed some immediate renovations and TLC - we spent time doing that and then embarked on our Paper Pretties adventure which has taken alot of time - allbeit enjoyable!  Anywho, this is the first year we've really had any time to put into the yard.  The flower bed I was working on runs the whole length of our front yard - seperating our house from the neighbors.  Well, the poor thing was so overgrown with quack grass and weeds that you couldn't even tell there were WILD ROSE BUSHES trying to survive in that mess!!! 
So, I got out my trusty garden claw and went to work.  It took me all day and I have more "stickers" in my finger's than anything else right now as I sit and type with my fingernails - LOL!  However, the bushes did emerge - free of weeds!!!  We also found some old wash basins behind our garage which I fillled with potting soil and planted some bedding plants in.  We had a bunch of rocks laying around too, so I got Isaiah and his friend to carry then to the front and line them up for a border.  We are planning to put up a "white picket fence" but I dont' know if it will happen this year!
I absolutely LOVE hydrangeas but we have never been able to grow them in our climate because it gets so cold in the winter!  I've also been TOTALLY jealous since my friend Julie sent me pics of her NEW HYDRANGEA BUSHES - hmph!  So, when I was at the green house yesterday with my spare change saying, "how much can I get for this many"  the lady there showed me a new type of hydragea that they got this year!  They weather to -40 degrees celcius.  The flowers look just like normal but what is really cool is that they start out lime green, turn to a creamy white and then to a soft pink - HOW TOTALLY COOL IS THAT!!!  We have 3 bushes that border our yard that we are hoping to pull out and guess what is going to go there - yepper's you guessed it - some beautiful hydrangea bushes and a flowering plum! 
So, if any of you have any gardening tips for little ole me on how to grow rose bushes (DH bought me one for Mother's Day too for the back yard).  Please leave me a comment and give me some pointers!
Here are some pics of my hard work:
These are the rose bushes - they don't look like much but I'm hoping they'll come in nicely now that the weeds and grass are gone and end up looking just like the ones above!
These are my wash baskets full of bedding plants.  Some have snapdragons and a beautiful white trailing flower and some have pansies - I LOVE their smiley faces!!
Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting my garden! Pin It