Guess Who Came For Dinner???

That's what we wondered, too!  We bought way too many plants to try to get done in a short period of time, but ladies, honestly, do we ever admit we bit off more than we could chew?  Sure we do - but we just want to keep it between us - don't tell the guys, OK?  Tell you what, I won't tell yours, if you don't tell mine!  Deal?  Deal!!

In case you forgot what these little sticks with the leaves on top are, they are our apple trees - this one is a Fugi Apples - mmmm - so crisp and tasty!

The on to the right is a Honey Crisp Apple - also pretty sweet and crisp and both will bear fruit at different times of the year! Apples almost all year!

Here the are together - yep, pretty small!  The gentleman helping us at the store must have thought we were much younger than we are, because it will take years - many of them - for these guys to give us a couple of sweet crisp apples!  Already made the mistake and we were ready to live with it!  We had our gardener come out and plant it a week ago and they seemed to be doing well, until Saturday morning.  My Sweetie gets up every morning and checks on all of the plants - just in case a water line has blown off and we need to do some hand watering and this is what he found on the left tree ~

Yes, you see it correctly!!!  Every leaf is gone!!  What the heck!!??  I mistakenly called OSH who told me, 'Oh ~ it's Grasshoppers. Buy Malathion and spray both trees and any other plants you have.' We try like the dickens to do everything organically without a lot of poisons and I really didn't want to put this stuff on it (I'm sure it's great, but we have lots of wild life around and we just don't want to hurt any of them needlessly.)  When our gardener came later that day, one of his guys said it was ants.

Oh now what to do??  Sweetie reminded me we didn't buy them at OSH, we bought them at Lowe's.  They are the best and our store is fairly new, so I forgot ~ and when I called the gal there said, 'well, bring it back and let's have a look!'  So we did - everyone in Lowe's said the same thing - 'Oh you have deer!'  Great!!  They were really busy in the store and the Manager and staff said it had happened to many in our neighborhood! So now we are rethinking our front yard!!

It makes perfect sense though, as their habitat is being disturbed just below us, and it is the beginning of fire season and all weeds and brush must be cut down.  The river bed runs behind us about 1/2 mile, as the crow flies, or as the deer roam.   So for now, no apples unless I find room in the back for two!

We did get our Lavender, and Breath of Heaven planted and those look lovely - and the deer should stay away from both.

Oh, we're also getting some of the rocks rearranged, too.

This one really looks grand here, and the four in the background I have to think about.

Right outside my office/craft room window are these blooming Star Jasmine plants.  Oh my gosh, the odor is like Heaven here on earth!  I just love it and feel so blessed after it being 100 degrees today, it has cooled off to the low 70's, high 60's and I have opened my window to smell these beautiful citrus like blooms!  Love it!

It's time for a brand new week to start in a few hours!  I hope everyone was able to do what they wanted this weekend and this new week is blessed and productive for all!  

Blessings,
Donna