Garden Pic Wednesday: First Daffodil & Bed Renovation

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It's chilly this morning and rained last night, which offers the perfect chance for me to get a picture of where I want to install a rain garden in the back yard in a spot water pools---as soon as my camera battery recharges!

First Garden Pic of the day is: My First Daffodil! 
I took this photo yesterday. This particular set of daffodils is located in a front bed and loaded with blooms!


Second Garden Pic is a bed I'm renovating:
This is the one I've been working on this week clearing out and digging in that row of single blocks around the edge. 


Here, you see the blocks just laying on the surface, since I took this Monday, but most are dug in properly now.
My intent is to use this picture to draft out my landscape plan on. 
(I can use ribbet.com to draw circles and label where I want to put things.)

Amaranthus Autumns Touch
Up to now the only thing in it has been a pair of very old yellow Lantana, an infestation of wild blackberry, a row of native daylilies along the left edge and a row of garlic chives on the right.
It's the middle I've decided needs a new plan, so I'm going to oust the Lantana and install larger herbs, like sage, rosemary, dill, even basil. Also new flowers. I bought some Amaranthus Autumns Touch seed, which are 3-4 feet tall I want to those put down the middle. (Though I can safely say, nothing works as described in seed catalogs!)
Also fresh Calendula, which is a flowering herb, plus I have lots of saved seeds and volunteers from last season I can use.
(I've already seen some Zinnia volunteers popping up!)
I have a rosemary shrub baby that's in a spot too wet for it right now and I hope, if I move it here, it will thrive, being it's higher, dryer ground.
As for Lantana, I'd like to get some new Lantana in different  colors and put in elsewhere suited to it's sprawl, because it is such a good draw for bees and butterflies!
In general pinciple I find decorating landscape works a lot like decorating a new home: at first, since you have no real idea what you want to do, you just stick things places. Then later, you get an inspiration or a theme piece and discover a clearer picture of what is is you really want to do!
Besides I don't want to create new garden spaces; I just use what  I've established better! 
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Be sure and come back tomorrow for Mama Kat!

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