They are GONE!!

I was going to show you Part III of our Blue Ridge Parkway photos today---but since George and I worked ALL weekend to clear our yard and flowerbeds of the rest of the leaves,  I wanted to share with you a 'pretty and almost leaf-free'  yard today!!!  SO---the Blue Ridge Parkway pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Above is a picture I took from our back deck ---showing you that our trees have mostly all lost their leaves for this year...  YEAH RAH!!!!!  Since we have about 50 large shade trees in our yard,  Fall is a very busy time for us, and we really have the leaves!!!

George and I have a 'system' for doing this... I blow the leaves out of the edges and out of the flowerbeds  with the leaf blower--into the middle of the yard.  George then uses the lawn mower (with a bag) --and mows up the leaves to use for mulch on our compost pile.   There are several places in the yard where the leaf blower doesn't work well---so in those places,  I use the rake... Like I said, it's a big job.. BUT--it's great exercise!!!!!

Above is a picture of our front yard ---taken from the driveway --looking across the yard.  You can see some of our Pansies in the two round beds in this picture.

This is the lower side of our front yard --where we have a bench --so that I can sit out there and enjoy the Roses.  You can see all of the leaves in the empty lot next door --and in the neighbor's yard.  That is what our yard looked like BEFORE!!!!!   Aren't you proud of us???? Want to hire us??????

The tree to the right is one of our Redbud trees --and those are all of the seed pods which are left on the tree...  They will eventually fall.   You can also see our Clematis in the center --near the bench.  It is about gone for the season,  and George will cut it back.  You can also see some of the Roses --still trying to bloom,  even though we had 3 nights with temps in the 20's  (NO frost though!!!)...

This is the upper side of our front yard.    The English Ivy and Periwinkle both are doing GREAT in this area.  Sometime,  I'll show you a picture of this area when we first planted the Ivy and Periwinkle....

See the stump there in the front?  We had a dead tree --and had to cut it down a few years ago.  We left the stump so that I could put a basket of flowers on it during the summer.  However,  the squirrels and chipmunks (and who knows what other critters) have dug down into that old tree stump--and have a home down in there!!!!

Some of you have asked about our Pansies.  We have about 72 Pansies planted in five different beds around the front yard.  Here is a close-up picture of one of the beds.  We have to be careful when planting Annuals in these beds since we have Perennials in there also. BUT--these Pansies will grow and spread...  They will bloom here until about July (unless the winter is very very harsh).

Remember the Reblooming Iris I covered during the 20 degree weather we had recently???? WELL---here it is ---still blooming even though it is almost December.   Amazing, huh?

Here's a picture taken from the street of our home---showing the 'bare' trees....  Both George and I love Fall ---but we are always happy when this HUGE job is done.  Anymore leaves that come down (and as you can see,  there are a few) will just have to blow away all by themselves... ha ha

I just have to show you this picture... After all of our hard work on Saturday,  we got out about 4:15 to run some errands and to enjoy supper at the Colonel's Buffet.    This was the sunset we saw while driving...  Luckily,  George had his camera with him --so we stopped so that he could get some pictures...  Isn't that an awesome way to end a hard day????

Hope you had a good weekend also.
Hugs,