Takin' over the neighborhood

So, remember how I'd talked about the garden next door and the lady who'd moved out? Well, I've decided to take on her abandoned garden as my own. I can't let the poor plants be taken over by the joint forces of weeds and pine needles.

Yesterday, I spent my afternoon doing prep work to bring Golda's rockery back to its original, amazing state of beauty. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into at first, but then once I started pulling up grass and carrot sized dandelion roots, I saw how intense the road ahead would be.

Towering above the rockery, are about 6 large fir and pine trees. This means needles...everywhere, and thick layers of them. I went through a little internal debate as to whether or not it was worth my while to remove them and expose the rock terraces. I decided to go for it and am glad that I did. I uncovered so many struggling plants: lilies, an artichoke, honey suckle and more sickly tulip and daffodils than you can imagine. Hopefully exposing all of them to light is going to inspire them to grow and bloom. I don't expect the bulbs to produce flowers at this point, but maybe, just maybe they'll make something next year (a miracle w/o pollination this year).

The one plant that I am the most hopeful about...peonies. They were able to make it up out of the needles, but they look really unhappy. Perfectly placed with the perfect amount of shade and sunlight, I think that I'm going to see some amazing flowers by the end of the summer. Watch for the pictures to start rolling in! In the mean time, I'm trying to come up with a great way to allow the poppies to take over the sidewalk's edge, but it's really difficult to thin out the grass from them. Any suggestions?

I have a lot more work to do. I have two more levels of terrace to complete as well as have of the street level strip and the terraced walkway. Anybody up for joining in on the fun?