Here's a picture of my ZDs that I planted at about 2' tall a year ago. I LOVE them. And the smell... oooooohh...
Landscaping a child's playhouse...
They are so pretty. And Brigidily they look so nice up against your brick!
Tori is now leaning toward painting it a soft buttery yellow with lavender trim. I'm thinking pretty much any colour looks nice with yellow.
Critter, I hope the dahlia comes back for you. Mine did positively awful last year we had a really bad heat wave early on in the summer and they never forgave me for that. I was bad about getting them dug too, so many of them froze in the ground. At some point i am going to have to face that i just don't have what it takes to lift things in the fall.
The home depot rose is Playboy Floribunda. They are in the garage right now and the garage has never looked so lovely. LOL
My one surviving dahlia has put up a bunch of strong shoots! I've got it by my sunny basement window.
Tori's color choices sound lovely... that soft yellow will be a wonderful backdrop for her windowboxes and plantings, and as for the lavender... purple is my favorite color!
I pulled a bunch of plants back into the garage also before the wind and torrential rains arrived. I need to take a look and see what attention they need this afternoon... it may be safe for them to go back out soon, but I think it'll be a while until it's dry enough to dig and plant! If it's a little less nasty out this afternoon, I'll see if I can get those mints packed up...
Critterologist,
Thanks again for the package.
Satori really gets a kick out of getting mail, and a box full of plants and flower seeds was such a thrill for her!
I had a lot of fun packing those up for her! I even wrapped them in the Sunday Comics instead of plain old newspaper, LOL. I hope the mints and seeds do well for her!
The comics did not go unnoticed! We tried to open carefully so we could look at them, but they were damp and mushy and well, it just didn't quite work. LOL
:-)
Progress?
Not a lot, i'm afraid.
I heard that on Friday the architect was supposed to have the plans done (i guess they need everything drawn out for the permit.) I was hoping that that meant they would start building this week, but no one has called me to tell me anything. I feel like a bit of a nudge calling them. Maybe i will this afternoon if i don't hear anything.
We did get a call from Make-a-Wish last week asking Tori to do a TV interview. They are going to send someone out here soon to interview her, then send them to take some shots of the playhouse being built and then be here the day the playhouse is delivered.
I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that she will have it this month. It has been such a long wait for her. Her wish was "granted" last year late July / early August, i can't believe how patient and understanding she has been every time there has been a snag!
Melissa,
I have been watching all your threads that mention the playhouse. Let Tori know we are all impatiently waiting for her playhouse! When is the tea party?
Jody
Melissa, You are such a good mom and a very patient lady too.
Ardesia, Thank you for the lovely compliment. Howerver, i am not patient... It is driving me CRAZY!
Jody, funny you mention it, i'm sitting here with a cup of tea right now. She has planned her first party in it already. The weekend after it comes, she is hosting a necklace making party for her girlfriends from school. She has her guest list all drawn up. She is just waiting (for a date) to send invitations. No tea though, she wants to serve chocolate milk. Go figure!?
Kids....
Do they not drink Kool Aid anymore? I was in a rather nice restaurant a couple of years ago that had Cherry Kool Aid on the menu...
No tea?? How will they sample the mints... ? LOL
I'm sorry there have been such delays in fulfilling Tori's Wish! You know, the interview thing might just help put a little time pressure on the project by making more people wonder why this is taking so long to bring to completion.... Jody is right, we're all waiting impatiently on her behalf!
I looooooved Kool Aid as a kid. I had hippie parents and we didn't ever have anything like that. My brothers and i used to drink it at the neighbors house, and eat white bread with margarine. (ICK) Funny, now i can't stand white bread or margarine.
Critter, I don't think there would be enough mint for tea. I had to declare a mont long moratorium on eating it. The kids kept eating "just one leaf." Well, that really adds up!
Make A Wish?? Is she oKay??
Susan
Susan,
This playhouse is her wish from the Make-a-Wish foundation. They have gotten Home Depot to donate the materials and a local developer to build it.
She has a neuromuscular condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II. It is similar, (but not the same as) Muscular Dystrophy. Essentially her brain and muscles are fine, but the nerves don't relay the messages between the two well. The effects of this are that she is physically extremely weak. She is unable to walk, crawl, stand or even get to a sitting from laying down. So, while she is an excellent artist she has trouble with such tasks as getting the lids off her pens.
Because she is type II the muscles in the face and body core are less effected so she stays sitting (when sat up) fine and eats and breaths pretty well (type I children are usually so weak that they are unable to breath and or eat on their own.) Because the muscles of her respiratory system are weak as well she is very prone to pneumonia and has been hospitalized for it. She doesn't get sick often, but when she does it hits her really hard, she usually ends up missing well over a month of school each year. She is lucky enough to be extremely bright and even with tons of absences is in the top of her second grade class. She uses a power wheelchair (been driving since before she was three) and even has an off road chair that does some very serious boonie-crashing.
She has always wanted a playhouse and when Make-a-Wish called us last year she asked for a wheelchair accessible playhouse. She hasn't ever been able to get into friend's playhouses, and if she could get in her wheelchair takes up a fair amount of room. The playhouse is going to be 10x12 so she will have plenty of room in there. They are building her a drafting table on one end (she told them she wanted to use it as her drawing and writing studio) and putting a book case in. They are even trenching electricity to it from the house so she will have lights etc.
When Make-a-Wish first called me last year (they got our name from a MDA camp roster) i was a little hesitant. It is hard to wrap your brain around the fact your kid even qualifies for a wish. Make-a-Wish isn't what it used to be though. They have broadened their criteria from terminally ill children to children with life threatening conditions. And while many children (especially type I who generally don't make it to Tori's age) with SMA still succumb to it Satori is very strong for a child with SMA and (when the need has arisen) she receives fantastic medical care.
She loves to garden and we have built a pretty large raised bed veggie garden for her. The beds are 2' high so she can reach right in and plant or pick. Not that many of the things she picks make it in the house. LOL Now she would like a big flower garden in front of her playhouse. We have started many (i look at them and wonder how i'm going to get them all in!) flats of flowers in preparation and have received some lovely gifts of plants and seeds from DG friends (thanks Critt!). Now all we need is the playhouse!!!
Wow, i just went back to check for spelling errors and realized i wrote a bit of a novel there. It must have been that second cup of Earl Grey... Hope that was answering your question not TMI!
Melissa
edited because no matter how well i proofread, i end up noticing a typo just as i hit send!
This message was edited May 2, 2007 8:00 AM
Perhaps it is time for another post card campaign to distract Tori and her little sister from the poky playhouse project?
Does Tori still enjoy getting mail?
Yeah! What's her favorite animal? Maybe we could all get postcards of it and mail them to her and she could make a collage in the playhouse.
Ohhh Melissa... I'm so sorry your family is going through this :(
You will be in my prayers. She's an absolutely gorgeous little girl and there would be no telling she is dealing with these issues from her pictures :)...which is why I was surprised to hear "Make A Wish" and I asked..
I'm so glad she's getting her playhouse :)
Susan
For those of you who have been kind enough to inquire (either publicly or privately) as to the progress of this here is the update.
I just got off the phone with the gentleman from Reynen and Bardis (the developer building the playhouse) who told me that i had been given misinformation and the plans were not only not done, but not even started.
I guess they gave the picture to a different architect and hope to have plans back "soon". What a four letter word that has become. Tori has been hearing it again and again since last August. The gentleman i've been talking to at R and B did tell me today that he understood how hard this must be on a 7 year old and if he had to build it himself he would. He said as "soon" as they had plans he didn't think it would take much more than a month to finish.
I just want to cry right now.
I am crying for you right now. What a shame (and a sham) this has been for Tori and your family. I urge to to call the newspaper reporter and share this news with her or him. I would be positive and not slam Make A Wish but focus on Tori's disappointment. People who donate to MaW expect their $ to be used appropriately and as promised, not 9 months later. Nine months to a child is like nine years!
I speak with the Make-a-Wish lady fairly often. I don't think there is much they can do to speed things up at this point. I am grateful that R and B has picked this up after the other contractors backed out. I just think they don't realize what it is like to be 7 and have been waiting on something so long. Plus they aren't the ones who have to tell my daughter (again) there has been another delay.
And yes, nine months to a child is like years.
Bless her heart. And yours, too!
OKAY, DGrs!!! Time to pour prayer, energy, whatever into this!!! Slam the situation with love and it will get done!!!
Since this thread has gotten off the original topic of landscaping and to avoid cluttering the forum and making multiple posts I am have created a new thread for updates, pictures and general landscaping advice.
Please join me here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/719745/
Melissa