Spring Cleaning

I finally got back into the garden today. And I realized I should be a little more diligent about posting! I posted several times in October... then nothing.
Of course, it's harder to post when you're trying to ignore your garden. Sigh.
I wanted a little something to create a homier feel in the front yard, so I made these two hanging baskets with some varieties of sedum and sempervivum. I love it right now-  we'll see how they look in July. I'd imagine they'll still be okay, since they are full-sun plants. But I manage to screw up watering no matter what I do, and that side of the house faces south west - brutal in summer.
We have a lovely red oak that I planted about 2 years ago. It's starting to fill out and look more like a tree, less like a stick. But I think it'll still take a couple of years to really provide much shade and protection from the sun. In the meanwhile, I hope these prove to be resilient.

I love discovering all the animals that live in the garden. I found these bad boys eating my dill. They're swallowtail caterpillars, based on what I could research. I counted about 6 or 7. The neighbor's kids came over and we spent some time studying them. One of the girls asked if she could take one. I gave her a dill plant and told her to plant it in her garden, and perhaps a butterfly will lay an egg on it. 

Today I checked on the plants, and the caterpillars were all gone. Where do they go? These are things that are mysteries to me, in my novice-dom. 

I added a new basil plant this week, a couple of varieties of thyme (orange and lemon!). The parsley is doing great.
Working on installing an irrigation system, possibly tomorrow. I'll post my progress. A friend showed me how to DIY, and I'm really impressed (of course, he's an engineer). Thankfully he's very generous with his time and has been willing to spend hours figuring this out with me.