flagstone short path and a weed-whacking precaution

Last summer, the Handyman and I gathered a bunch of flagstone, and that flagstone sat through the winter, untouched... 

Until today!

I have two beds by my backdoor that have dandelions anchored all over.  I've weeded and weeded and weeded and weeded and my mom's even come to visit and weeded and weeded.  

There's been quite a lot of weeding. 

It took me much longer than I'd like to admit, but no more pulling from the top - they've all been dug up from the roots.  (I refrained from a "root of the matter" pun there.  You're welcome.)

So, dandelions gone.  Flagstone in.  Take a peek before the lillies and dahlias make their appearance.  

Evetually, that path will end at a nice-looking patio by the backdoor (the current one is uneven and full of weeds).

And, because I was having so much fun with the shovel - or because I needed a tidy beginning-to-end-on-a-Saturday-afternoon project - I made a new little bed by a corner of fence that was sorely lacking some embellishment.

I put in clematis, some dutch iris, and a scattering of cosmos seeds collected from the 2007 season.  Last year, we had better success starting the collected seeds than the purchased seeds, so I have high hopes for these.

If you're wondering about the pavers under the fence, they're there because I'm not so accurate with the weed-whacker.  I think there's just enough space to run the mower wheel on the paver-side that's next to the grass.

That way, when the clematis vine onto the fence, I won't cut them off accidentally when I'm really aiming to trim the grass.

P.S.  The Handyman was in pursuit of athletic excellence today (aka hockey), but my sore muscles sincerely hope he returns to the garden soon - the shovel's more his style.  ;)