Working in the yard has been on my mind a lot lately.  The main reason being the dog has turned the back into mud pit.  It is truly awful.  Trent and I stare out the window on a regular basis in dismay & discuss our options.  He's tried to seed it multiple times, I've tried to come up with clever ways to distract from the lack of lawn, Vince keeps kicking up his heels & making all of our attempts impossible.  No joke, I've looked on HGTV.com to see if they have any "yard makeover " contests.  My point is... well, I have no point.  Hopefully I'll be able to blog a brilliant solution by spring.

The other reason yard work has been on my mind is two big empty pots on our front porch.  This story actually has a positive ending.  I've been trying to figure out what I can plant that will survive in the middle of winter.  I've visited Lowes & a local nursery and left empty handed.  I had grand visions in my head of what I wanted, but knew I couldn't afford & didn't know if they would survive.  Here's what I was thinking (images found on internet):

In no shape or form does my solution look like these, but I did discover a southern evergreen perennial that I'd never heard of (thanks to Thyme after Thyme).... Florida Anise.  Mine looks like a little tree & will supposedly bloom in the spring:

 We'll see about that, but it does have a loverly fragrance right now.  There's your horticulture lesson for the day!