Experiments with tools

My first trip to Lowe's (our second day here) was spent in the garden department. I bought the previously discussed mower, but also some basic garden implements: loppers, clippers, and kneepads. While waiting for our stuff to arrive, I attacked the overgrown front hedges with the loppers. It went beautifully, until:



This bush is a little too high for me. Trying to trim the top of a hedge by jumping up and trying to lop off a branch in midair is a dangerous and ineffective process, no matter how good your vertical leap may be. It will amuse the neighbors, though.

Today's Home Depot trip (to use one of our gift cards) included and extension trimmer, the kind that uses a sting to pull a set of blades at the end. It feels like performing laproscopic surgery, but the result looks fine.



Anyway, on to one of the reasons for creating this blog:



This one was a mystery to me until our trip to Oregon and the Fruit Loop by Mt Hood. We visited a lavender farm, and I exclaimed, "So THIS is what we have growing in the garden!" To which Chris replied, "um....duh..."

This is also why we have so many bumblebees hanging around the house.

Ok, one purple flower identified. But what about these, friendly experts?







The trellis, which is right under the kitchen window, seems paticularly underused.

Anyone know what these are? Should I be doing any thing special? And what to do to mak better use of the trellis? And why did the previous owners like purple so much?