The Window Boxes

My pansies were doing so well. I checked them 2 days ago and look!

Pansies Done

They were so beautiful for so long. We had rain a couple of days ago but no amount of water will rehydrate these. All the other plants are fine. I see pansies planted in other places that last all Summer. Mines never do, although I try to keep them as long as possible. The ones in the front of the house in the planter are still thriving.

I had 3 large pots.

Wave Petunia and Lirope Seem to be ThrivingI

So I pulled them. That Looks much better.

Went shopping in my yard.

I still had a lot of coleus seedlings, 1 geranium, 2 vinca, 2 torenia I just purchased, and 3 coleus plants I ordered from Rosy Dawn Gardens. I almost forgot the sweet potato vine above.  This one is variegated green, white, and pink. I will get better and soon start to include the Latin names for the plants.

That Looks Much Better

The color of the torenia is beautiful.

Plants in this window box include 2 lirope, 1 English Ivy (I think) I have the tag some where, 2 torenia, several different types of coleus, 1 wave petunia, 2 sweet potato vines, perennial vinca from my yard, 2 vinca that I grew from seeds, and 1 geranium. The box could actually have even more but that's all for Summer assuming nothing dies. I violated the cardinal rule and planted on a warm day with blazing sun instead of a cloudy day so the plants won't be as stressed by being transplanted. The coleus were laying down by the time I finished. Of course I din't show you this. I hope they live. A tip to remember if you plan to install a window box. If you have a very large/wide window, plan to buy lots of plants to fill it up or grow your own. Mine are 52 inches in length and I didn't consider how much soil and how many plants it takes to fill them. It is recommended that window boxes have a span that include the length of the window. I will show you the window box on the other window in another post. Flowers in that box did better with little attention. This box was supposed to be a shade box but I had the tree pruned and there is not as much shade so the petunias are doing well. hope it's not too much sun for the coleus but some of the newer coleus tolerate some sun. The tree is a Norway Maple. It's on the invasive tree list. I didn't plant it, it came with the house. I would hate to cut it down because it cools the house. In Fall it drops hundreds of seeds but the leaves are beautiful golden yellow. It also drops lots of branches with rain, snow, and wind. From what I have read this is what they usually do. I will miss having less golden foliage this Fall since the tree has been pruned.

The Traumatized Coleus

Coleus to left is Beckwith's Gem from Rosey Dawn Gardens

I decided to show the traumatized coleus and vinca. They were fine before I planted them!