Goodbye Pansies, Hello Calibrachoas

I get my monies worth in pansies and when they're done, they're done. Actually I'm disappointed because every spring I still see panises all over the city thriving. Am I doing something wrong or do I live a different microclimate? Out front the violas in my container are feeling the heat. I'll remove them tomorrow maybe and save them for the yard. Maybe they'll survive till fall although I don't expect them to bloom in the heat. We'll see.

That's better. Ready for the hot weather. Calibrachoas in the shade. The petunias I had in the yard did well last summer and bloomed so pressing my luck but lets see how they do.

I forgot to take a before picture. No sweetpotato vine this year. Although I saw it earlier in the spring at the nursery, I haven't seen any since. The tubers I saved from last summer  and planted haven't done anything but I'm still hoping.

The foliage from the grape hyacinths will take a while to yellow. I removed most of the faded foliage from the tulips and alliums. I'll add some humus and manure and a little soil before mulching.

Shasta daisy again. Will try it in another spot.

Ornamental onions. I have one out front. Love the allium like blooms all summer.

Planted both and a Chines foxglove last week. Waiting for regular foxgloves and some other 4" pot perennials.

The hostas are pretty but I've seen some eaten. Time for more Sluggo. I've only applied it once.

The peony is pretty and my little bloom is done.

Cucumbers haven't done much yet.

Guess I better cut the small heads because they're a little yellow and they'll go to seed.

First roses. If I get larger ones I'll cut them for inside.

I have a little grass from the seeds I've put down although it's patchy. Hopefully it'll fill out. Sod would probably be easier instant grass.

Just Thoughts

It's finally starting to warm up. Heat is not my favorite state of being but as each year passes, I've learned to love all the seasons. It's a blessing to be alive. Pollen from many blooming trees has passed as others are just awakening. Spring bulbs are sleeping till fall or like mine, pulled and disposed of and I wait as long as possible to pre order next springs before the sale ends. Trying to compare the best prices between Breck's and Bluestone which I've never ordered bulbs from only plants. Bluestone is having a 
15- 50% of sale and I have a wish list for the shade bed in my yard that needs to be decreased. It's nice to dream. Visions of pink foxgloves, brunnera Jack frost, bergenia, Japanese anemone dance in my head. If I buy a few it'll help build the bed and maybe eventually be less of an eye sore when spring bulbs die. As the organic matter in the bed has improved the soil is more digable even with tree roots.

 It's time for stately alliums as I wait for bulb foliage to yellow and be removed. The flower bed in the yard doesn't look good. My one bloom on the peony is open and I'm upset as it's usually a tight ball of layered pink petals. This year only one layer maybe because the bud was so small. Although the bed that it's planted in gets sun, maybe it's not getting as much as I think and this is why I haven't had lots of buds for the past 2 years. After seeing if lowered to the ground in huge blooms I'm disappointed.

Dwarf sunflowers for containers out front, zinnia, and mini pumpkin seeds wait to be started before it's too late. Pansies and violas are starting to respond to the heat and exit gracefully. It's time to revamp my containers with summer annuals. In the flower bed out front buds of poppies, balloon flower, and lilies wait for their perfect time to open. Until they bloom, there are no blooms in the bed, only a sea of green. Who said green wasn't also nice to look at. Myself, I love color and blooms. So why is the bed planted in perennials? 

Today is the day my mother passed 2 years ago and I miss her although I know she's happy and continues to live with the savior and those in Christ who went before her. What a place heaven must be. This year will be my 53rd year of life and I ponder the future. I still contemplate moving to another house. One in or near a wooded setting among trees, wildlife, and solitude. To pack up many years of living in preparation is hard to even envision. Moving to Georgia where my mother was born and raised used to be an option. It would meet all of my expectations and I'd be able to have some land.

Not so much to build this grand garden, but to sip my coffee while sitting on my swing and enjoy birdwatching, feel the breeze, look at my chickens.... Who am I kidding. There is no breeze in Georgia in summer. Okay I'm exaggerating. It would be nice to have a quieter type of life. Although I live a quiet peaceful life now, my surroundings aren't always so. I've come to believe that, life is what you make of it. If you want peace, you can have that anywhere. I've also learned that gardening doesn't take lots of land although that's nice; gardening can be done in any space with imagination.

Hope your spring has been beautiful and your garden productive. We still have a little spring left. Lets enjoy the garden, our successes and failures, with plants that flourish and those that don't, unwanted insects, drenched in sweat while gardening in July and envisioning the first leaf to turn shades of red and golden and drop to the ground in fall.

I love the colors. They're orange ones also. Color out front squeezed in after all the perennials have bloomed for summer would be pretty.

I love foxgloves although I haven't had any be successful in a couple of year. If started this summer they should bloom next spring.

Wonder if these will develop in my yard with not a lot of sun?

Going to start these. Small enough for containers.

Blooming in the house. No fresh flowers since the last tulips from the yard. Supposedly a dwarf African violet from Longwood Gardens. I don't know how dwarf it is as it's grown since I've  had it. Still in the little pot it came in.

Dwarf fern that I hope lives as I've killed many. It'll go in the terrarium where the last plants died. Hopefully not to be a fatality also with a fresh mix.

Geraniums in the kitchen window. She's stayed in bloom since she came. I don't ask for much just a few blooms to make me happy.

The End of the Visit

My favorite. I didn't get the name of it but it's absolutely beautiful.

Can you imagine a room of roses and hibiscus.

Dragon wing begonias.

Begonias

Dianthus

Poppies

Wish I could take the delphinium home.

I loved seeing where they started their plants.

The silver room.

A room of silver plants, cactus, and succulents.

Now that's a plant. Dichondra silver falls, beautiful.