Today is Mother's Day.... so I'll celebrate by resting and letting my family pamper me.
Yesterday, however, I finally turned my attention to the garden. Some of it, is doing perfectly well on its own.
Alas, the pond is growing a bit of algae, but we won't discuss that. Instead, let's take a closer look at that archway back there.
The roses on the left are doing well. The honeysuckle on the right are past their blooming best. And the wysteria across the top.... needs a bit of pruning.
Back on the patio itself, we've got this.
But the planters... the planters were another story entirely. Yesterday morning,they look like this:
And this:
The only one growing anything was this one:
The johnny jump ups are return volunteers from last year's arrangement, but the rest are weeds.
Yesterday afternoon, I cleaned out the dead leaves and dead plants. I weeded the planters that were still trying to grow things. And took Kitty to the plant store to help me choose the plants to fill those empty planters.
I tried to be restrained. I did. But in the end, my basket was full. So full that Kitty swore that this basket had too many plants in it.
It was a small basket. Especially for plant shopping. But even I had to admit thath the counter looked a little full....
In the end, however, it turned out that I had just the right number of plants. I didn't even have a single plant left -- even in the little four-packs. And now, the planters look like this:
and this:
A little closer look? I thought you'd never ask --
I think this one is my favorite of the plants we got -- the color is so very intense.
And the round ones look like this now:
My favorite of these, would be this one...
Ahh... gardening!
Did you notice? There's a plant in each box that you would not expect me to buy. Why? Well, go back and look. They're orange. I hate orange..... but it makes a lovely accent when it's just a little splash of color. I broke out of my comfort zone to put that accent in this year.
Now I'm all inspired to start in on the front yard. That will be a lot more work. Weeding a flower box is easy. Few weeds, loose soil means that the roots aren't that deep, and getting them all the way out is pretty easy. Weeding the real garden, is no where near as easy. The ground is packed, the roots are deep, and all tangled up with the stuff we want to keep. "Tilling" the soil in a flower box is easy. Tilling the soil in the actual ground is another story.
And yet.... when you work in an actual garden bed, you can put perennials in along the way, so that the work lasts for years. That might actually keep me motivated. But not this weekend.
My Mother's Day wish for you all: May your Mother's Day be as lovely as my patio garden ... and may all your gardens bloom and grow as you like them.
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