Planting Day

Today was planting day. It's been an unusally cool spring and it doesn't seem like we've had a dry weekend in a while, so I'm a little behind. It's so good to see the sun! It was a perfect 68 degrees out today, and I spent most of the day outside enjoying it.This is my favorite combination - red pentas, purple angelonia, and yellow lantana. It looks a little skimpy right now, but it won't be long until it's double in height and full of blooms. I like these little hanging planters. They started out their lives with glass bowls in place of the pots and hung above my couch at my apartment. One of the glass bowls got broken when I moved. I hated to throw the holders out and I'm glad I didn't since a 6 inch pot just fits perfectly. I like these tiny petunia looking flowers - David picked the color. They're happy in the sun!

I haven't tried to grow tomatoes since we've lived in this house, but I'm going to give it a whirl this year. I put them in plastic pots so that they can be moved around if that's not a good spot. I don't know yet whether that will be enough sun. They were getting great sun for a while, but as you can see, the garage may shade them too much. Good thing they're portable!

I got this cute planter already full of herbs at the Farmer's Market last week. Stevia on the far left, parsley, chives, oregano with thyme in the front. You can't really see behind the herbs in this picture, but the back of it is a cow or pig following a duck. It's a cutie!

I guess I didn't get a picture of my Farmer's Market baset with flowers yet. I'm not always good at picking out flower combinations, and it's just turned out weird looking. It may need some help!

Hosta Bed - May 8

Late April

All of the hostas and ferns are up, some of the hostas are already quite large. The last fern to come up was the one closest to the house, but it is alive and well. I like how tightly curled the Ostrich fern fronds are. This fern was pretty tall last year, and it has sprouted several babies around it.

Hostas - Updated

Almost all of Patty's hostas have been planted! I think they'll be gorgeous. There's only one fern that doesn't seem to be coming back, but it may just need more time.

Updated - here's another picture taken on Wednesday, April 22, just three days after the above picture. It's amazing how much everything has already grown. The little fern mentioned above has started to come up as well.

Dividing Hostas

My friend Patty shared a bunch of her hostas with me. I am looking forward to finding places for all of them. This picture makes it look like I did the work, but that's not the case. I stood around in my gloves wondering what to do to be helpful. :) Patty made it look easy, so I think I will try to move one that's not in a good location by our driveway. We'll see!

Here they are - bundled up and waiting to go to their new home. :)

Ferns and Hostas in Early April

The brown looks dead in the picture, but is actually new fern growth.

This hosta died back early in the summer, so I was surprised to see it back.

These two hostas were among the first to come up. There's an Ostrich Fern to the left of the far left hosta that is coming up also. It was almost destroyed by Tuley last year, but seems to be coming back okay.

Spring Work Has Begun

Last weekend, David and I raked the pine needles and leaves off the mulch as much as possible. Wednesday, he brought in three trailer loads of mulch - 6 cubic yards to replenish. We thought after the first year when we brought in 9 cubic yards that we'd just have to maintain, but it still seems to take so much! The pictures are after the raking, but before the new mulch.