This last weekend was lovely, although it threatens rain today. I started making my rounds to all the local nursery haunts to buy my plants for the season. So far I bought some to make up my containers: vining plants such as variegated ivy, a purple leaved Ipomoea batatas ( sweet potato ), some dark fancy leafed coleus, bright orange gerberas, and the gray velvet leaved Helichrysum petiolare, and my all time favorite for containers: Osteospermum. Four plants of a lavender shade flower and one of deep magenta. I am still looking for my most beloved variety,’Lemon Symphony‘.
I need to make a trip out to Sam’s Club. I saw some large container plants of variegated hydrangea for a good deal: $10.00 each. I want to buy two. They aren’t usually as hardy as their relative ‘Annabelle’, ( although I was unfamiliar with their hybrid name) but I want to take the chance. You can overdo it with variegation, but I don’t have that much in my garden so there is room for these. Variegation is a highlight, a point of focus, too much looks all mushy and indistinct.
I did a season assessment, many of the daffodils ( they bloom over a long period since I have lots of varieties) made it through that killing frost. I think perhaps the habit of the daffodils of bending over close to the ground helped sae the unopened blooms, but many of the tulips made it, as well. Almost all the new shoots on the many of the bushes and the trees were frosted to oblivion, especially the early blooming ‘Dawn’ viburnum. It looks as thought the Carlesii viburnum will have blooms, since those were sheltered next to the house. The saving grace of microclimates!
Something had killed my North Star sour cherries- not sure what, but it looks like maybe one can be salvaged if cut quite far down the trunk. The ‘Montmorency’ type does not seem affected. I actually had some bloom on the smaller one- but the birds will get them, since there is a scarcity of cherry bloom this year. I have already resigned myself to the fact. The birds always get the best part of the sweetest of the Sweet Cherries. Sometimes I resent them for that.
The crabapple bloom looks blasted, even though they had not opened up before the frost.
We did yard cleanup and the mowers were in working order ( thanks to my diligent husband ) so my youngest son and I did some of the mowing…only about two and half acres or so;)
Later today I hope to go out and find more container plant choices. My garden is not readied for me to plant in it yet. I have cultivating and weeding to do. This year is a renovation year, still. That is why all the concentration on containers- at least my deck and porches will look bright and cheerful.
Sheena mentioned pots drying out. That is always my worst problem, too. Containers need daily watering in the summer, yet they can’t sit water-logged; I did purchase, on sale at Target last fall, a new set of hose nozzle attachments, one is a long handled sprayer
that I think will be perfect for those containers! Midsummer is often best for garden bargain hunting, and in autumn there are times to hit the occasional “occasion for rejoicing” type of bargain ( some of you frugal gardeners know exactly what I mean by that).
That is my report on the garden for now.
Need some inspiration?
Feast your eyes:)
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Your plant selections sound good, Ilona – sweet potato vines are one of my favorites, too, but I didn’t get mine yet. You’re more efficient!
Down here the containers have to be watered year-round, with a few things like pansies and dianthus blooming all winter. Once we heat up, the pansies croak and the summer stuff is tucked in. We had a big tree taken down this spring, so the impatiens that went in the hanging porch baskets for 3 summers might not work. I’m still watching the new sun/shade patterns before deciding what to plant.
Condolences on the crabapple blooms, always a highlight of spring when we lived in Illinois.
Annie
Efficient? Not hardly;) What I am is eager…. and that means I’ll likely have to watch over my containers in case we have a cold snap.
I hate it when the nurseries and greenhouses run out of something I really want… so if I see it and know my plan is to buy it that season, I just get it.
Now see… that is something I just never have- sweet little pansy faces all winter. I can’t grow impatiens here very well- the wind and sun in the late summer wilts them. I use annual vinca (Catharanthus roseus) instead, and you might try that as a substitute- it is similar in flower and colors. Maybe experiement with both and see which does better for you this year.