Enjoying the Flowers

 As I have stated in previous posts, we had a bad cold snap on June 20th. I salvaged the flowers I had purchased that day from Lowe's and Home Depot. Some have thrived with some patience and love while others are still struggling. 

I planted these beauties in my white planters hanging on my archway. They were pretty frostbitten and had no blooms, but a few buds. They are so vibrant and healthy now!! I am really thinking about buying some more in summer colors. They come in yellow, coral, and orange also, so I might grab a few and put them in the place of the pansies and purple sweet potato vines I transplanted out of the white hanging baskets.

This is the Moss Rose plant. It really looks like a tiny rose.
I love how many colors this plant comes in and it is actually pretty
hardy. I have had these nearly every year and it never
 fails a frost comes in and hurts them, but with love and patience
they always come back even more vibrant!!

Speaking of the pansies, I feel these guys were just struggling in the white planters. I moved them to the small planting areas along the new patio fence. I hope they do better here. I also transplanted the purple sweet potato vines along the fence. My hope for them is that they begin to grow up the fence. It probably won't happen, but we can only hope!!

I really love how these pansies look tucked into the rock garden.
I made spaces for them amongst the rock border of the patio flowerbed.
I sure hope they grow large and spread out onto the rocks.

Another great surprise was that a few stray pansies from last year have popped up in my front flowerbed. They are very small and unless you know the flowerbed well, you would never see them. The white one is behind my grass and peonies in the main flowerbed. It is doing its own little thing behind all the tall plants. The little burgundy one popped up under the clay flower pot next to the drive. I love when unexpected little treasures pop up in my flower beds.

Another treasure that is making me so happy is that my alyssum is now sprouting up and starting to bloom. I planted these seeds along with some Shasta daisies along the backside of the patio that butts up to the shed. The daisies do not look like they geminated or sprouted, but at least the alyssum did. If these do well this season, I will be adding more to different areas of the flowerbeds to create some nice ground coverage. I am trying to think of ways to add to the beds that will keep me from having to add mulch or any more pebbles to keep the plants thriving.

Last but definitely not least, I planted some extra marigolds and petunias in a container that had some pitiful carnations in it. The whole container is thriving. The sub-zero carnations have yet to show any signs of blooming, but they are at least green now. But I just love the rich color of the marigolds with the luscious bright pink color of the petunia. This one has become a great eye-catching container. It is placed on some old bricks from the front bed borders outside my greenhouse. I have yet to put the cover back on the greenhouse. I probably will in September when the temps become cooler.

I don't know if you can see it, but the water sprinkler was running when I took this pic.