Fall Bulb Planting

 I have been planting so many daffodils these past couple of weekends! I have thus far planted nearly 80 bulbs in the back corner garden. I think this will look so gorgeous this Spring. I will plant a few tulip bulbs in that garden as well. I think between the daffodils, tulips, irises, and peonies that garden will be very vibrant this spring!!

I need to pick up one more package of the double-bloom pink daffodils and one more package of the double-bloom yellow daffodils. I am just shy of 10 plants to finish up a line of daffodils along the left side fence in the back corner garden with the pink daffodils and I decided to plant the yellow ones along part of the fence line in the side yard. I need one more package of the yellow ones to finish up that fence line as well.

I went to Home Depot on Saturday with the sole intention to pick up potting soil and 1 more package of daffodils. Well, I ended up with three new houseplants, four mums, six pansies, six dragon snaps, two cabbages, and one aster. I blame it on Keith because he had me look at some mums and then I saw the cabbage and it lead to potting up three new fall containers.

I love the color combo of this mum and pansies!!

I did move out the huge lime sweet potato vine from my front porch container. It had around eight tubers on it. I am going to try and grow my own vines next season with these tubers. I tried to remove the lavender that I placed in the container next to the garage. The bad boy is rooted in. I will have to try again soon because it requires such little water that any planter combination might end up looking like crap. I placed a boxed wood in the center of the planter and they are fighting one another for dominance. So I will attempt to remove the lavender on Sunday and transplant it in the front corner garden area.

The rest of the weekend I spent cleaning up our master bathroom so I can repaint it during the week. It has mold all above the shower area from when we removed the wallpaper and painted only one coat of paint when we moved in. I will apply some mold-resistant kilz paint and then paint it the original blue color we painted in the beginning hopefully tonight and tomorrow night. I think I might paint the hallway bathroom the same blue this week as well. We will then have to remove the wallpaper in the hallway and paint. Rango and Pepper decided to put a hole in the wall and now that it is patched we have to repaint the whole hallway. It is crazy how a golf ball size hole can cost so much time and money to repair. I am pretty sure we will have to repaint areas in the living room as well. The dogs have a solid dirty spot by their beds that are against the wall. I might be able to steam clean the areas. I hope that is all I need to do.

I think this might be the last weekend I can get a fresh-cut flower arrangement out of my sunflowers. I made an arrangement using only sunflowers with purple sweet potato vine as my frog.

Flower Container Update

I can say the flowers are really starting to grow. I have to spray almost all the plants with some aphid defense spray. Those little boogers are eating away my leaves and blooms on nearly all plants. That is a chore for this weekend for sure!!

The pansies I transplanted from the white hanging containers are just loving their new home.

The difference in one week is just tremendous.
So many new blooms and many new buds as well.
It has even gotten a little fuller.

This was one of the healthier ones I 
transplanted. It is really thriving just
one week later!!

My next update is on my whiskey barrel plantings in the new side gate corner flowerbeds. In just two weeks they have almost doubled in size. The petunias are becoming large and I think by end of July will finally spill over the edges.

I know the picture from July 1st which is the one on the left, is from a different
angle, but it can show how small the plants were.
The petunias are beginning to spill over. And the plants
are beginning to bounce back from the frostbite.

My rose whiskey barrel is the one that is really shining. The rose had just gone through a fresh blooming and I just deadheaded it. So you won't see any blooms on it in the updated picture, but the petunias have almost doubled in size. I do have some aphids munching pretty heavy on these, so they will get a good treatment this weekend.

This planter just makes me happy every time I see it.
Those fuzzy little plants planted around it are finally starting to grow as well.
Many didn't make it, but I am surprised by the ones that did.
The best thing too about this planter is that
the petunias and rose were both clearance purchases!!

The next collage is of the color of other transplanted flowers. It is these unexpected bright colors that make me so happy. The geranium is a transplant from a different planter. It was getting covered up by the dahlia and other geraniums in another planter. I needed this guy to shine because of its variegated leaves and salmon blooms. The little blue flowers are transplants as well. They were in the planter with my pretty pink petunias and marigolds. They were not thriving because all the other plants were taken over. The petunia is planted in one of my window planters on the fence. It is just such a pretty color to see every day when I am outside enjoying my morning cup of coffee.

Speaking of petunias in my window planter, these are on the left side of the fence next to my greenhouse. Keith wanted these because of their colorway. I wasn't too sure about them, but he was so right. They are just such show stoppers!!

The stardust look of the magenta ones is so unexpected.
And then the different white and purple variegation in the petunias
on the right is just show-stopping.
It is amazing how one week there will be more purple
 and the next more white.
I just love the continual supply of color these petunias provide.

I have a few projects on my agenda this weekend. One has to do with succulents!! I am excited about how this project will turn out. Fingers crossed it will be a show-stopper as well!!! I am also going to work on cleaning up some more stumps in the corner garden. One of my wisterias was delivered yesterday. I cannot wait to get the arch and plants in the ground!!

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.