A Garden Tour

Don't panic--I'm not showing you everything!! For someone who thought she was through with taking care of living things, I've sure taken on a lot. Although they don't cry, get in trouble, or the like, all these plants take a lot of looking after!! A few minutes ago I counted the different types of plants I have in just the back yard and there are twenty; many various colors of the same. For instance, I have four hibiscus plants, two red, one ruffly orange, one plain pale peach. Same goes for geraniums--red, coral, white and purple, not to mention the hanging basket by the side door, I call this one candy cane:

For sure not what they call it, but it works for me! The hibiscus bloom like mad sometimes, other times they are just green bushes:

In the forefront the spicy jatropha tree is filled with red blossoms.

Mostly I do the planting, however, a few weeks ago Bruce surprised me by planting all of these darling little dianthus plants on a Sunday while I was "vending" as he likes to call it!

When I left for the day they were still in their trays and in the ground only in my imagination. Adorable aren't they? Lots of the time I go for the two-tone as you can see.

Yesterday we had the day off from the market because of the semi-annual Fiesta in the Park. To be honest, we didn't mind one bit. My sales have been pretty anemic this month so what's another bad weekend? I did go to Winter Garden on Saturday which was pretty much a waste because everyone was attending the annual "Spring Fever" held a street away. You could find most anything garden related there, which is probably where I should have been rather than behind my table! I did venture to the kids area and saw this girl brushing her little donkey:

So cute!!

Sunday we took advantage of the time off to work in the garden but not before we took a trip out to Lukas Nursery in Slavia. What a place, particularly now in Springtime, although truth be told, Spring may not last very long at the rate we're going.Their selection of large glazed pots is to die for. We roamed around taking in all the beauty of blooming plants everywhere. I was looking for a hanging basket for the front porch to replace the impatiens, which as I told you before, are dying off in droves around these parts. So sad.

The more we talked about the garden, the more mistakes I recognized I've made in choosing plants for various spots. Around the new oak tree has already had about six different flowers, most of which have either not done well, or just don't look right. Remember the beautiful purple salvia I was so excited about? Moved. The spiky yellow flowers moved. Either there weren't enough of them, or they just didn't do as well as I'd hoped. Both Bruce and I immediately fell in love with a new flower, well really not a new flower, just a miniaturized version of an oldie but goodie. This website describes them as petunias on steriods which I hope is the case for us. Supertenias says it all. We counted the ones they had, fourteen which was not quite enough according to Bruce who likes instant planting--none of this watching and waiting business for him! Initially we did not put them on our cart, instead spent a little time looking around at what else was available. Fortuitously, we decided that we'd seen enough and went back to their location. Just as I was picking up both trays, a woman came up saying she was hoping to buy some. I expressed the appropriate amount of sorrow for her loss, but insisted we were buying them all, and in fact, my husband was searching for more. She declined to take no for an answer, saying she'd only stepped away for a bit and was returning for them--"I only need two." I resisted the urge to say, "you snooze, you lose," because that almost described us! Standing my ground, I loaded them on the cart. I did helpfully point out that there were pink ones available. :)

Once we returned home with the back of the Pilot filled to the brim with goodies, I began relocaating the flowers I'd only planted weeks ago. Unfortunately something has been eating the salvia, the leaves are full of holes, although it hasn't seemed to hurt the flowering process one bit. Before re-planting them I sprayed the undersides of the leaves hoping to spruce them back up in their new location adjacent to the side door. The yellow spiky things found a home behind the bench where I grouped them tighter hoping that will make for a better look. Bruce removed two wheel barrows full of dirt, walking them down to the lake lot which was no easy feat!

After hours of work I was pooped and didn't have the energy to finish planting them until 7:00 this morning, just as Bruce was leaving for California for a few days. Hopefully I've found a flowering plant that lives up to it's name!

Now that I see the plantings in a picture I see I could have planted the back ones further away from the tree. Believe me, it was hard going what with all the roots so they are staying where they are!! The yellow guys behind the bench:

I'm loving purple flowers these days! In the foreground is another new one in the pot--what else--purple and yellow!

The caladiums are going gang busters, some with leaves almost a foot tall. Regina was by this morning and couldn't get over how big they are. I was showing off a new variety I found at Lukas picture in the front:

I'm going to give Bidens another chance, or as I'm now going to be calling them, "yellow charm" because they really are charming and the pot said it was so.

This morning I planted some in front of the blue bird bath. Charming indeed.

Purple, purple and more purple--I can't get enough!

And yet another one:

My niece Laura is going to love all this purple--her favorite color. All the stooping and bending wore me out after about four hours so here I sit typing instead. There are still three trays of grass plugs to put in the back yard which may very well have to wait until tomorrow. Although I wore gloves and shoes,  my fingernails look a fright, as do my toenails! Tonight is the funeral for Bruce's co-workers son and I'll be going for the both of us. I'm thinking I'll have to give in and head to the manicurist.

Before I do though I wanted to share a little laugh with you. I did a little Google search to see if my bio on the Sundance page (written by yours truly) would register. Instead I came across this, which goes to show you that you can't believe everything you read on the web! I laughed so hard when I saw two of my prints in an auction on the Goodwill site, calling Bruce in to check it out. Bold photographic prints indeed.