Recycling an Old Planter

Bringing an old planter back to life

 with summer blooms

is a good feeling, but 

I hope that it holds up 

through the season.

I try to choose colors and plants

that will hold up until fall and frost:

red, orange, green and yellow.

The blooms should do fine,

but the old ceramic planter

has a pretty big crack.

For the thriller, I chose a dracaena, 

Cordyline australis 'Red Star'

with burgundy leaves.

A big filler is a coleus

named 'Freckles'

with yellow leaves speckled

 with bronze and orange.

Another filler is a combination 

of petunia and calibrachoa,

trademarked Super Cal

"Premium Cinnamon'.

It is not supposed to be 

sticky like petunias!

'Goldilocks Rocks', a bidens,

is unknown to me. The

reviews are mixed.

It will be the first

to falter with so much

competition in the planter.

The spillers include

another petunia

trademarked Supertunia

'Honey'

which will mound (fill)

and trail (spill).

And the final spiller 

is a Ipomoea batatas

Sweet Caroline Bewitched

Green with Envy

I really wanted the lime green 

accent, but it's

a big filler too--

with sweet potatoes!

This planter has all the right 

ingredients: plants to take it

into cool weather, 

fall colors of cinnamon

and honey, burgundy red,

yellow, orange and bronze.

I have my fingers crossed

that the planter survives

the rising competition--

and doesn't thrill

me with a giant spillover!

Full On Spring

A pair of bright Korean Azaleas

now flank the birdbath

for full on flight landings!

One is near the water feature 

and a planter I just

potted up yesterday.

This large pot contains a

Firecracker plant as its high point,

and some Lantanas called 'Sunrise Rose'

and 'Bandana Yellow' for the filler.

I also picked up a plant new to me:

'Beedance Painted Red' to fill in

 and trail over the edge.

I added an Begonia called 

'Sparks Will Fly' to the pot

on impulse because the colors

go so well together.

I hope it can tolerate its

new home since Begonia is

usually considered a

shade plant.

I'm going to go for it full on--

in partial sun?!

A Walk Down to Bear Swamp

It's truly Spring when the water burbles,

the birds call and the forest turns dense with green.

A morning walk down the dirt road behind my house

to Bear Swamp is a reminder that we can plan

the garden in our landscape beds, but 

Mother Nature is really in charge

in the big garden of our environment.

Cattle Brook becomes a swamp

when the beavers build dams or

the Spring rains bring a deluge.

This rainy Spring of 2020

brings the swamp closer 

to the road.

Mother Nature knows intuitively

to grow ferns in the low border 

in front and skunk cabbage 

in the low wet area in the

middle ground.  On the rocky 

forest slope in the background, 

we can spy an open area

that draws our eyes and feet

to discover more.

The ferns unfurl as sculpture.

The bluets carpet the grass

along the roadside.

If only we could achieve

their pleasing randomness

in our planned garden beds.

And then there is the way 

they all blend: a collage of 

ferns and bluets and 

mounds of moss and rocks.

And Mother Nature adds not a

bird bath or a gazing ball-- 

but a bit of tree trunk whimsy

that looks like a Frilled Lizard

trying to catch a mouse--

to attract our attention.

Lessons from Mother Nature!

Big Smiles

The Big Smile Tulips bloom after the red ones.

The daffodils are spent. The red tulips are past their peak.

The rhododendron are blooming.

The Korean azaleas by the bird bath will be next.

Then poppies and peonies and...

One smile after another 

as we count down the Covid-19 days

until we can resume life as we knew it--

or what life will be like past the peak.

My Two Flowers Enjoy My Garden

Violet and Lily found the red tulips

right away on their visit today. I planted

them in memory of my mother's passing

thirty years ago. Hard to believe 

it's been that long, but her red tulips still

bring a lift to everyone who sees them.

Just as she did!

May Day 2020

New hope for the month of May and the end of social distancing? We started the day with rain, black skies, wind and cool temperatures.  The end of the day looked like this!

My favorite day and my favorite flower!