Garden State (The Yard, Not the Movie)

Digging around in the dirt just hasn't appealed to me this spring. By this time last year I had several hanging baskets of pink & white petunias, plus maroon & purple pansies. (Ben helped me with the hooks last year.)I had a profusely blooming hibiscus, a crazy-growing palm, and three pink dianthus in a window box. My family often asked me when I was going to do the "flower thing." I brushed them off, replying that I would get to it. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to this year. I just didn't wanna!

Until this weekend. I don't know what hit me on Saturday morning. Andy and I decided to make an ordinary trip to Lowe's. He needed ordinary things. And then he asked the oft-repeated question: Do you want to look for flowers? I was non-committal in my reply: "I'll see what they've got," I said flippantly.

Well, 90 minutes and $171.70 later we were on our way home. I spent several hours outside Saturday, repotting plants and deciding where to put them. Look what I can do! Look what I can do! I have flowers that I have never had before!

First, the poor sad palm that barely survived the winter is making an attempt. The bar isn't very high on my hope meter. However, I am quite pleased with some of the other things. First of all, I now have a large trailing impatiens on the table that is in the middle of my front porch. It has large orange blooms. Very happy-looking. I smile every time I see it. When I got home from work this afternoon, I could see the heat had taken its toll on this sweet plant. It was wilted and laying pitifully on the edges of the pot. A little water and 10 minutes later....*Boing!* It's perky again!

Rather than a hibiscus, I opted for the challenge of a hybrid long-stemmed rose bush. (The first picture is one of the actual rose I bought.) Roses and I have had a love-hate relationship for years. In fact, I haven't even tried to raise them for probably 5 years or more. I don't know why I chose it, but there it sits, in the spot formerly occupied by the hibiscus. I have already had to severely prune a branch due to the dreaded black-spot fungus, but there are four buds on the bush and I can't wait to see them bloom!

The hanging pots this year contain lavendar and white verbena (who'd have thunk the japanese beetles would love them so much) and portaluca which is seriously nifty. There are different colored blooms on the same plant! The tables on the deck are adorned with a lovely blue flower called plumbago.

All of the flowers are of the "cluster" variety. I did that for a reason. I want to attract butterflies! I haven't been disappointed. The verbena wasn't on the hooks five minutes before I had one. Yaaaay!

After all of the re-potting and flower-placement, I mowed the lawn. Yep. Several hours of sunshine on my shoulders, nose...back...arms..legs...and it was great! I wasn't very smart, though. I did slather sunscreen on my shoulders & nose (both of which freckled up nicely), but didn't think to protect anything else. Silly me. How was I to know there would be a 3-inch strip of skin showing between my shorts and my top? I can honestly say that little bit of flesh ended up just shy of blistering. It has been fun finding outfits to wear to work this week.

Three days til the weekend. I can't wait to get out there and weed the front bed, mow the grass again, and trim up the new flowers. Now..just where did I put that sunscreen?