I feel like a Mini Martha...

Pre-conviction, that is.

Favorite Martha quote of late: "If events unfold as I have been led to believe, I will have this ordeal behind me and be back to work before spring planting season." Sounds like she's finally getting her priorities straight. Martha, Martha, Martha. I know gardening is an expensive hobby, but sheesh, you're a gazillionaire with absolutely no reason to do anything crooked. I still love you.

It's a... GREENHOUSE! Well, ok, it's still under construction, but what isn't in my life? I want to add that I had nothing to do with its existence other than ordering it, selecting its location and stepping all over its pieces while it sat in my garage for, well, for a long time.

I did, however, plant the lettuce, chard, parsley and peas in the foreground. I'll be adding the scallions I picked up yesterday evening in a few minutes. The Sugarsnap pea seeds were from Johnny's Selected Seeds, a great mail order company. Also ordered Easter Egg radish seeds and Royal Mix flowering sweet peas.

My 2nd dwarf avocado arrived from Wayside Gardens the other day. I'm keeping it in my kitchen window until the greenhouse is operational. The 1st dwarf avo didn't survive the winter. I ordered it thinking the greenhouse would be ready but you know what? They don't build themselves. Neither do I.

Whatcha gotta do is find a few dudes who paid attention in shop class. I actually took shop class on a lark in middle school. Got yelled at for walking away from the disk sander while it was still spinning. So, anyway, I find the use of power tools NOT to be my calling. The fact that my shop teacher was missing part of his thumb may have something to do with that feeling.

Btw, the uuuuuugly pool filter and a/c unit will be screened with redwood lattice panels. Soon, I hope.

Posted by Hello

Nursery Cans Flying Everywhere!

Another bed is coming together... I love my Smith & Hawken cobalt blue birdbath. I've surrounded it with yellow lantana, pink sedum, Mexican bush sage and lavender. In the background are 3 princess flower shrubs. You can't see them because they're still tiny! Got 'em at Whole Foods in 4" containers. I think they'll do well up against the fence since they tend to be sorta viney, as shrubs go. Adding interest in the foreground is a rusted metal quail family. Rusted metal yard art is included in my lengthy list of garden addictions. ;-)
Posted by Hello

It's amazing how quickly the birds and butterflies come when you start making a garden. Well, ok, it helped that I put up two hummingbird feeders and a gourmet selection of shelled sunflower seed and niger thistle. The hummers found the nectar feeders right away, but the seed eaters haven't come around yet. I've been told it's a somewhat quiet time in my area, birdwise. By the way, am I crazy or do hummingbirds seem smart? Maybe both.

I might as well say it now... "Oh, my achin' back!"
Posted by Hello

Wanna know how to make it rain?

Have Hastie's dump 4 giant piles (19 cubic yards) of bark, compost, planting mix and crushed rock in the street (blocking the gutter, of course) in front of your house. ;-)

and this...
Posted by Hello

Let's not forget this...
Posted by Hello

How am I supposed to get anything done when this is my inspiration?
Posted by Hello

White echinacea in the foreground, next to a Home Depot decorative glass ball stake. The Cheryl Chair is in the background.
Posted by Hello

I thought the colors in these 'Dynamite Wine Flash' Pansies went well with my stainless steel gazing ball.
Posted by Hello

Dwarf English lavender, a really pretty pink sedum and a cute little yellow... uh... I'll get back to you on that... waiting for a properly prepped bed. (in Martha Stewart's voice) Again, notice how the cobalt blue birdbath is echoed by the lovely cobalt blue wheelbarrow.
Posted by Hello

I moved my "Home Depot planter" onto the new patio. Notice how its verticality is echoed by the lovely nursery cans and Kangaroo yard waste container in the background. ;-)
Posted by Hello

A Closer Look

A closer View of the "Cheryl Chair" area. The Cheryl chair is so named because my friend Cheryl gave it to me one day when we were junk hunting for things like seatless chairs. I was describing the kind of chair I'd love to find and she said she had just the chair at home! Now that she sees how pretty it looks planted, I think she wants it back.
;-)
Posted by Hello

The Fun Part of Landscaping... Plant Placement!!!

My first big batch of plants was delivered yesterday from POW Nursery. I was glad to have met their minimum for free delivery. As is my way, I selected plants not according to a predetermined list, but by what caught my eye, looked healthy, and by what seemed like a good price.

As long as I stick to the rule of using even numbers of plants for formal, symmetrical arrangements and odd numbers (3+ plants is my usual minimum)for informal plantings, I can have a little fun with what I'm buying.

Another trick for successful "spontaneous landscaping" is to bring flowers from your garden to the nursery so you can see what looks good with what you've already got.

Sure, I make fantasy lists of plants I'd like to own, but on my nursery jaunts the thrill comes from discovering something I hadn't anticipated buying.

This batch of plants included 20 green hopseeds for a possibly temporary eyesore screen (the fence) and privacy screen (neighbors' 2nd story windows) while slower-growing sasanqua camellias (which I haven't found yet) fill in... and out... and up. My other acquisitions were mainly fun perennials (lavender, coreopsis, sedum, penstemon, daylily, echinacea, etc.) and a jasmine vine.

Right now, the plants have been placed but not planted. Placing plants is another fun, somewhat intuitive part of how I garden.

Almost forgot... I also got a saucer magnolia! I looooooooovvvvvve deciduous magnolias and am so happy to finally have one. It's M. x soulangiana, which is a classic. I'm also gonna try squeezing in one more smaller-growing cultivar with darker petals (an M. liliflora cultivar, probably).


Posted by Hello

Plant a Chair

Pansies, osteospermum, purple sweet potato vine and heliotrope are the new inhabitants of my chair planter.
Posted by Hello