Spring planting, part deux

I went to Lowe's and Home Depot today and stocked up on annuals.  Calibrachoa (yellow/white striped, purple, and pink), white verbena (for $1), another verbena ($2), snapdragons ($1), petunias (purple and mixed, $1 each), and white vinca.

I also got a gorgeous bright red/orange dahlia.  I hope it lives!  I put it in a container with the yellow and white striped calibrichoa and a couple of white vincas.

I put the rest of the vincas (it was a six-pack) in the front, next to where the caladiums might come up someday.  And I put the big white verbena out front next to the dianthus.

Spring planting!

Last weekend I cut the butterfly bush back.  It was already putting out, so I didn't cut it as much as usual.  We'll see if it makes a difference.  I basically cut the peripheral limbs to get them out of the way, but kept the ones that were pointing up.

Today I trimmed the monkey grass and cleaned out the old rudbeckia and coneflower stalks.

And I planted a couple of red hot pokers (next to the mailbox and next to the power pole) and a couple of astilbe 'amethyst' in the shady corner of the yard.  The internet and the inserts seemed to differ quite a bit.  I'm hoping shady is right.  I got both of them at Wal-Mart in a moment of weakness.  I don't really need any more plants, but I see the red hot pokers near mailboxes when I'm out riding, and they seem to do so well, and are so bright and showy!

August planting!

I've had a couple of irises that Maw gave me back in June sitting under the deck since I got them.  It's finally August and time to plant them, and it's freakishly cool....like highs in the mid 70s.  Hopefully they'll do okay.  I planted them along the wall, about 10 feet from the road.  Immortality is white and it's closer to the house.  Bountiful Harvest is purple and white and is closer to the road.

I also planted the gardenia clipping that she gave me that has been rooting on the kitchen windowsill for 2 months.  It's downhill from the mailbox, and is probably going to be too big for the space.  But space is at a premium so...

I also weeded...a lot.

Spring planting!

I took out the driveway leg of the sidewalk today! We're going to have one go from the porch along the hollies to the driveway instead, and still have one go up to the mailbox. So I moved part of a pink up the sidewalk so it'll look more in line with the rest. I also moved 2 Stellas to make them look more with it. And I moved one of the echinacea (that I planted from seeds that I bought at Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains NP in 2009) to the new area. And I transplanted the fuzzy plant with the fuschia-colored flowers that came from Maw's (and came from her mother's) I also planted some melampodium that I got last n
ight at Home Depot.

I also planted a clematis that I got last night at Lowe's, since President has finally died. This one is supposely pure white. We'll see...

On the deck, I planted a long pot on the kitchen side of the deck with a purple and a pink calibrachoa, since the pink

one from last year is doing so well after wintering over. Hopefully these will be just as nice, and last

until next year, assuming we have a light winter again. I also put some marigolds and a red geranium in the pot

that had the tomato last year.

Last week, I got some forsythia and a couple of bridal veils from my mom. I planted the bridal veil on Tuesday at the corner of the walls, and put some mulch on it today. I put 3 clumps of forsythia on the hillside downhill from the hackberry. Maybe it'll make it, maybe not. I have a lot more of it, but I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought of tearing down the Japanese honeysuckle to make room for it.

I also planted some bulbs that I've had in a bag for a couple of years. I think they came up when I divided the irises, and I think they're tulips. They were pretty dry, but they were coming out. I put them in 3 different holes on the driveway side of the yard. Maybe they'll come out.

Speaking of tulips...they started blooming today! They were just pink when I saw them this morning, and they were red this afternoon. So I think they really did just show color this morning! Even the ones up next to the road are blooming for the first time! Also, I saw the first pink blooming today. I don't think it was there this morning, but it was this afternoon! And the bluebells are coming up. Everything is so early this year!

Plants from Carol

I planted the grape hyacinths that Carol gave me at the front corner of the yard yesterday, near where we pile leaves in the fall. There were probably about a hundred of them! Maybe a few will survive!

I also planted the lilac she gave me on the hillside near the butterfly bush. I added some Promix, and put one of the concrete slabs that I dug up on the downhill side, so the dirt doesn't wash away, but I don't have high hopes for it. That hillside is crap, but I didn't have room for it in the front yard. I don't know what lilacs really do, but maybe it'll be a little bit of a privacy fence.

In the last week or so, I separated some of the pinks and planted them on the crappy, rocky hillside between the driveways. I also bought a flat of dwarf snapdragons and planted them where the geraniums were last year: to the right of the porch and next to the driveway.

We also started digging to make the new wall next to the driveway last weekend. There were several bulbs that I didn't know what they were, but I figured out from talking to Mommy that they're tiger lilies. I moved them to the rocky hillside too. There were three of them.