Cheap Geraniums!

I planted some more $0.62 seed geraniums that I got at Wal-Mart yesterday. I got a couple earlier in the week to fill in between a couple of the pinks, since the profusion zinnias are very unimpressive, and I got 18 more geraniums yesterday. 18 geraniums cost just over $10. Wow! They're a little beat up, but for the most part, they look good. And they add a little more color. I planted them in the two beds where the pansies were. The pansies were WAY past their prime.

And Johnny Barbour is blooming for the first time this year on the south garden.

killing violets...hopefully

I painted Roundup on the remaining violets in the mondo yesterday. Hopefully it killed them and not too much mondo. I feel certain I got some mondo by mistake.

The Double Cutie that I got last year for my birthday 3 years ago started blooming last Tuesday (5/26). It's bright yellow. And there's something very tall blooming today for the first time, but I haven't gotten out there to inspect it yet.

I also dead-headed the coreopsis yesterday.

The copper identification stakes that I bought on eBay came in yesterday. I'm going to get Chip to write them so they'll be super-neat.

hydrangeas

I planted the hydrangeas I got on eBay today. They're Masja hydrangeas, and they're supposed to be purple. I planted them on either side of the shooting star.

And the coreopis are at their peak, and they're really pretty:

And the yard looks nice in general:

STELLA!!!!

The Stella d'Oro daylilies started blooming yesterday. A couple of them have at least 120 buds, so I want to see just how long they bloom. They're crazy!

The pinks are about done blooming.

The coreopsis and Stella d'Oros have buds. The Stellas are covered! I counted 11 scapes on one, and there are 8-10 buds on each scape!

I sprayed Roundup on the "sidewalk" today. Someday I'll be able to call it just the sidewalk...someday when the stones are laid. :(

Putting things in the ground...and pulling out others

Okay, so here's what has happened in the last couple of weeks:

• April 20: Planted Cherry Profusion Zinnias and annual salvia that I got in my Easter basket. (Plus a few more that I bought at Home Depot in Birmingham). I also planted the Shooting Star Hydrangea that I got for Christmas. It's a little startled by the sun, but the several inches of rain have been good for it.
• A few days later: planted monkey faces (purple, white and pink) in the planters on the front porch.
• April 29, 30, & May 2: Spent at least 6 hours total weeding the mondo. There are still a few violets that I missed, but it looks SO much better.
• May 4: started weeding on the south side of the yard in the mulch. I didn't get very far because my legs were SO SORE from the previous weeding days.

Apparently one of the really big irises that I separated last year was the small, ugly, purple with a little bit of yellow. They're everywhere now! I've also seen the purpley-blue ones, but that's it. There are plenty that didn't bloom, so I hope they will next year and they'll be more representative of what they used to be. I *really* hope I didn't give away the blue-on-top-purple-on-bottom. That was my favorite after the royal purple and white. I'm going to tag the ugly ones and give them away this summer.

The lithodora is almost done blooming.

The Stella 'd Oros have scapes taller than they are, so it shouldn't be too long before they start blooming.

The clematis started blooming today.

I planted the candy lily that Chip got from Judi Overbee yesterday, in the shade, between the irises and the shooting star hydrangea.

What happened since the fall

Sometime in late summer, I dug up the eunonymous on the south side of the yard. I had had it with the constant pruning and the shrub/vine behavior.

In September, I divided the irises in the original patch on the north side of the yard and put most of them on the now-empty south side of the yard as sort of a barrier between the yard and the wall to Garland's yard. You'll at least trample some irises before you fall off the wall now. :) Both sets of irises are looking good now, but I don't think they're going to bloom this year.

At some point in the fall, I planted some new red tulips, since

the ones at the phone pole do so well. I planted them in the daylily bed and out around the water meter on the south side of the yard. The only one to bloom so far is one in the south daylily bed, and it's still lasting after 2 weeks and countless inches of rain.

Everything is SO pretty right now. It's so green. The pansies have finally started blooming after an exceptionally cold winter, and now they look out of place, since they're gold and burgundy. But the daylilies are in perfect mounds of green, and the ones I first planted on the south side of the yard are quite full now.

The pinks have buds and a few are

blooming so far, and surprise! The lithodora that I thought didn't have a chance never died and is now blooming!

The daffodils were NOT impressive this year. Only a few bloomed. I think I need to mark where they are and replant them, whenever you're supposed to do that.