Had meetings most of the day, but this afternoon I got several good hours in the garden. First I drove over to David's house to get some plants he had set aside for me. I took Thirteen with me, with mixed success. She seemed to enjoy being in a new place, but did not enjoy David's dog Kate barking at her non-stop. Finally David put Kate in the house, where she barked at Thirteen through the window.
But aside from the barking it was a successful plant-gathering trip. David gave me purple phlox, obedience plant, echinacea, black-eyed susans and lots of little irises. He also offered me some periwinkle, but since he was complaining about it taking over his garden I passed.
When we got home I had to check email and catch up on some work stuff, then finally I got out into the garden. I did some weeding around the oak tree in front of the house and pulled up a bunch of vines. Then planted some pretty daffodils from my mom, because I already have the daffodils from Whole Foods there. The plan is to make a raised bed around that tree, so I didn't need dig the daffodils that deep. Because there will be several inches of dirt added over them.
Then I planted the little irises from David. In the iris bed down by the road, where else? I think later this year I'm going to start moving the irises around, instead of planting all of them in the same place. Because that area is going to look spectacular for a week or two, and then really bland the rest of the year. I think the irises will look better mixed in with other flowers around the yard. But for now I'll keep putting them in the same place so I don't have to worry about it.
While I was down there I saw that the Home Depot daffodils are in bloom! I had given up on them, didn't think they were going to sprout at all. But they were just late. I hope people aren't getting sick of the "I planted these" photos. It's just such a thrill to see beautiful flowers springing up, and know that they're there because of me!
Next I planted a couple of verbascum that we got at the farmer's market last weekend. I was a little uncomfortable about buying something that had been forced into bloom so early, that doesn't seem good for the plant. But I've been looking for this plant, and it's supposed to do well in this area, so I figured it would be worth a try. We did pass over dahlias that are supposed to bloom in late summer but were in full bloom now! I wonder what those plants are going to look like in September when all the other dahlias are blooming.
I planted them on the sunny side of the house, which we're planning to make into a cutting garden. Also Georg helped me measure that area so we can plan the bed. We need to put in a path so that the crawl space and gas and power meters are accessible. The newspaper and mulch have kept things under control since last fall, but as I recall there are a lot of stumps from volunteer shrubs under there. And the soil is awful hard clay. We're going to approach it just like we did the bank along the driveway: start at one end and work our way to the other, slow but sure. That bed is so big that if we tried to do the whole thing in one weekend, we'd only discourage ourselves. Working a couple of hours at a time it will take weeks, but it will get done eventually.
So I think that was a good day of planting! Especially since almost all the plants were free. Now I'm tired. Thirteen and I are both sacked out from our exertions. Georg made a wonderful dinner and now we're watching Iron Chef. Allez cuisine!
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