First Plants in the Ground

Yesterday my order from Spring Hill Nursery arrived. I enjoy their catalog and gardening emails, and the best part about them is the money back guarantee. For instance, last year I ordered 4 hydrangeas. I planted 2 hydrangeas in my porch, one in partial sun, and the others on the south side of my house, but the conditions were too dry, hot and windy. Needless to say that 2 of them didn't make it. So, I called up the nursery and they offer a replacement or refund for the plants. I chose to just add my refund to pay for my order this year. It is a great company and really takes the worry out of ordering plants by mail. Plus, no trip to the store with the kids (at least not for these plants, I love going to any nursery), and they are shipped at the time ready to plant for your area.

The plants I purchased in this order are:

Green Envy Coneflower- I love coneflowers, and this color green. It arrived as a 4 inch tall plant, will grow 18-36". Blooms midsummer I think. I'm also going to get some Pink Double Coneflowers from another catalog, which have 2 sets of petals, one coming out of the top of the cone part. I'll have to post that next after I order it from the Michigan Bulb Co.

White Blazing Star- I thought the shape and texture would make a nice backdrop to the green coneflower, they are bulbs. I only got 6, but I may get more next year after I see how they do.

Susan Prichard Daylily- I love pink and green and yellow (hence the colors of Leah's room), and I'm excited about this daylily. I am slightly concerned about the deer eating it, so I planted it on a pot on my front porch, hoping the deer won't walk up the walk for a snack.

Stella de Oro Daylily- This is a very popular daylily. I ordered a few of these last year, and also had an established one already in my garden. They are delightful. Playing up my love of bright colors it blooms constantly summer to fall. I also put this in a light blue tin pail I got from Wal-Mart last year. I drilled holes in it for drainage and it looks cute. Wally world has a lot of cute buckets, pails and stuff cheap in their seasonal picnic/dish that can make great planters.

I'm excited for a few more perrenials I'll be ordering from the Michigan Bulb Co. The prices were slightly better than Spring Hill, but without the guarantee. I'm going to get some "Lily Trees", that grow 3' the first year, and up to 6' the third year, for the back of my border. Happy Gardening!

Tulip Progress Report

16 days after planting my tulip bulbs in potts we can see the flowers starting to emerge. The kids get so excited "Oh my gosh!! Mom, come quick!" So right now we're trying to guess what color each bloom will be. According to my reading online the blooms should be open around the 24th next week.

Lil' L also planted some "mystery" seeds and we found out they are now seedlings today. These are seeds she received at primary, and we don't know what kind of seeds they were, so we're excited to find out. There are about 10 seedlings in her pods, and now we get to watch them grow.

My impatien seeds still have a week or two before they are supposed to germinate, so I'll give an update later, and let you know if they sprouted-- or not... In the meantime, I can't wait to enjoy our beautiful tulips, forcing these bulbs indoors was as easy as pie. I noticed one pot of 5 bulbs in the floral department at the grocery store was going for about $8. So I think its definitely worth doing it myself.

Adventures in Gardening Kickoff 2009

Ok, Ok, I could not wait any longer. I know spring isn't quite here yet, and I can't start my seeds for another week but I was so excited to actually do something TODAY.

Before we moved in September I went to my flower beds and dug up some of our tulip bulbs, hoping to transplant them here. However, since we moved into our new house in November they have been spending the winter in the garage rather than in the ground. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use them and was fearful of them dying since I thought they might miss this growing season. Thank goodness my sweet visiting teacher Molly told me I could just force them indoors. Duh, why didn't I think of that?! (And that way the dear won't eat them). I had saved a bunch of plastic pots from plants I purchased last year and had everything I needed in my garage. The high temp was around 28 degrees today, but that didnt' stop me. I spread out my "project" vinyl tablecloth and Leah and I had some "grown-up girl bonding time" (guess the movie?). Planting our tulip bulbs. According to my how-to gardening book, Gardening 1-2-3, from the Home Depot, my tulips should bloom in about 2-3 weeks.

I did lose a few bulbs to mold where I didn't cut enough holes in the bottom of my bag I stored them in, but most of them looked great, with 1/4" green growth already starting out of the top.

We did 10 pots, with 3 or 4 in each for a total of 34 bulbs. Hopefully they will all bloom! My main concern is the amount of light they'll recieve from my west facing windows, since I have NO south facing windows. I may try to move them around from East to west for optimal sun.
Next week I'll be starting some seeds indoors as well. For starters I will be planting Zinnias, I got 2 types from Burpee: Zinnia Pinwheel Mix ht 10", and Zinnia Cut and Come Again Mix ht 24". I am lucky to have lots of shrubs and berms in my landscaping so I'll be planting shorter plants to compliment my larger existing ones.

My dilemma this year is over the Impatien Seeds I purchased. (Also from Burpee: Impatiens, Flavour Hybrid Mixed, Red, Pink and White.) I love these colorful shady flowers, and used them in my courtyard last year. When I saw the seed pkt I thought it would be great to start them myself. Well, come to find out Impatiens are quite tricky and finicky to start. They are particular about their conditions and temperature. So, I'm trying to decide if I should go buy a warming mat to keep the seedlings comfortable, and hopefully grow, or if I should give in and just take the $$ for the heating mat and buy the actual plants... hmmmm...decisions, decisions!

The Simple Things

My daughter came home with a big bag of bubble gum from the store and offered me a piece. Yeah, I like bubble gum. Occasionally I'll treat myself to some strawberry bubbalicious at the checkout line. I like the loud snap of the pop and the satisfaction of creating a solid strong large bubble. The kind where its all blown up and I'm waving around madly trying to get attention to show my kids so they'll appreciate my mad bubble skills. Of course my little ones are impressed by my awesome talent they have yet to master. Then its a game of them trying to pop it, and I try to avoid the sticky deflated bubble mess.