Returning.

The perennial bed was my main focus last spring. Most of the wintersown plants went into this bed. I also grew a great number of annuals like melampodium, zinnias, petunias, salvias, and cleome. Already, after a few days in the low 90s, there are blooms in the perennial bed. Many more will be coming along shortly.



Red Valerian, or Jupiter's Beard, is about to bloom. One comment I read about this plant says it's best suited where chaos is desirable. Let chaos rule.



Clearance dianthus are blooming. These were purchased for a song last fall and used in the window boxes until Thanksgiving. I planted them out in the garden along with pansies and violas.







The purple columbine is heavily budded. I've waited a whole year to see these bloom.



Small white bell-shaped flowers stand atop these plants. I don't know the name. I moved some from a neighbor's yard in mid winter this year.



The canna found in the lawn last summer has returned. Must be a cold hardy type. I hope it blooms.



The ferns transplanted last week are growing.



Perilla seedlings. I made a huge mistake.



In the backyard, a dark leafed weigela is budding. The other three I have are a little behind this one. It gets more sun.



Spirea. This was the first plant I moved to the shrub island I built in June 2009. I took cuttings this spring. None seem to have survived. I'll take more later.



More hosta have popped in the North Bed. I was planning to reorganize these before they grew too large. I don't want to disturb them now. Maybe I'll do it next year. I have lots of wintersown babies up in three containers in the driveway.



It's 39 degrees. I moved my tomato seedlings indoors last night before dark. I set out the water sprinkler in the perennial bed, just in case of frost. There seems to be none with the relative humidity so low. The sky is starting to turn. There's a thin sliver of the crescent moon through the trees in the backyard. The high today will reach the mid 70s. It's going to be chilly for a bit this morning.

Rain is coming.

We've got a good chance of rain this afternoon.



New things are popping up all over. The rain should kick things into overdrive.





The ferns I transplanted last week are starting to unfurl.



Black & Blue salvia is returning. This one is pineapple sage. That's the first time I've ever had this plant return from the roots. The three others show no signs of life.



Brugmansias have new growth too.



It's 61 degrees. There's a coolness to the air.

Foliage

Nell's right, I have plenty of foliage. Some of the more interesting ones in my yard include:

Nandinas



Dusty Miller and Heuchera



Miscanthus Cosmopolitan



A hardy fern



The old camellia that has sort of forgiven me



Daffodils (with blooms ready to break)



It's 39 and windy. It's still cold out even in the sun. Thursday may be nice at 50 degrees.

Thinking about the kitchen

I decided this morning to spend some time cleaning and organizing the kitchen. Robert should be coming out next Wednesday afternoon. We'll spend a day and a half getting things ready for the cabinet install. There's electrical and plumbing work to be done as well. Yay.

Before pictures, after the hutch was moved into the little hallway off the kitchen.







I want to take up the floor. Under several layers of linoleum, 1/4" plywood, and some other things I dare not ask about, there are hardwood floors. I know there will be some damage, but I'm curious. I will take a few hours this evening to see if it can be done.

Outside, I planted the 12 clearance ferns on the North side of the house. The last 5 heucheras went in that bed too. Some of the hostas need to be rearranged next spring. I don't like the straight line I made when I planted them.



I also planted the two peonies in the new rose garden.



I watered the entire north side and the front bed. I planted three rooted forsythia in the shrub island.



I pulled everything but Jackie's spirea from the bed next to the basement door. I'm still not happy with that space. I'm thinking gardenias or letting the centipede take it over. No pictures cause I hate it.

I finished planting the Icicle Speedwell and scattered some fresh echinacea seeds from one of my own plants.



I want to do a few more things outside, but I know I shouldn't press my luck. Slowly, I'm getting things planted out. I want to go into winter with only new cuttings in pots and containers.

It's cloudy and 70 degrees. It's a nice day to be outside. It looks like rain. We did have a shower last night. Hardly enough to wet the bottom of the rain gauge, but I guess it still counts. There was a nice storm heading this way from Charlotte a few hours ago. As usual, it petered out just a few miles from here. I watched it on the weather.com radar map. Seems that happens a lot in the summer. Must be the lakes and hills.

I'm really starting to like the coleus and impatien bed out front. The tiny wintersown hosta are still tiny.

Clearance

Everything must go, right? We won't discuss my personal life, but at the store, I spent the better part of the morning clearing out and pricing all the distressed plants. Some were things that had just been there too long. A little trim here and there, and it will mostly be good as new. I marked everything 50-75% off. As I was preparing to leave, my boss announced that any item on the clearance rack would be 50 cents for the next few hours. Fine. I brought home $7 worth of plants.



I got hardy ferns, lamb's ear, and two hanging baskets of gerber daisies (white, of course). I kept the tags with their actual name, but they're downstairs. I'm not.
The worst damage was to the ferns.



I got my clearance hosta and ferns planted in the north bed.





The gerber daisies were separated into 8 plants with 4 placed on the sunny side of the white bed, and 4 to the rear of the house.



I've got veggie sprouts in the potager. Beans



cucumbers



The asparagus I planted last week has grown a single sprout.



Tiny seedless grapes. Either Mars, Reliance, or Himrod. The tags got misplaced when I moved them this winter.



TOMATO BLOSSOMS!!!!!!!




The Potager



Over in the perennial bed, the knockouts are living up to their name even with only a couple hours of sunlight a day.





Linaria in 6-7 hour sun.



Black Eyed Susans are pushing up stems.



Poppies



Echinacea



Datura metel bloom about to open. I need to walk outside after dark.



Daylily seedlings. Collected from trades and along parking lot medians in Bethany Beach, Delaware.



True leaves on my dogwood seedlings.



And finally, a single solitary sprout in my Japanese Maple container. These were collected from Jackie's house in Virginia. I sowed them in mid-November. This one will be red.



5:50pm - Everything got some water. Planted out Sue's hosta too. Planted from the cloner: 4 Persian Shield, 11 petunia, and the third lantana. The kongmansia is just starting to push roots. I found more seeds for the white garden. The nicotiana germinated during my trip. I may save them for next year. I've already planted cotton seeds on the 25th.