planted out the red heart calendula and dianthus barbatus last week, as well as some of the summer bulbs i got from Bulbmeister.com and the Arbor Day Foundation collection (which I believe cost me $10). Yena came with us Saturday to look for a “Mama Mary” for my Mary Garden. It was going to be my Mother’s Day gift. but i didn’t want to buy the one available for $80 — at that price i thought i could get something much nicer on eBay or elsewhere. instead, yena bought some purple petunias which i helped her plant that same afternoon.
the only thing about greenhouse-grown plants is that they don’t seem to be as sturdy, especially after becoming rootbound. we tried to pick the best one but there were still a few roots sticking out the bottom. does not bode well for yena’s flowers, but i didn’t want to disappoint her, after all the pack of 4 was only a little over a buck. she paid for her selection herself and said thank you to the saleslady. did very well for a 3-yo if i say so myself.
the asparagus seem to be growing really well, lots of asparagus “sticks” growing out. i call them sticks because they’re really too thin to be called “spears”. we cooked asparagus last night (from the store) and i wanted to pick some of my own to go with it but i thought it would look embarrassed sitting next to the nice pencil-sized ones from Wegmans.
ugh, i still haven’t planted the strawberries. i hope they don’t rot in the fridge before i plant them out. big mistake having that ship date upped. but i tried to start a bed the other day for them and the ground was just too hard and rocky.
i did manage to plant out the swiss chard and romaine lettuce. also sowed some alcea rosea “Indian Spring” alongside the lupines.
finally, i transferred the coreopsis tinctoria “Tall” beside Yena’s petunias.
peonies seem to be doing well too, branching out and developing these beautiful (some of them purple) leaves!
need to cut down the hydrangea. i had cut them down to the ground last year and they grew beautifully all summer. but then i read somewhere that hydrangea shoots usually come out of the old canes, so i left them, but they’re still looking pretty dead and i’ll probably just cut them all down again today. the shoots are coming out from the bottom of the plant, so i must have gotten bad advice.
i discovered yesterday that i had pansies! they probably grew hidden last year behind all the irises, but they apparently reseeded because i have at least one purple one that’s peeking out from under the mulch. my mulch isn’t doing that good a job though of controlling the weeds.
oh, and here’s a pic of my purple-leaved sand cherry (prunus cistena):
and the myosotis sylvatica (forget-me-nots):
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