Fertilizer Friday . . .

It's Fertilizer Friday so be sure to go over and visit our hostess Tootsie and see what's blooming in everyone's gardens after fertilizing every Friday! Join in on the fun while you're there too.
Self Heal

Campanula - in my treasure 'Hometown Hardware' wheelbarrow

Gee, the deer missed this Red Valerian - thank goodness I still have a couple to bloom.

More Campanula in an old milk jug


A different color Spiderwort

This Peach Leaf Bellflower Campanula Persiciflolia is my showiest right now - if I keep it deadheaded I think it blooms all summer.

Carnations you can smell a mile away

Catmint Walkers Low - to the left you can see the other Red Valerian stripped by deer

My cobweb Hens & Chicks with a bloom - don't know the name of these but they are the tiniest I have - about the size of a cooked pea.

My cobweb Hens & Chicks with a bloom - don't know the name of these but they are the tiniest I have - about the size of a cooked pea.

A pink Salvia my sister gave me no name also

Looks like the Lacecap Hydrangea will put on a show this year thanks to our acid clay soil. I was going to change it until people kept telling me it was such a brilliant blue and they loved it that way. So I went and bought a pink one and put in in a pot so I can keep the soil controlled.

The Phlox are getting ready to bloom.

Spirea Little Princess

After The Rain . . .

Thought I'd go out after the downpour and get some pictures with water drops on blooms the other day. So I bundled up because warm it was not, grabbed my camera and off I went out to find the perfect bloom with the perfect droplets for me to capture. Then I remembered (Ding) I didn't have any blooms yet. Right! Well I have some tiny Johnny Jump Ups that are probably smaller than the drops and some Crocuses that have by now croaked! Well here's Sedum Vera Jamison but I don't know how good droplets will show on her with such small foliage. Better give it a try bright girl it's all ya have. Then I found a variety container I had with some Hens and Chicks and ironically enough there was a small web with drops in front of it. Ok I accept - it might work.
There was the little green leaf with pink trim of my Columbine that actually had some pretty good drops on it. No blooms but some drops - I can work with that.
Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something. Color? I turned my head and actually jolted a little as I hollered 'holy crap' I don't believe this. There was nothing here the day before - or was that two days? Who cares! I was just happy it was there and really happy we don't live close enough to anyone that might be outside watching me over here acting like a bumbling idiot in my stupor of excitement.
My pretty pink Azalea was starting to open up. I finally had something blooming that was bigger than a nickel or better yet larger than a quarter. Oh happy day!
No, not starting to open - by cracky it is open. And it even has a few droplets on it!
Ahhhhh it's posing for me!

Color To Get Over The White Blues

I started this yesterday when we got dumped on again thinking some color would revive my good spirits. But I combined photos in groups because I had so many and it took a while. Well, thank goodness it did take a while because I really needed them today.

Thought I'd put in pictures of my container plants that I do. The first one isn't one of them but they are so cheerful I had to stick them in. Last summer my girlfriend kidnapped me on my birthday and we took off for Seattle and spent the day at The Pike Place Market. I was way overdue to go there and we had a ball. She bought 2 of their huge bouquets and gave them both to me! These are so big I swear they weighed 20 pounds each - at least carrying them around they felt like it. We got to see the guys that throw the salmon around (and never miss), street entertainment and of course had lunch and then ate our way through the rest of the place. What a fantastic day it was. Ya know paybacks are heck and I have to think of something equally as fun for her birthday! You might want to click on these pictures so you can see them better as I did groups and their rather small. I have since changed the cast iron shelf because some of the flowers didn't get enough light and watering was hard on the shelves too. I planted a Clematis in it and hopefully it will be covered with gorgeous blooms.
My teacart has 3 or more colors of Lobelia and something else not sure and the hot pink iceplant wasn't blooming yet.
My vintage wash tub with a number of annuals plus some Creeping Charlie and usually some miniature Snapdragons.
I still wonder how I ended up snagging this old wheelbarrow at an estate sale. In a town with hundreds of antique shops and I showed up late and it was still there? I think they must have just put it out. It didn't have the rust at the time either. It says 'Hometown Hardware' on the side. It was a keeper and never made it into the shop where I had my antiques for sale.
The top left is Purple Heart and it isn't hardy here so I have to bring it in for the winter. I've read that people like it as a ground cover. In the wheelbarrow is some Ice Plant just getting started. I love lopsided in my gardens every chance I get! The bottom left is called Celosia I believe and it is just so pretty. I'm going to have to look for another one this year. In the old breadbox hanging over the side is a Geranium (annual). It is just the tiniest one I've ever seen.
A few more deck planters - one on an old wicker barstool I found running around hitting garage sales with my sister. I said the stool is mine as we pulled in and I spotted it - she was getting ready to say the same thing but she wasn't quite fast enough. Ya snooze ya loose!!!
Guess I should have lightened this one up a bit it's a little dark. Verbena sitting next to the sweet little path my hubby made going to my greenhouse from the stairs on the bank.
Some Dianthus in my old coal bucket. Oh and my headless swan. It was a really pretty rock swan but didn't take the weather well and the neck and head broke off. I couldn't part with it so it's just a novelty conversation piece now. Found the little tricycle with Hens and Chicks already in it at a garage sale.
Some Impatiens and Lobelia.
More lopsided. This bed has got more in it now. I'll have to get another picture later with everything blooming. I have another milkcan angled the same way with Campanula in it too down in my woodland garden.

I do feel so much better now. And the sun is even shining. Maybe I'll go separate my little plants that I brought in here as seeds and the Cosmos are almost 3 inches tall. I see some of the Coneflowers are showing now too.

A Visit To Castle Rock Nursery

It was off to a favorite nursery the other day and was I excited! The weather was great and the nursery is a quaint little place that I like going to. I love the way they display their flowers, the variety that they have in plants and sizes and there is seating everywhere. This comes in handy for people who can't walk very far, like myself after having major back surgery I don't walk long distances well. They have something to sit on every so often. The service is great too - they just get points everywhere so why wouldn't I go back? Click any of the pictures for larger views.


I do like their primitive old zig zag fence dividers for plants.
This antique treadle sewing machine makes a great display.
A bench, also for sale, with Hens and Chicks - oops forgot to check and see if they had any that I don't. Guess that means another trip back.
Some big tropical looking plants - click on picture for larger view.
Another thing I like about this nursery is they still carry lots of the 4" or 5" pots. I've noticed the last couple of years that nurseries are carrying the larger pots and no more small ones. Not everyone wants a huge honkin' plant to start with. Not everyone can afford the price of the bigger ones and myself I figure if I kill it I won't have so much invested! And I do kill! But I do buy many plants in larger sizes if it's something I'm more familiar with or a really slow grower. They even had a nice selection of Heathers in a smaller size.
I love these varigated Irises - I had forgotten I saw them here before and they are so pretty.
Look at this big old jade plant - I didn't know they bloomed. I meant to ask how old it was and forgot - another trip I guess!
Well I'm off to pay - isn't this just the cutest little building? That Magnolia on the left is very definitely on my wish list - but not today.
I did buy a few flowers. I purchased Heuchera Snow Angel after seeing it the other day on Tina's In The Garden post. I am so happy I did too because the lady at the nursery said she won't be getting any more. She's tried everywhere and apparently Snow Angel doesn't make babies fast enough so they won't be selling her. Isn't that just like big business - she's not producing fast enough so she's outta here. I chose to get a Heuchera that I already have. I liked it more than all of the other choices so why not? Top left that pretty wine colored one is Plum Pudding. I also purchased a few dwarf Snapdragons. I'm really excited that although they are an annual and we had horrible weather all of the ones I bought last year are coming back - in fact they never really left! I also picked up a Sedum Purple Emperor which I kicked myself last year for not getting. Now it's mine! And a Veronica spicata 'Giles van Hees' which I hope gets a bit taller than they said. I didn't get the taller one because my purple one falls over all the time and my pink shorter one disappeared - it was the perfect size. Of course, the one that was perfect died and the purple 'fall on my face' one lives forever. Don't get me wrong I do like it when it's behaving itself or I wouldn't have it. Oh and a couple of little geraniums.

A Friends Yard - Great Wisterias

I thought it would be fun to take pictures of a friends yard. It's a really laid back place to spend an afternoon relaxing and watching the birds.

This is the first of 2 huge Wisteria vines. This one, in her front yard is a pink one. A closer shot of the flowers - click to see it even closer.
A Weeping Cherry
Siberian Irises, Columbines and Sedums.
Her wall of bird houses and other things.
The Wisteria in her back yard is purple and draped over a building they put in as a shaded sitting area where you can relax and enjoy the pond in front of it.
A red Maple of some kind - she wasn't sure but looks very much like my Crimson King Maple.
Chives
She's like me and plants Semps and Sedums in a number of different things.
And more . . . I didn't take pictures of the pond because they are re-doing it. They've had so much trouble with racoons and other critters eating their fish and destroying everything around the pond they've had to change it.
A primitive little bench.
Some hanging baskets she made in her greenhouse.
She gave me a Wisteria seed of the purple - later she gave me more seeds of the pink. In only a couple of weeks this had grown about 5 inches until the deer came and decided they wanted to chew it off. They stop at nothing - even the tiniest plant!
Then she said she had something to show me next door. We went over to her neighbors house and there was the prettiest Wisteria she had trained to be a small tree. It is just beautiful and the answer to the problem of what to do with mine. I didn't really want the heavy weight climbing on anything around here. Now I can have a pink one and a purple one!
Here's a lighter shot from another angle where you can see it better. She said the branches shoot out on their own making it like a tree.
I can't wait for mine to get bigger now with this plan.