Showing posts with label Purple Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purple Heart. Show all posts

Monday, September 7, 2009

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.

Hot Weather And Our Well Pump Dies . . .

The middle of August with extremely hot weather is not a good time to have the pump in your well go out! Not if you have lots of flowers anyway. That's what happened to us on Saturday. Thank goodness we had been having a cool spell and had gotten some rain or I'm afraid I would have really lost a lot of flowers.

This was probably the best birthday present I've ever gotten - NOT! I did get a runner up one year when I was driving down I-5 going 70 mph in the fast lane and I got a blowout. I sang happy birthday to me that day too! I've decided I don't want any more birthdays - getting old is bad enough but these little extra presents I can live without.

The well guy could have come the next day but Sunday and double time charges? This is not going to be cheap to start with so we opted to go another day without water and he'd be here bright and early on Monday. And he was. Our well is 180 feet deep so they had a lot of pipe to bring up to get to the pump at the bottom. The good news is that in the midst of a heat wave we still have 90 feet of water. It's nice to know that when the pump is working I can water 'til the cows come home and not run out! Yesterday it was too hot to water when they got done with the well and I had to go to town anyway so I got up bright and early this morning to start looking things over and watering my flowers.
The Verbena did pretty good without a drink.
The Petunias in the same planter not so much!
These Petunias couldn't decide - some were ok some not.
The Tri Color, Cape Blanco and some other Sedum did wonderful of course but even the fern that planted itself in the front of the BBQ looked ok.

The Million Bells are rather pathetic looking.

But these Petunias looked great.
The Purple Heart is looking good.

The Cauticolum is even starting to bloom so I guess I did ok in the middle of an emergency. Nothing really died as far as I can tell - they just all look really sad!

What's probably going to hurt the most is paying the ugly, enormous bill to keep the water coming!