Against the odds

Tags

annuals, dianthus, postaday2016

I always delight in finding surprises guests in my planters, the marigolds shocked me because they are annuals from last year, popping up this year in the same planter as last year is very cool in my book. The tiny dianthus sprouting defiantly despite the lack of water and high heat impresses me to no end. Whenever I get sad or stressed, finding these tiny gems turns my day and outlook around, thank goodness for Mother Nature, she never ceases to amaze me.

Back to the drawing board

Tags

annuals, postaday2015, rain, root bound

    

As you can see, there is a huge difference between the health of my annuals out in front from those in back, I don’t know why, I set them up the same way with the same amount of love and care; argh! frustrating but not insurmountable. The entire flat of annuals were all suffering from being root bound, I tried to pry the roots apart, flash forward to all of the rain we have had, they seem to have been almost drowned; meanwhile my annuals in the back, perhaps being set next to the house, benefitted from some protection, who knows. Gardening does have  its share of misses, alongside the hits, but all I can say, Thank Goodness for those hits. lol 

I am going to start over because I don’t think that these babies will come back from the brink, poor things. 😦

In other garden news, things are looking pretty good elsewhere in the backyard.

   
 

The overnight temperatures aren’t cooperating!

Tags

annuals, indoor plants, postaday2015

I am itching to put my Impatiens, my Bougainvillea, my Mandeville and my Hibiscus outside, but I hesitate because the overnight temperatures may dip back down to 40, they already have been in the 40’s this past week, I was hoping that when the thermostat went up to 50, it would stay there, but no, it’s dipping down once again.
I would be so upset with myself if I lost my plants due to my lack of impatience, it takes a lot of diligence to keep Impatiens, Bougainvillea, Mandeville and Hibiscus alive throughout the winter, nevermind over several years. If they got frost bite and suffered, I would kick myself in the bottom and my heart would be hurt.

 I will just have to hang on a little more. 

   
   

Putting in some annuals for color

Tags

annuals, Gardening, ponds, postaday2014, water aeration

Today my husband and I went down to pick up a new water aeration pump for our pond mostly to keep the mosquitos at bay; when water is being whipped up it is much harder for mosquitos to lay their eggs, or at least that is what I read somewhere. While we were shopping for the pump, we spied some very pretty annuals which the front yard was very much in need of, while we are waiting for the perennials such as the peonies and lilies to bloom; some discreet splashes of yellow and purple to perk up the front, always a good idea.

So while I planted the annuals out in front, my husband put the pump together, submersed it into the pond and voila, a pretty fountain effect:

Now that we have the pump working again, I feel better about not contributing to the mosquito population, I might be wrong about the idea that moving water inhibits egg laying, I hope that I’m not, but I still feel better.

I thought that two trays of annuals would have gone farther than it did. I still have at least seven more containers to fill out in front. I could always use some annuals in the back, but it isn’t needed as much as it is in the front. I’ll probably get the rest of the containers planted with different colored annuals next weekend or at least I hope so.

I am very happy with the work that we did outside today; it’s always nice to add some beauty to the house, either inside or out.