Want to see what almost $100 and several hours of yardwork will accomplish?
On Saturday, Aaron gave me my anniversary present of a $50 gift certificate to Gardenland. Yay! So, off we went on a plant shopping spree. First, though, we stopped at Lowe’s and picked up the flowers you see here (left).
The white flowers are Double Impatiens—they’re an annual, which means they’ll only live for this year, but I may try my hand at collecting their seeds and replanting them next year.
The pink flowers are Dwarf Hydrangeas, and those are perennials. They ain’t goin’ nowhere (unless I kill them).
The green patches of ground cover are Pearlwort. Although you can’t really tell yet, they have tiny white flowers that sprout from the green growth. I’d like to get some more of these and actually cover the entire area around the flowers (where there’s currently only dirt).
We planted these on Saturday afternoon, before the rain hit. We also trimmed down the shrubs in the right of the picture from being the size of small trees to being large bushes.
On Sunday, we tackled the rest of the planting. Actually, I tackled the back garden while Aaron hacked down the overgrown tree-bush next to the garage.
After preparing the flowerbed (which I did rather hastily, IMO, in a fashion that would probably make most gardeners and landscapers cringe), I planted the first round of herbs purchased at Gardenland on Saturday. Top row left to right are Lavender and two Sage plants. Bottom row left to right are two Coriander / Cilantro plants and a Sweet Basil. Yes, the plants are supposed to spread and get quite a bit larger, so don’t worry. I’m hoping to put some more herbs in as I get the money to buy them: more varieties of Basil, some Catnip, some Mint, Parsley, Oregano, Creeping Thyme, etc, etc.
I also planted the rosebush we got on Saturday at Gardenland (see right). It’s a Brandy, and will eventually have blooms of an interesting pinkish-coralish hue. It looks a little sad in this picture, but it’ll get more grand soon. Hopefully.
While I was at it, I decided today would be a good time to attempt to transplant the shrubs growing in the teeny patch of dirt next to our back door. One of them was thorny, like it could be a rosebush, and the other had some attractive small purple flowers. So, I dug them up and put them into some now-vacant containers (see left). Hopefully they’ll grow and thrive and I’ll be able to plant them alongside my other plants in the garden.
Overall, I feel like this weekend was particularly productive. I hope our work pays off, and that I can get some more herbs and shrubs to plant this season.
Well, we’ve finally started planting. I’ve documented the weekend’s progress in the Gardening section of the.details, along with more pics. As I spent $40+ on plants, Aaron spent $50, and we both spent our weekend afternoons on the project(s), it would be keen if you’d check it out.
