what we did on may day

Planted and weeded and prepared our flower beds for some upcoming rough stuff. I eyed the annuals and perennials at Mize, my locally-owned feed & seed for days and days until I got paid. With money to back my flora fueled compulsion, I picked out three boxes of plants to bring home, including two tomato plants. Hooray. Fresh grown tomatoes in my own backyard. The rest is just to look at.

Mize didn't offer the same shade of very light pink geraniums that I bought last year, so I went with the slightly shrimpy color. It's more soothing to the eye than the electric red and electric hot pinky other geranium selections. Although, in this photo, my geranium appears pretty electric. And what am I talking about subtle colors for when I bought a super-brilliant orange begonia (below)?

Actually, I planted a few things in my containers. I've always loved getting my hands dirty. I remember playing in mud puddles and building dams in the rainwater run off at my Mamaw's house in the summer. And the best thing ever was rain coming down as the sun shone. What I wouldn't give for one more barefoot frolic in a mudpuddle under those conditions.

Ian did all the heavy shoveling and hoeing and demarcation of flower bed boundaries. He wants to buy a roto tiller to properly turn the soil and prepare it for what we decide to plant in it. Our half-acre is surprisingly barren given the almost ten years we've lived here. Whilst living in an apartment I yearned for a yard of my own to landscape and work in. But once I had that yard of my own I determined that I really wasn't up for much working and weeding. Planting and watering I could do, but other than that?

Still, I'm stymied by too many choices. What if I plant that and hate it? That's why we've mostly only planted hostas, spirea, and a few rose bushes. Other foundation plants and trees are so permanent. It's the indecision that had led to our home being the least landscaped one on the block.

Then today I returned and eyed their roses, ferns, echinacea, hydrangea, and sedum. I may return yet again tomorrow with Ian so that we can decide what to plant in which bed.

Comments

[deborah]

Ooohhh I'm salivating at your flowery pictures! Still a tad too cold to take any chances here, we had frost a week ago! New Jersey can be weird that way. One year, I planted tomatoes on April 11th! I had the earliest tomatoes in town! I wouldn't try that again.