Container Time! A Magnificent Palette

We have had what must be, the longest winter on record here, a very slow, slow start to spring, and then today, it's approaching 90 degrees with a high need of some spring rain-we're seven inches behind for the year to date!

But, as optimism is the usual attitude of the gardener (isn't it?) I'm planting away!  Last year in my flowers I had infused a lot of the warm colors. This year I have selected a lot of brights. Chartreuse, Burgundy, Lavender, and Yellow, and Purple. I can't wait to enjoy them all!

I love containers and wanted to share what I have been up to this weekend. Here is one. They should be quite showy when they fill in!  

The classic design for container design is the Thriller, a center or off center plant that reaches up and creates interest, a filler, which can be blooming or foliage for interest and continued beauty, and the spiller, which falls over the side to create balance and a cascading feel to the planter.

Enjoy a few initial views. I'll be back to post more. Enjoy your container garden, wherever you are!

~JB was here.

Color Brings the Spring Season to Life

I have been really enjoying this spring, we have had good rain here. Even the trees and sky are telling the landscape that it's time to wake up:

This is a Pin Oak I planted in the mid nineties. I have taken to planting trees every year now. I always felt it was a good thing to do, and important but I read a book last winter that made me feel even more strongly about it. Written by the originator of the "land ethic" movement, Leo Aldopold, I still can't get many of the passages from that book out of my mind. I need to share some on this blog.

I will, though, and I digress.  :-D  I have been planting more trees each year, to include some evergreens, and some natives here, like the oaks, that so much of our wildlife depend on for food and homes.

Also, I have been in full planting mode with my vegetable garden. Nothing to see there yet, so we'll move on to something where there is something to see-Containers!  So excited about my plan for this year. Get a look at this color pallette:

 Of course, you may imagine, at least if you know me, and you'd be right, I can't leave my favorite pinks, reds, purples, and maroons out of the entire picture, as you will see later.

But I loved the way all these limes and corals went together so a lot of my containers are going to reflect that this year. I have beocme a real fan of container gardening the last two years. They are just easier for me to handle, and .....well. I can't afford a full time gardener on retainer, so I'm a one woman show!

Maybe I'll buy a lotto ticket today, it's enormous in Missouri. If I suddenly hire a gardener, you'll know why! *giggles*  Have a great day and get out into the outdoors wherever you are! ~JB was here.

What I Planted: Weekend Container Gardens

So I bought these pots on closeout last winter. They were clay pots and I bought a total of nine in different sizes and patterns. I've had this vision for the thin bed that lays between my house and my sidewalk, and this weekend the vision (mostly) came to life. I planted Impatiens, Begonias, Sweet Potato Vines (three colors), and tucked some Rosemary, Basil and one Tomato (variety: Sweet N Neat) into the pots -I think it would be nice to have a few herbs handy sometimes, and besides, they're pretty!  There were some Dianthus already existing in the bed just full of blooms and I direct sowed some Salvia (Fairy Queen and Evolution) and Coleus (Rainbow) a week ago today, so we'll see if they come up. I thought I could see some signs of it, but I'll have to wait and see if it's the desired species or just weed seed….

I can't wait for them to grow and fill in. Last year I only tried a couple of pots in there but I enjoyed the look so much that I wanted to do more this year. Different levels, texture, shapes and color. Kind of “Ranch House Meets Cottage” I think.

These two pots are 1) Impatiens, Sweet Potato Vines, Begonia and 2) Geranium, Sweet Potato Vine, Begonia.  I used Potting Soil for these containers so weed seed in them (hopefully!) will be a non-issue, thank goodness. It will be nice to get a break from that.  

Have a great week! ~JB was here……

New Flower Pots for My Display

In November I bought some new pots for my flower displays this year. I'm pretty sure they were some sort of seconds as they seemed to have a few irregularities but I'm so excited because I picked out some of the more perfect ones and got some different textures and sizes/patterns to use this year. I got a great buy on them I thought, too. A few dollars apiece. They are called "Harrappa Pots". I believe that refers to a style or type originally made by either native americans or some other ancient civilization. I have to look at the labeling again....anyway they were on close out locally and were sold by the now defunct River Market Pottery of Kansas City, Missouri. I'm really excited about working with them in the summer of 2012.

Testing Flower Seed for Germination

 I harvested an enormous amount of Autumn Beauty Sunflower Seeds in 2009. The weather was not ideal. There had been a lot of rain!  I had read that if you harvest them out of the seed head before they completely dry (and therefore develop) that the germination would be much poorer, but this had to be balanced against the fact that the birds then beat you to the harvest, in many instances... or even worse, that the mold would ruin them, so, I opted with getting the seed, in the first place. I carefully saved them, took the "extra" stuff out, and dried them down slowly. There was a half pound or so.   Later that winter, I ran my own little germination test on them.

The quick and dirty way to do that is:

• Take a given number of seeds, say 100, or whatever sample you feel will be indicative of a big enough sample to get a good reading, and lay them in a paper towel.
• Wet the paper towel, to mimic garden soil moisture, fold it around the seed, to cover them, and  put the whole thing into a ziploc bag on your kitchen counter or somewhere out of the way.....and check it beginning at three days until they sprout.
• After the "sprout period" for your type of seed has passed, count the number sprouted, take that as a percentage of the whole number you sampled, and voila! A percentage of viable seed is determined.

 My tests on my sunflower seed that I harvested was quite good for the species, I'm told, at around 75%,  sure enough, I had a plethora of sunflowers that year!  Price some of that seed....it's pretty expensive, making me all the more proud that I had some of my own.  Autumn Beauty Sunflowers, by the way, do breed true as they are not hybridized.  That makes it possible to save the seed with expectations that you will grow what you intended. :)