The Chief and I spent most of the weekend in the yard. He spent yesterday afternoon making a bit more progress in the shed, while I hit the nursery and came home with a coupla trays of bedding plants and a head full of ideas.
It seems the seed impatiens that have been the mainstay of the bed by the front door are victims of a downy mildew. Apparently this nasty little bug is airborne and can spread for miles; worse, it can last in the soil for 5 years! The nursery staffer who told me about it said that's why they wouldn't be carrying seed impatiens. The good news, however, is that new guinea impatiens isn't bothered by this plague, so we can still have vivid color in our shady spots. I'm also trying begonias for the first time.
The Chief and I are also trying something else new - roses. We bought 2 climbers for the north side of the house. Since a few nearby trees have been trimmed a LOT over the years, between storms and arborists, I think we'll get enough light that they'll do OK. The Chief put in a little arbor on that side of the house a few years ago, so this afternoon we planted on rose on either side. He let me pick the colors. The nursery didn't offer a lot of color choices in climbers, but I decided to get 2 different roses. Valentine's Day promises a profusion of small, vivid-red flowers, while Purple Splash should have larger, very fragrant flowers. We also have a bracket on the arbor for a hummingbird feeder - with any luck, we'll get more hummingbirds this summer, attracted by the roses.
What else are we growing? The "impatiens bed" is getting one new guinea impatiens, some begonias, and a low, foliage plant called hypoestes. It'll be interesting to see how they do. It may be too sunny for them until the trees leaf out; I hope they don't get sunburned.
The planters for the deck railing are getting a geranium, 2 white cosmos flowers, lobelia, a couple of really lovely coleus varieties (colei?) - finger paint and kiwi fern - some miniature sweet william ("wee willie") and a superbell variety called "lemon slice". I'm looking forward to seeing how those look once they get established. I had bought a spreading torinia but decided the planters would be too crowded, so the torinia is now nestled between a couple of azaleas, where it should get enough shade to protect it.
I was delighted to see that one of the 2 peonies we planted last year and which didn't do well at all is coming back this year. We've got our fingers crossed that it'll actually manage to bloom this year.
Also back for a return engagement: my oregano (its 3rd summer, so I'm starting to believe it'll be a true perennial), rosemary, spearmint, and parsley. The spearmint & rosemary spent the winter in planters under the deck, where we secured them before Hurricane Sandy last fall. The spearmint survived despite a few inches of standing water in the pot - that's some hardy stuff! The rosemary turned dark reddish when the weather got cold, but it's starting to look a bit greener now and is getting new foliage.
I bought another basil and a thyme plant today. Those will go into one or two planters; haven't decided yet. I want to give the basil plenty of room to spread, so maybe I'll put the thyme in the other end of the rectangular planter the rosemary is in.
The windowboxes on the shed will get begonias, a new guinea impatiens, a dahlia and a spreading torinia. I may let the Chief plant those himself so he can have the fun of playing in the dirt too.
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