Wednesday, May 7, 2008

...potpourri of seeds and smells!

Sunshine, hitting the herb bed just right this morning, as I had my cuppa joe on the back porch while smelling....
Introducing... my herb bed. My little corner of COMPLETE whimsy. The large 'bush' the flamingo is hiding behind is a Mulberry. The herb bed isn't fully 'decked' out yet... I still need to put the bird bath basin on top of the concrete base that you see, and I'm not done giving it the first (of many) thorough weedings, and, and, and... !!Yes, the border IS wine bottles 'planted' upside down (also in need of their Spring straightening). The 'new' flamingo has made himself right at home...


WISTERIA!!

Aren't they gorgeous?!?
This is the West end of our porch - started from a little seedling 10+ years ago. I fell in love with Wisteria many years ago while visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden - and HAD TO HAVE some. This is the Perfect local, as the neighbors driveway is only about 15' away, and we wanted some privacy. It completely covers that end of the porch when the leaves all come out, and when the porch door is open in the Spring - the aroma fills the house!!
We had a plumber coming today to make our outdoor faucet operable, so I was needed 'on premise' . PERFECT day to clean up some flower beds, and just spend productive time out of doors!
For some reason, I always seem to end up with a never ending bag of seed packets. Garage sales, garden catalog freebies, wedding reception favors, gathered from the roadside while out adventuring... I was recently reading an article about the shelf life of seeds, and found that it's not very long (at least the way I've stored them it's not!). Well, you can't just put them in the garbage can!! I gathered some of my large thrifted pots, partial bags of soil and pots of 'dearly departed greenies' with good 'dirt'; and the Bag-O-Seeds... and set out on a mission!! I decided ALL of the seeds were going to be sown in these pots - just kind of a Potpourri. No labels. No design. IF things should grow, and IF they become too large (thems some Big 'IFS'!!) - they will just be transplanted. I never have very good luck with seeds... it is what it is. In fact if you look over to the right of the photo, you will see the seeds that I started about a month ago. The pathetic little things! I've just started bringing them outside for a few hours each day to harden them off. They aren't the most robust of things that I've ever seen, but I'm NOT giving up on them!!



Larger photo of my earlier attempt at seeds........


...and I added something else to my gardens today.....

...as suggested...

...the Summer Squash birdbath found a new home... (Sorry about the 'grid' on the photo - I took the photo from inside looking out through the screen!)

Now, there is a nice gentle rain outside... with a rumble of thunder in the far distance. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!!

3 comments:

Shara said...

Whoever suggested you keep the summer squash birdbath is super smart. ;)

Love the Wisteria. I never see it around here, must not do well. Beautiful! Your entire yard is beautiful!

I started our entire garden from seed this year and I was quite nervous. I got a greenhouse thingy at Lowe's and planted 72 seeds in it. They ALL grew! Woohoo. We planted the green beans, corn, cucumbers nd zuchini this past weekend with two varieties of tomatoes still growing, orange meat watermelon, Cherokee corn, pumpkins and birdhouse gourds still to start. With the price of food, we thought a big garden was a wise move this year.

Monica said...

I love wisteria!!!! I wish I had a place toput it and I live in a rental so I do not want to plant it!!!

T.F. Torrey said...

I am envious.