No Willpower

Put a cute plant for sale under my nose and I will not be able to resist taking it home. I went to our grocery store the other night for boring things like bread and deli meat and walked in on a tray of small succulents for $1.99. I picked up three, but wanted at least double that... they are all different... control yourself... resist the urge...

Here's my purchase:

 $6 and not even a minute of planting time later, they are in my planter near front door.

Flowers for CCD Teachers 2013

Last Sunday was the last CCD session for P. I made small bouquets for teachers again. All flowers were purchased at grocery store this time, only some hosta leaves were from my garden. Looks nice, does not it?

Wild Rose

On my way to work this morning I spied this beautiful blooming wild rose.

Blooms Everywhere!

It's irises time and peonies time, and roses time in Arlington.

My peach irises in side yard

Irises near one of the schools

 Closeup!

White irises in my backyard

...and blue irises in the background

Variegated iris blooming blue, white peony and catmint in my backyard

 Beautiful climbing rose that I've adored for years (the brick fence is at least 6 feet tall)

Pretty knock-out roses growing in street median

I, sadly, decided to dig out my two roses: the knockout rose neat garage was taken over by overgrown bush, and the climbing rose in the side yard was diseased and I did not care to spray it with necessary chemicals. Oh well, there's plenty to enjoy around.

More views of my flowers...

Oh yea, by the way, this Sunday (19th) I planted some scarlet runner beans. I read an article in The Washington Post about runner beans and had to have them.

No More Room

Yesterday morning I went to Home Depot to use my gift card from Christmas. I picked up nine peppers:  three spicy ones (each different kind), three yellow bell peppers and three "snack-size" orange sweet peppers. I also got a pot with three basil plants, a rhubarb, a Japanese eggplant and three different zinnia seed packets. Then, since I was already in the neighborhood, I stopped for a very quick (really!) visit at Marrifield Garden Center where I scooped up lemongrass and eucalyptus. Oh yea, I also had ordered unthinkable number of dusty miller and celosia in the neighborhood plant sale (the best deal all around BTW, I got 48 plants for $20 and that included $2 donation!) The afternoon was spent planting and seeding everything. My little garden plot is filled to capacity. Right now everything looks orderly and neat, but that will change as plants grow. I'm glad I used plant markers; they have been very helpful.

 Rhododendron 'Nova Zembla' that I planted in March is now blooming.

 It should grow much bigger in the coming years.

 Azalias in backyard

 Catmint

Early May

On April 30 I planted tomato seedlings outside in the garden. I did not plant every single one, smaller ones were thrown away. A few days later I can tell that not every seedling I planted will survive, but there sure should be enough tomato plants that will strive.

Last Saturday, May 4 I went out with intentions to seed several things, but ended up spending all my time turning compost pile and distributing compost around the garden. There might have been eight wheel barrel loads I could take. I sure hope there aren't too many weed seeds in the compost, although I know there will be some.

And tonight I went out "just for a little bit" and ended up having a very productive evening. I seeded marigolds (seeds kept from last year), second helping of beans, cucumbers 'Straight Eight', and summer squash 'Fordhook.' I also planted dahlias that were kept in peat during winter. I'm not very hopeful that they have survived well, but at least they are now in ground and we'll see what happens.

Dogwoods have almost finished blooming. Weather stays cool and pansies love it--they keep blooming. Everything seems to stay in bloom longer because of the coolness. Wrens have built a nest on top of the bush near the front door, and I believe chickadee family has occupied the birdhouse in the backyard.

No pictures this time. Garden looks the best right now, though--fresh, clean and kept.

What Happened in April

I'm not keeping my own intentions to keep garden diary... Let's see if I can recall what was done in late March and April.

Sometime late March/ early April I finished mulching. Yeay!

April 6 I seeded sorrel and this one herb which name is escaping me right now chervil.

April 13: seeded beans and planted potatoes ('Carola').

April 20: cilantro. Anything else?

The last Saturday in April I did not have a chance to do anything in the garden as I was leaving for business trip the next day.

My memory is very faulty. I most likely missed something.