Visions of Spring

Those are snapdragons in my header picture.  I planted them on March 7, 2012, and I am so ready to start digging in the dirt again. Unfortunately, Mother Nature seems to have other ideas about when Spring will make an appearance this year here in central Mississippi.  Two days ago, the low temperature was 18 degrees, and the forecast for the next few days is daytime temperatures in the 60s, with lows hovering in the 50s ... better than 18, yes ... but still not favorable for planting Spring flowers. The growers were hit hard this winter, and the local nurseries are suffering too.  Their stock is way down and the plants they have on hand were bitten back by the extremely cold temperatures. Even Home Depot doesn't have anything, except for some straggly Pansies and a few Cyclamens. I guess I'll just have to be patient for a little longer ... but in the meantime, I'd like to reminisce of springtimes past by sharing pictures of some of the flowers I planted. Lavender Lantana, May 2013  Sunpatiens, May 2011 Home Depot Mix, April 2009 Purple Verbena, March 2008 Red Verbena, April 2007 We have a new landscaping project in progress which I hope to share soon.  We've done the ground work and are now (not-so)-patiently waiting for the nursery to get some new plants in.  After looking at these pictures, I've gotten some ideas on flowers I'd like to use in the new planting areas.  I especially like the purple verbena cascading over the rocks along the stream in our courtyard. I hope Mother Nature is being more cooperative where you live ... and I wish you a March filled with many happy hours spent digging in the dirt, with visions of Spring flowers dancing through your head!

Thou Shalt Not Whine About the Heat

I have a little wooden plaque prominently displayed above my cooktop in my kitchen where I can see it everyday.

It reads:

I wish I could say that I am a faithful follower of that rule, but I have to confess that I have been known to whine "every now and then" ... and it seems that "every now and then" has become more and more often now that summer has arrived, bringing temperatures in the mid-90s and heat indexes hovering around 115.

I've been practically hibernating the past couple of weeks, only going outside to water my plants on our porch, and to watch the flowers planted around our courtyard slowly fade and wither under the sizzling June sunshine. It's as if they are on "death row," just serving their time until the inevitable happens -- I can't stand looking at their little yellowed leaves and scraggly blossoms any longer and pull them up!

I braved the noonday sun yesterday (97-degree high/117-degree heat index) to capture some pictures of my struggling red Verbena patch.

It doesn't look so bad from a distance ...

But when you look more closely, you see that it's really suffering.

Especially when you consider that it looked like this just a couple of weeks ago:

And, sad to say, I've already put some pink Verbena that was in one of my urns out of its misery, and this poor little "death row" plant's days are numbered, too.

This is the way it looked a couple of weeks ago, bless its heart:

When I looked out the window yesterday morning at the red Verbena, it seemed to be gasping for breath and begging for mercy, so I decided it was time to put it out of its misery, too.

While I was out running some errands, I stopped by Home Depot and was delighted to see a cart filled with a new shipment of "Chapel Hill Gold" Lantana plants that they hadn't even had time to price yet. They looked so fresh and GREEN and healthy, and I just couldn't leave them there. I thought they would be perfect to replace the Verbena.

I didn't get the Lantana planted yesterday, but hope to this afternoon when it cools off a little (hopefully, without too much whining about the heat, and before dark!).

Oh, and did you notice what it says on the tag? It says, "Promised Performance." I wonder if that means it will be granted a pardon before reaching "death row?"

I turned the tag over to read the planting information, and discovered that the sale of those Lantana plants supports the Sweet Melissa Lung Transplant Fund. I was pleased to be able to contribute in a small way and thought that was very nice lagniappe. If you would like to read Melissa's story, you can click on the link.

As I continued to read the "fine print" on the back of the tag, I also learned that "Asexual reproduction of plants protected by the Plant Patent Act is prohibited." So, remember that the next time you think about reproducing your plants. You don't want to end up on death row, too! That would result in some major whining, I think.

Verbena

While watering some of the flowers in our courtyard late yesterday afternoon, I noticed how pretty my red Verbena looked with the sun spotlighting them. Although it was very hot and humid, with the temperature in the low 90s, I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

This is our waterfall which is in a corner of the courtyard. That's Harry, our Blue Heron, trying to stay cool in the pond.

Here are the pictures I captured of the red Verbena in the flower bed, and also the pink Verbena you can see growing in the urn on the right side of the picture.

You can click on the images to enlarge them, if you'd like to see the details up close.

The petals of the Verbena blossom remind me of a red Four-Leaf Clover.

Aren't these little buds exquisite!

I love Verbena's profusion of showy flowers, and always have some growing somewhere in our courtyard during the hot summer months. These pictures are from previous summers. I seem to prefer red, pink, and purple.

This last picture was taken in April 2009. I can't believe how much the plants have grown in just a year.

If you would like to find out more about growing Verbena, you can click here.

Yard Work

Now that Spring has finally arrived and our plants and flowers are making the transition from winter to spring, I'm sure we're all spending more time outdoors working in our yards. I spent some time in our courtyard yesterday planting some flowers and washing pollen off of everything in sight (a losing battle at this point, I'm afraid, but I couldn't stand it any longer).

And speaking of pollen, I captured this close-up picture of a pine tree's seed pod the other day and although they cause allergy-prone folks a lot of misery this time of year, you have to admit that they are pretty.

It seems that our hard winter here in the Deep South affected the supply of flowers and plants available to the local nurseries. I was disappointed in the selection of large hanging baskets and larger size annuals, but finally decided to try some pretty red Temari Verbena plants around our waterfall area. Although they don't have any blooms on them right now, the plants look healthy and, hopefully, will have some bright red blooms soon.

You can see them in the bottom left corner of the picture below (under "Harry," the blue Heron).

The winter also took its toll on our water plants, as you can see in this picture. Those brown "sticks" are all that's left of a gorgeous Umbrella Plant, that didn't survive. Unfortunately, we'll have to replace it and a few more of our water plants.

Here is the way it looked last Spring ...

I did find this pretty Verbena hanging basket for the waterfall ...

And this pink Geranium ...

Our courtyard is where we spend our time in the spring and summer months, and it is always a "work in progress." Right now, I'm (not so patiently) waiting for all the plants around the waterfall and pond to leaf out and bloom. We had to trim them last month to get them ready for their new spring growth, so some of them look pretty stark now.

I was pleased with what I accomplished yesterday, though, and am looking forward to spending our Easter weekend in the courtyard.

Confederate Jasmine vine growing around our front doors, with baskets of Azaleas.

I hope you're enjoying Spring in your part of the world, and are having fun working in your yard.