Starting to Plant

As I wrote yesterday, although my flower beds are filled with perennials, I do buy each year a bunch of annuals to plant in hanging baskets, pots and a large flower box behind my bedroom.

The one place where I plant some annuals in the ground is in the bed next to the driveway and front sidewalk.  By the sidewalk there is a shady area where I like to plant either begonias or impatiens.  When I went to the garden center on Wednesday, I bought sixteen impatiens plants of different colors.  My first task yesterday was to put those in the bed.  As they grow they should form a colorful carpet at the front of that area.

At the back corner of the house I prepared the first two of the many hanging baskets that I have.  These two were planted with "supertunias" and their cousins, calibrachoas (sometimes called "Million Bells").   I like the "supertunias" because, unlike regular petunias, they do not require deadheading and they do not get scraggly.  The calibrachoa have smaller flowers, but bloom profusely.  They do not require deadheading either.  (In case you are not a gardener, deadheading is the removal of dead flowers to promote further blooming.)

As I continued working on the flower beds, when I would get tired of stooping over, I would plant something in my flowerbox.  I started at the end of the box, planting the tallest flowers first.  (I have matching plants to put at the other end of flowerbox.)

At the right is a cleome, which can grow as tall as four feet.  Next is an Argyranthemum frutescens, commercially sold under the name of Golden Butterfly.  It can grow up to three feet, and is covered with cheerful, yellow flowers.  Finally, there is a Dipladenia.  Dipladenia is in the Mandevilla family, but it is bushy rather than vining.

We may have a bit of rain this morning, but in the afternoon, I should be able to do some more gardening.