We did a lot of yard work and planting over the weekend, despite the "very high" pollen counts (sniffle, sneeze).
These young mandevilla plants will grow and climb on two rescued hammock supports to form (hopefully) a flower covered focal point in the back yard.
This is one of two mixed pots in the back yard (the other features angel wing begonias). The grasses in the center of both pots will end up being quite tall later in the year.
DH convinced me to try some Wave petunias.
I grew up with petunias that demanded lots of fussing (pruning back, deadheading, etc.) so I have avoided those for years.
The Wave variety is supposed to take care of all that on its own.
They look lovely now - fingers crossed they live up to their hype.
Two years ago a friend gave us some dug-up yellow iris from his yard - on the far left in the photo above.
On my last buying trip to the garden center, I picked up three more bearded iris perennials (marked down to half price) and we've created a small iris garden to the left of our backyard bottle trees.
This year we added two purple iris with white streaks and one white iris with purple markings - seeing them makes me happy.
By the end of the day Sunday, all of the pots are planted, the artemisia plants have been trimmed back, the bottles on the bottle tree have been taken off, washed, with only the cobalt blue ones put back (new flat bottomed green ones are on order - I'm tired of cleaning out the big indentations on the bottoms of our motley assortment of donated commercial wine bottles that collect all sorts of grubby grunge during the year), and the sprinkling system hoses that water said pots are in place and have been tested. WHEW.
We treated ourselves to a drive downtown to view the flooded Mississippi River. This year's crest was expected overnight or early Monday. (photo taken from Greenbelt Park that runs the length of Mud Island)
It is really hard to fathom the volume of water rushing past, especially considering how the flooding also extends into Arkansas (on the other side of the M bridge in the background) and covers the huge flood plain area there.
Mother Nature rules.
* * *
I'm hoping to get back into the sewing studio this week.
The sewn strip segments for Shirts and Such are waiting to be trimmed to even widths so I can get the rows sewn, laid out, and the top assembled.
Repose is also waiting patiently for me to start quilting.
Here's to making progress this week.
Quiltdivajulie
-----------------------------------------------"We get up in the morning. We do our best. Nothing else matters."
Judi Dench
7 comments:
I have planted wave begonias in the past and they are quite prolific. The hardest thing is keeping up with deadheading them so new blooms appear. I give them one enthusiastic green thumb up!
Phew is right--lots of planting at your place!! Wave begonias are kind of like petunias that you need to deadhead for frequent blooms...but they are so pretty, it's worth it.
We are having reactions from our covid shots yesterday--aches, sore arms and headaches--just feeling crummy--but glad we've been there and done that!! So, no quilting today...
Hugs, Julierose
Lovely flowers in your yard and I well remember when I was a child the Mighty Mississippi often flooded in the spring. Don't know if the cobblestone ramp (used as a parking lot by downtown workers) is still there, but it would be under water when the river was at flood stage. Woe for those who parked there and didn't move their cars as the water rose!
I've just used my Deb Turner Square Squared ruler to make 4 blocks for the corners of a UFO border.
Hugs!
You're at least two weeks ahead of us. My late crocuses have bloomed (they're on the north side of the fence so they don't get much warmth or sunshine) and the daffodils are just about to bloom. But the peonies have poked up above the ground (=which has a newly-applied layer of mulch).
What a clever reuse of the hammock support frame. I hope you'll show a photo when it's covered with blooms. Another trick for the wave petunias is to keep giving them fertilizer all summer and, yes they may need some pruning to keep them full. I don't get any petunias any more since they seem to peter out by August. I finally got to spend some time in the garden yesterday and today, pulling weeds and moving a few hellbores.
Pat
Our planting season is a month off so I'll just enjoy yours for now. I have tried growing the wave Petunias many years and only 2 years did they take off and cascade over the pot. I don't think I did anything different for them any of the years but maybe the weather was just better for them those 2 years.
Using the hammock supports seems very clever. I should look for some of those Shepard crooks myself. We have a tiny backyard. I’ve planted petunias for years but they always die by mid-July. It’s hard to find flowers that can take our heat. Impressive view of the Mississippi. I didn’t realize you are next to Ark.
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