The Busy Month of May

After all these years of gardening, you'd think I would remember that when the month of May arrives I spend more time outside working in the yard than inside on the computer. I haven't been reading my favorite blogs (or new blogs) and Mamma Mia Days hasn't had a new post since last Friday. Hope to change this, starting this evening.

These Caramel Coral Bells are new to my garden this spring. I fell in love with the foliage color and although the creamy-color flowers will be small, the hummingbirds should be attracted to them. The photo was taken right after it was planted and the leaves are still a little messy looking.

Every spring I plant several pots of small, inexpensive garden mums and keep them pinched back to about three inches until the 4th of July. By early September, all of these pots will have big, tall, colorful mums that haven't cost me very much at all. The plant tag for this mum refers to it only as Michelle and it hasn't been pinched yet. Not easy to do when they look so pretty.

Usually, I only use Nemesia as a filler in containers but this year I put some in a pot without any other plants. The tag calls it Berries & Cream Sachet and I think that name fits it perfectly.

One of the things I did last week was take my parents to Pansies Country Store & Gardens, where we bought some tomato plants. Although Pansies has been in that location for almost as many years as I am old, it wasn't until that day that my Dad told me that when he was a young man, he did some of the masonry work on the building.

Hardly anything makes my Dad happier than growing a tasty tomato. He already has four plants in the ground. He digs the holes and my Mother gets down on her knees and plants them. She's the younger of the two, only 80 years old. Here he is checking out the tomato plants at Pansies.

This afternoon I planted three very large gem-colored containers for my daughter-in-love. It's almost more fun to work in their yard than my own. Maybe it's because I choose the plants and do the planting and they pay for everything! In no particular order, this is what went in the pretty pots. Among their requirements; plants that can take a lot of sun and don't drop flowers petals all over the place and need little or no deadheading.

Purple Fountain Grass

Diamond Frost

Licorice Plant

Argyranthemum 'Butterfly'

Joseph's Coat

Fire Dragon

Iresine

Swedish Ivy

Variegated Flowering Maple

Fan Flower

Also transplanted three purple Liatris Gayfeather from my yard where they didn't get enough sun to a very sunny spot at their house. They have almost three acres, so planting could go on forever there.

Well, now I'm off to visit other yards and gardens and patios.