One of the three hardy English primula I got at Merry Gardens in Camden….is blooming. I’m quite satisfied with the color. I was afraid they were all going to be yellow.

Dear friend Hazel gifted me Asiatic lillies 2 big bulbs-3 nice shoots…..deep red. Planted them in the Kidney Garden along with a burgundy dahlia tuber I had wintered over. The two ought to look good closeby. There’s also a red astilbe in that area. I don’t usually color co-ordinate my blooms; it’s just a skill I have not come close to mastering. So, I gave up on the whole notion many years ago. But, more and more lately, I see a grouping of 3 or more plants where the color scheme works nicely. Otherwise, my gardens are known to feature pink next to red and orange next to purple (actually that doesn’t sound bad to me).

A couple of weeks ago, I can’t remember who it was but someone posted images of placing chunks of wood in the bottom of a container before filling with soil. What a great idea! I’d always put a few rocks to help fill in the container when soil was scarce. Chunks of wood is a much better idea.

I have a LARGE container….maybe 10-12 cu. ft. of soil it will hold. That’s a lot of soil even if I live on 14 acres of land. So I used various sized chunks of firewood….pieces that we don’t ‘stack’ and some of them were just lying in the firewood cutting lot. I then placed some used potting soil I’m recycling and next I’ll add compost and soil. :fingers crossed: I’m thinking of possibly making this it’s own, independent garden.

I did the same for a much smaller container (4-5 cu. ft) where I’ll grow my second planting of sweet peas. I set the trellis for it.

I had ‘composted’ a couple of clumps of hosta last Fall or at least I thought they would compost. They sprouted. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised if my totally neglected, laying-on-the-ground clumps survived. Anyway….I know a couple of people who will adopt them. I’ll gift them tonight if all works out….one to Debbie and one to Hazel.

I transplanted some biennial foxglove, however, I noticed that there is a conspicuous lack of these little plants that return after the winter and which I transplant into groups of 3-5 here and there to fill in all the gardens. I must have done something stupid, like over weeding or excessive hand tilling and interrupted the biennial volunteering that had been going on for quite a few years now. I can remember this happening once before. I’ll buy a packet or two of cheap seeds at the local variety store and scatter them in the Fall. I’m used to growing anywhere from 60 to 80 foxglove plants in a normal season. That’s a bit disappointing.

Lilac Josee (2) is budding
Lilac Fr. Jas. MacFarlane is budding

IMAGES:

1. primula says “Peek-a-boo!”
2. south end of the Kidney Garden
3. smaller container I filled
4. a better image of daffodils on the driveway
5. a good image of my blooming dicentra ‘exima’