Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Flowers in the Rain

I decided I couldn't wait for sunshine anymore.  So here are some of my flowers, and then, I took a little walk in the neighborhood with my camera because I love seeing how people put out flowers and decorations.  I have thought of doing a semi-regular feature on the gardening efforts in my city to document the loveliness and ideas.

I put thyme and begonias in my hanging pots on my porch.  I settled on this combination after trying a number of things, and both plants are always luxuriant and happy.

My big pot has creeping Jenny as well as a purple sweet potato vine to spill out over the sides.  Then there is a fuchsia geraniaum, 3 dark-yellow marigolds, a purple basil, and four begonias.  Oh!  And a spike! Which some stranger has already yanked up in passing, so I pushed it back in and stroked it and hoped for the best.  The squirrels also dug in the pot like crazy, so I put mothballs in bags and set them under the leaves and it seems to be keeping the squirrels out of my pot and the carcinogens away from my edibles.


I planted cilantro seeds in this container in the back yard, and I thought the squirrels and birds had eaten all of them, but lo! they emerged! I'm going to try the cut-and-come-again method to see if I can prevent it from going to seed right away.


I snapped a photo of this vine-weed for my Easter post.  Its vibrant growth needs no help from me, which I love.

A neighbor's window box with sweet little figurine.


No need for balustrades on this neighbor's porch with planter boxes.  And such charming colors.

A lush combination of creeping Jenny (my favorite!) and big begonias.


 This office building is slated to be torn down, but I'll enjoy the pretty mossy roof over the door until then.

How does your garden grow?

7 comments:

Lana said...

I have had very good success with keeping the squirrels out of my flower pots by putting a piece of orange peel in each one. Apparently they hate the smell and I usually just do it once and they stay clear of the pots all summer. Before I learned to do that I lost a lot of plants to squirrel damage.

Polly said...

Ooooh, I enjoyed seeing photos of the city gardening. I love sweet potato vine and thyme especially!

I don't do much container gardening, but oh, the flower beds are fabulous. I'm halfway through mulching and have *only* invested 8-10 hours..lost track. (Seriously, geez.) The coral bells are showing off right now and I've plopped a few other perennials into the ground in the past few weeks. The best part is that a morning glory from last year re-seeded itself and we have over a dozen baby morning glories crawling in the direction of our porch. I can't wait!!!

Hazel said...

Your pots look lovely. I've got white flowered oregano and a white flowering thyme in the wall planter by the front door, and a pot of Marguerite daisies. There's a white scented climbing rose ready to go in once the new cladding goes on.
I decided to try all white flowers in the front because it's east facing and so is quite shaded for much of the day. I like it so far, but it's not quite Sissinghurst yet!

jenny_o said...

I love seeing all the ideas as I'm not very creative with pots and usually end up buying or being given a couple of pre-made ones. It's still too early for most plants here so I will ponder these pictures and maybe have time to do my own this year!

Alica said...

Yes...you should do a regular feature on the gardening efforts of your city. That would be fun!! I like your begonia and thyme pot. I put dragon wing begonias in hanging baskets on my porch, because I CAN"T KILL THEM! :) They seem to like it dry, which is what happens to the plants on my porch when I forget to water them. Oops! They also attract house finches, which I love to hear chirping outside my kitchen window.

Becky said...

I love, love, love begonias. I have several types - they are so hardy and so forgiving and always blooming. I should do a post on my hanging baskets and other planting efforts!

AmyK said...

I love this time of year with all the blooming (and soon-to-be-blooming) flowers.

I have to try the orange peel trick to keep squirrels away. We have way too many, and they seem to think acorns are anywhere I have recently planted something.