May 2-4 Weekend - Saturday

     At last, the long weekend.  I took Friday off to have an extra long weekend, and CC and I drove to Belgian Nurseries to buy all the bedding plants for the patio containers, garden beds and a hanging basket for the front porch.  It was busy, but the not the zoo we expected, and even though we came away $230 poorer, we were very pleased with our purchases.

     We dropped $70 on the hanging basket for the front porch, but it was massive and full of many different colours and textures and we decided we didn't want to have to buy all of the plants separately and make up our own.  It has Coleus, Ivy, Begonias, and a couple of other plants and it is already close to touching the ground.  It provides some privacy now that summer drinks on the porch season has begun.

     The first three pots I made up were ones for the bright sun. The top pot contains a favourite combination of mine, Donkey-Tail Spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) and Portulaca. The Spurge gives architectural interest while the Portulaca provides colour.  In addition, the Spurge is a perennial, so once the summer is over, I can pop it into the garden.  The middle pot contains more Portulaca and some other sun-loving perennials which we haven't used before: Lewisia "Sunset" strain, Ice Plant (Delosperma Fire Spinner) and Lavender Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi Lavender Ice). These two are positioned on the patio, while the bottom, rectangular pot is on the back deck and contains yet more Portulaca and Browallia, which have deep blue flowers amidst dark green foliage.

     On the front lip of the porch there is just enough room for three rectangular pots, which I filled with different combinations of Coleus (Wizard Pastel), Browallia, "Lemon" Helichrysum, and Tradescantia. They all look a bit sparse right now, but will soon fill out and provide lots of colourful contrast.

     In the two antique urns on the patio, CC put Jasmine, a plant we keep inside for the winter, Browallia and Tradescantia cuttings that we had rooted over the winter.  The deep purple leaves of the Tradescantia provide good contrast with the shiny, dark green leaves of the Jasmine.  It will soon be in flower and the scent is heavenly.

     CC got a whole bunch of English Lavender from a site he was working on as his client wanted French Lavender.  There were thirty-plus plants and we put them in the boulevard out front and the west-facing wall of the house, both which provide full sun and much-needed drainage.

     We then put together some pots of annuals: Browallia, Coleus, Helichrysum and potted up some succulents from the greenhouse, Margeurite Daisies, Begonias, miniature roses and brought out pots of Fuschias for the summer.  We also put Impatiens (Accent White), Begonias (Bada Boom White), Coleus and Browallias in the garden beds. It was a lot of work but fortunately, it wasn't too hot and sunny, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labour for the rest of the summer.