Victoria Day Gardening

It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for a visit to a garden centre (Terra Greenhouses) where we dropped $240 for plants.  That included a nice hanging basket for the front porch, three bags of potting soil, eight perennials, twenty pots of annuals, four herb pots and a couple of smaller hanging baskets that will go into planters on the wall once the pansies have had their day.

Ready for planting

 First off, we arranged the pots where we thought they would best go, then added the soil and the various combinations of plants.  CC likes to put three different plants in a pot with contrasts in colour, texture and size.

Hanging Basket

Last year, we had a HUGE hanging basket on the front porch, but it was expensive and required a lot of water.  This year, CC opted for a smaller one that's much more manageable.

Pots combining new plants with overwintered plants

We keep a lot of plants indoors through the winter and then pot them up for the summer.  Geraniums, succulents, etc. are good for this, especially if you combine them with some annuals.  The front right pot has two types of Aloes plus some annual Portulacas, all sun-loving and drought-tolerant. CC bought three different colours of Geraniums and combined them in two different pots.

Back Deck planting

For the back deck, which is close to the kitchen, CC potted up some herb plants for easy access. We also put out an old, overwintered pot of Echevarias and I did up some pots of Marigolds and Portulacas.

Bird Bath Succulent garden

All of the succulents in the bird bath this past winter, so we bought all new plants (all perennial)with the idea of putting them in the garden once the season ends.  Along with Hens and Chicks were four new Stonecrops - Sedum 'Cherry Tart', Sedum hybrid SunSparkler "Lime Zinger', Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' and Sedum SunSparkler 'Dazzleberry'.  Don't you love the names they come up with?

In addition, we bought some different colours of Tuberous Begonias and put them in the back bed for some pizzaz.