My Sunday

I decided to use this beautiful day (before more rain storms blow back into town) to plant my containers in the back yard. I made the pilgrimage down to Gethsemane Garden Center thinking I’d beat most of the crowd by getting there when they opened on a Sunday morning. I was there at exactly five minutes after nine and the place was already packed. These people must have been sleeping overnight in the parking lot. So much for early bird.

I planted a mixture of pots and railing boxes. The big decision every year is what to plant in the largest round pot, a 3-foot high pot that’s the focal point of the deck. This year I took a rave suggestion from one of the employees at Gethsemane and bought a small “Skyracer” purple moor grass. I say small but it might get a few feet high by summer’s end. The woman helping me had good luck with her’s coming back every year for six years. We’ll see how mine does. Right now the leaves are lime green. I planted it with some purple-tinged sweet potato vine.

I also added a few plants to the yard area. One is cat mint (or walker’s low) which is one of my favorite, hardiest perennials. I love the combination of the sage green leaves and the purple flower spikes that last all summer long.

I’m also trying something new called blue false indigo, which the woman at Gethsemane also raved about. It has stalks like bamboo, purple flowers and is drought tolerant, always a plus.

I also planted a few tubs of herbs. More basil, of course, some cilantro, sage, lemon thyme and a my new favorite herb, tarragon. I also tried planting a blue hydrangea that someone gave me. I have little hope of that making it but I figured it was worth a try. It’s so beautiful.