Our Gardens

Last weekend was so gorgeous here - and Mike and I were thrilled that we got tons done around the house both inside and out.  One of those was getting our flowers bought and planted!  That was my job.  Mike has been working on arranging/organizing his workshop area.  I think he foresees a lot of building on my our part if I keep printing off all these plans!

I have decided I'm a container gardener.  Maybe someday if I get the hang of keeping things alive, I might venture into a real garden area - for flowers only.  But, it really holds little appeal to me right now.

We headed to Lowe's and this year we purchased three hanging baskets with the metal and mossy stuff inside.  I think these look nice - much better than our plastic ones from last year.  A lady shopping last year told me she keeps the plastic ones year to year and just repots them - they are cheap!  Well, ours didn't last through the summer, so we hope these hold up a little more.

I'm so much happier with these plants than last year.  Last year was a last-minute-let's-try-flowers thing.  The flowers we had were all that Lowe's had left after the beginning of the season and they were uber cheap.  They were okay, but I wanted something different. 

Let's start with these:  Gerbera Daisies.  I love these.  Tulips are my favorite, but each year, these move ever closer to edging out tulips.  The ivy is "Expoflora".  Apparently it's a perrenial.  I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it in the winter.  Repot it for inside?  That might be more than I can handle.

The next post was kind of tossed together and I wasn't sure about it, but I'm really beginning to think it might be my favorite of the three.  It's only been four days though so we'll see if they continue to flower like this.  The flowers on the right are "Dahlinova California".  I mentioned that I wanted some grassy stuff.  I was thinking long and pointed and when the lady showed me the grass below, I wasn't so sure.

It's called "Fiber Optics Grass" and you can see the little nodules on the end.  It's really kind of cool and is growing on me.

In the back is another vine - "Illumination".  Another perrenial.  Our house might be covered in vines this winter.  The solid orange flower in the back is called a "Dahlinova Caroline Orange".  I thought Jake would appreciate this one.

The last pot is definitely colorful.  It started out with a white flower, yellow flower and purple leaves.  It was a little too Vikings for me.  The plant lady suggested the pink and while I'm not a huge pink fan, it was a nice touch.

I thought this purple leaf thing would vine down.  The plant lady told me it wouldn't.  It's a "Charmed Velvet". 

She handed me the "Sweet Georgia Deep Purple Ipomoea" and said this would vine.  It's on the bottom left.  I guess I'll be surprised it if actually vines.  It just doesn't look like it to me.  You know - since I wrote the book on gardening. 

This yellow flower is a "Non-Stop Yellow Begonia".  Lots of petals!  And no - those aren't bugs, just leftover dirt from planting.  These petals seem to brown easily and quickly so we'll have to see how this goes throughout the summer.

This is a "Dahlinova Carolina Burgundy" - I think.  I think they are a little off the mark in the "burgundy" classification but maybe the naming people were color blind.

And the Boy Scouts delivered this "Siberian Iris".  Which, when talking to my mother-in-law, Kay, I found out is a perennial.  Vines and irises - that's what will be in our house this winter.  That is...IF this blooms.  So far nothing and I've seen a lot of irises blooming around here already.  Kay said her's are blooming already too.  This is the second plant I bought from the Boy Scouts.  If I don't get a flower off this (which I didn't last year) then I'm going to have to not answer the door next year.  If I answer the door I'll be guilted into buying another flower and these are pricey!

We also have two cups that Maddie and Jake gave me for Mother's Day.  Maddie says hers contains a geranium.  I asked Jake what his was and he said he had no idea.  I thought it looked like a bean plant but he said, "Nope.  The bean plant died."  So we have a geranium and a mystery plant.  Both of which have been on death's door when I forgot to water them for three days.

And there ends the Murphy Garden Tour 2010.  Hopefully these last until August.  Wish us luck!