I wore my best gardening hat and slathered on the sunscreen, but I still have the beginning of my gardener's tan: the tips of my toes are brown where they poked out of my gardening sandals, but the rest of my foot is white. My hands and forearms are starting to tan, but there is a definite line showing the length of my sleeve.
Speaking of lines, here is that mulch demarcation line I mentioned in an earlier post:
Now I am thinking of the DaVinci Code movie, the line that says "this far and no farther" -- although of course the mulching will be finished someday soon (maybe even today!). In that picture, our red maple, looking like an awkward adolescent after a growth spurt, is kind of droopy after the rain.
Well, as I was saying, yesterday was a bit of a container planting day. Here is a picture of the work in progress:
I have an old pine shelving unit (originally from IKEA) that I have let weather outdoors to a nice aged gray. Each summer I cover it with little pots and containers of pansies and annuals. For example, I keep my old cracked teapots and use them as planters. In 2004 I also included some birdhouses from Michaels (craft store) but wasps built a nest in one of them, so I gave up on that idea even though it looked great.
Here is the shelf in 2005. I think it looked better in 2004, but did I take a decent picture? Of course not.
Unfortunately, it can get windy at the corner of our house, and there are always small mammals lurking about at night whose curiosity overcomes them. The shelf will get knocked over at least once a month, and each summer I lose something. I solve that by only putting items I'm willing to lose on the shelf.
The title of the post refers to a bit of planting whimsy I was able to accomplish yesterday. I had a big lump of an overgrown sempervivum, and I wasn't sure what to do with it. I was contemplating dividing it when I realized that no, something this ugly deserves to be planted in a bucket! So that's what I did. Then I parked it next to my new echeveria et voila -- Beauty and the Beast.
All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be borrowed without attribution.
4 comments:
The one in the metal container on the right is what I'm calling ugly. (I guess beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder.)
I am going to try that, leaving a dish of water out (changing it frequently of course) and see if it helps. Of course, it won't help with the wind, but I've got some ideas for that, too.
I've got a lot of container gardening to do ... I've been putting it off and now I'll pretty much have to do it tomorrow when we are expecting our warmest day so far. :( Glad to hear you got yours started or even finished? :)
You and I should have been together as I have planting annuals into pots all week! They give the garden that PUNCH of
instant color! Last year I planted 2 echeveria but did NOT take them in for the winter..so I just admire yours!Love the moss in the cracks of stone patio..I have some too but want more and more and more!!
Hey that's great becuase I've bought this shelf from IKEA some years ago, I guees it must be in my basement room somewhere. What a good idea to use it in the garden! I've used an old ladder to display some pots last year, but will have to have a look for my IKEA shelf now.
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