Best-laid Plans on a Rainy Day

View from carport in the rain.

 

On the left Christmas Cactuses and Kalanchoes in pots in partial shade.  Beyond the pot ghetto there's a little 'hallway' behind shrubbery and under Sassafras trees that leads to a kind of Secret Garden and patio in front of Pumphouse.

Potted Amaryllis enjoying the summer just in front of the shrubbery include several seedlings that are not quite yet blooming size. In late August all Amaryllis will go into the garden shed to dry off and rest until late October. That worked last year but bloom was well beyond Christmas, which really doesn't matter. 

My best-laid plans move slowly in summer heat. The flowers on the right side did not turn out as expected. Sweet Williams are dying off slowly with nary a bloom. I set potted pepper plants that survived from last year and are blooming and have small fruits in the side bed so I would remember to water and fertlize them. I pulled volunteer tomatoes that were not part of the plan and ratibida, too. I think they came in the compost.

Small Philadelphus plants near the front corners are far from being the size I envision but they are growing.

 

If this were a small suburban yard I would plan for a paved walk from driveway to greenhouse door.

The real-life fact is that frequently a vehicle goes from front of the tractor shed off the driveway to  join a field road that goes by the Upper Garden. I don't need the Fed-Ex man running over a pathway, so I just put up with  sometimes walking in wet grass. I try not to walk in the same place making a trail across the grass.

 

Rainy days are good for planning. I'm making bulb lists for forced bulbs and fall planted bulbs for outdoors. I waver between a greenhouse plan for blue/purple/white hyacinths and pink/white. White Amaryllis really caught my eye on the Danish blogs but the more colorful Hippeastrums I grew are beautiful. Maybe I should take into consideration that all Kalanchoes here are white and Christmas cactuses are all shades: pink, white, orange and scarlet. 

Christmas Cactuses 2012. Rainy days call for reminiscing.

White Garden around the Greenhouse

Phildelphus inodorus blooming in April

It's a start. I dug two Philadelphus suckers to put at the northwest and southwest corners at front. I wanted little trees that are bare in winter and bloom early spring. Mock orange blooms just after Dogwoods here, with bloom continuing into May. Kept pruned upward, they make a graceful arching small tree.

White Datura, if only for the night fragrance.

 

Big plans, slow progress with these beds. Five of 6 white lantana rooted; really 6 rooted but during the event with the squirrel in the greenhouse one broke off at the soil line.  I stuck another piece in the flat but whether it roots remains to be seen. Five will probably fill the south side bed in short order next summer.

 

Tattered Tiger on White lantana.

 

Ice Follies

I'm still deciding whether to put some white daffodils along the south side. The north side can have most anything that likes shade, maybe some Thalia triandrus Daffodils followed by white Begonias.

 Pink Gerbera

If seedling Gerbera daisies turn out palest pink/near white, they may go on the sunny south side. The daisy seedlings are in 4" pots now and most look great.  The Gerbera above is the one that seeds came from. I think. These are most like species Gerberas, rather than the showy hybrids usually seen in garden centers with fat rounded petals in bright colors.

 

White pentas, palest pink is good, too.

Unless every cutting fails, I'll surely have white pentas along with white lantana. Butterflies seem to like white Pentas every bit as well as brighter colors.

 

Sometimes I have to think of new ways to use old plants. Spider plants abound in pots and planters. They do well in the ground and would make a great green and white edging.

 

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String Lily crinums make a stunning addition.

 

Violas in pots last winter.

Not sure about all white violas; winter needs color.

 

 

Seen though a Camellia tree last winter.

 

I'm always hopeful of blooms and fragrance year around. White or blue hyacinths will scent the greenhouse in winter, daffodils outside in March. No fragrance from my Mock Orange, but warm weather will bring out Daturas for summer nights bloom. Gardenias nearby in June.  Lantanas, Gerberas and Pentas have no fragrance but bloom all summer until hard frost.

I'm linking to Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers Friday Fertilizer meme.

 

Do join us for garden pleasures.