Going Potty for Bloom Day!

I just couldn’t resist it!  I wanted flowers like I would have in Ireland – I used to keep containers on the window sills of my apartment there – the closest thing I had to a garden for a while back then.  

As my front yard turns to desert where I’m not watering the lawn and the ivy is gone, and the blossoms from my sweet pea crisp up and fade in the large container I had for them in the back yard, I decided that it was time for some bedding plants.

What better time to showcase them than for June’s Bloom day.

I planted the pot in the back yard with a combination of lilies, petunias and lobelia – going for a red, white and blue theme that would be good for 4^th July (and 12^th July too! Sure, we might as well keep everyone happy…)

I do think that the thrillers could be a little less thrilling and the spillers a bit more spilling, but I think I achieved a better balance in my next creation.

The birdbath is cracked and won’t hold water.  This means it drains well as a pot, so I planted this one up in orange and white in honor of my hometown of Armagh.  We call this arrangement “The Sam Maguire”!

When buying the plants, I have to say that my eyes were bigger than my pots.  I had loads of petunias left over.  Fortunately, I found room in the pot at the front of the house for the other plants.

There was even one left over for the milk urn

It is a year since we bought our house and to celebrate our neighbors, Karla and Al, bought us a gorgeous ceramic pot for the garden.

Unable to decide between jasmine and potato vine, we bought one of each and are taking bets as to which one will win the race to the top of the trellis and eventually smother the other one out. 

It felt totally decedent to be buying plants without thinking “Can I eat these?” or “Are they native?” and have rationalized it by having them in pots which means I can control them better.  Next year I've vowed to grow the annuals from seed.  Well, by then I'll be an expert in vegetables and the native garden in front will be practically growing itself - wouldn't do to go getting bored now, would it?

Good job I got them too.  Nothing else is blooming now in the garden.  It’s coming into summer and Californian plants are getting set to take a snooze!

Happy Bloom Day!

Byddi Lee