Friday, April 15, 2011

My Spring Flowers


snapdragons '11, originally uploaded by Bumble Lush.
petunia '11

Spring has been beautiful in the DC area so far. Last year it seemed that we jumped from winter straight to summer with no transition whatsoever, but Mother Nature is making up for it this year. The past few weeks have been mostly rainy, but I like spring showers, and the rain is helping my plants. The few sunny days we’ve had have been warm and felt good on my skin.

I mainly grow vegetables, but in my front yard I have flowers.

I planted petunias and snapdragons in the pots in the front yard this year. For the last two years I had peppermint in the pot where the petunias are now. The pot sits on the dividing line between my driveway and my neighbor. One year, my neighbor thought they were weeds and yanked the mint out completely. She’s a bit batty and twitchy, a harmless but strange creature, and I know she meant no malice and probably thought she was doing us a favor. “Didn’t you think it was odd that the weeds smelled minty when you cut them?” I asked. “No, I didn’t notice that,” was her reply. She didn’t get ANY of my extra vegetables that year.

The peppermint grew back, and my neighbor left it alone last year. However, the company that does maintenance around the common property of my subdivision must have thought it was weeds too because I came home one day last summer to find that all the common area had been weeded, including my little mint. So that’s the story of why petunias are sitting there now.
(the peppermint in its glory days)


endless summer hydrangea 4-14-11
My hydrangea plants are growing quite nicely. The Endless Summer is shown above in the ground and the leaves look so lush and green.

brestenburg hydrangea 4-14-11
And the Brestenburg is in a pot. I will try, yet again, to get these to turn blue. The best I got last year was a purple-ish color.

hostas 4-14-11
The hostas are making a nice comeback

unknown bulb
And a surprise bulb popped up! I planted bulbs in a small patch in the backyard in 2008, my first attempt at flower gardening, and most of them rotted. I ended up starting that area over from scratch and planting blueberry bushes instead. But I guess one of the bulbs survived and here it is three years later!

Next post I will update the progress of my vegetable seedlings and list out what we’re growing this year.

8 comments:

  1. Your petunias seem to be growing quite nicely! And don't you just love it when the hostas begin to pop out of the ground? Then you know spring has officially arrived. Those little blue bulbs may be iheion (spring starflower.) Happy Blossom Day!

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  2. Your garden looks about like mine...awaiting so much life (it's exciting). Adore your petunia's and snapdragons...always such sweet flowers in the garden! xoox, tracie

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  3. Very sweet! I love surprise bulbs...:) I never know what any of them are, but it's such a happy surprise!

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  4. love your snaps! and your endless hydrangea will be fun to watch. i amn new to your blog and hope you find some time to stop by. i am giving away a white flower farm gfit certificate. i am sure you know who they are! :)

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  5. Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments everyone! And Dorothy--thanks for the bulb id. :)

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  6. Lovely to see your garden, but oh dear, your poor mint.

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  7. @Mac--argh, I know! That's why there are petunias in that pot now. I won't be too broken-hearted if someone mistakes them for weeds (although I WILL be completely at a loss for words if that happens).

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