Garden's Planted...Whew!

I'm gonna need a rest after this weekend, too, I think!

We had some beautiful, albeit really windy weather on Saturday. I think it got pretty darn near close to 90!

Today is less windy and much more comfortable.

I wanted to get my flowers planted, but first I had to buy them! LOL

I spent a good portion of the late morning/early afternoon planting. I didn't get it all done, so I finished up this afternoon and I thought you might like to see this year's garden. 

Well, if you don't, at least I want a record of it!

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I just finished this first part this afternoon.

In this first picture you see this water feature we've had for several years. I think it worked the first season we had it, then it didn't, but I don't remember why. All these years the rocks have eased away (or been plucked by certain children) from the black covering and the pail that would hook on the pump was confiscated by one of the girls when they were little bitties. Isn't this a lovely vignette? Oh and the straggly thing behind it? That's a holly bush that Steve likes. Directly under the bush had been a whiskey barrel. I'll explain in a minute.

This whiskey barrel needed some major sprucing up. The pansies you see came back from last year.

After some hefting and hauling, here's what it looks like now!

I asked Steve if it would be okay to snip the pump away from the tubing so I could move it. He didn't care at all what I did with it. So, I snipped and moved it over to this corner. I also dug out the receptacle that housed some really gross looking water. I filled the big hole up with rocks. You can't hardly tell it was there anymore. I'd have taken a picture, but a shot of rocks sounds really boring, so I didn't.

 I picked up a pail today, punched some holes in the bottom for drainage and planted a couple of wave petunias (crossing fingers and toes that it doesn't get taken over by little worms as previous petunias have in my gardening past).

Here's another shot of my whimsical pansy profusion.

I love, love, love pansies if you didn't know (or remember).

And that plant in the middle? That's a Curly Whirly! Thanks to my friend Heidi, who told me about it. I had to go and find me one. Her best description is it's a Dr. Seuss plant!

Isn't that completely true when you look at it?

Click on the picture to make it bigger if you want.

It grows all curly and corkscrewy like that. There may be some little flowers at some point, but even if there aren't, this is just too cool and fun the way it is.

It's an annual though. 

Darn.

The nursery where I got it also has little fairy gardens. Seriously cute. I thought about trying to make one on my own. Then I bought my flowers and blew my budget, so...maybe next year. That nursery was my first stop of the morning and I completely splurged on the Curly Whirly.

Here's the back corner all prettied up.

See that big whiskey barrel?  It used to be in the front under the holly bush.

I moved it. Omg...I had to shovel out as much dirt as I could into a wheel barrow which by the way was a total pain to get to. That white arbor is in front of a gate to the area behind the garage there. That's where the wheel barrow was. Um, the gate is falling off the hinges. Let's just say we had a fight and I won. eventually.

So, after I unloaded as much dirt as I could, I needed a bit of Steve's muscle to help me lift it onto a wagon so I could wheel it to the backyard. Then I heaved it to that spot and shoveled the dirt back into it.

Remember I told you it was hot out? Yeah, well, I worked up quite a sweat doing this! But it got done and I'm very happy with it in the backyard. Where I can actually plant flowers in it (and hope they live!)

I'm trying those petunias here, too. They are the wave kind. I'm using a different pot than last year and it looked a little sparse, so I added a couple of pansies.

One can never have too many pansies!

Here's what it looks like looking down from the chair with the petunias.

I'm completely excited that the clematis I planted last season survived and has already bloomed! See that flower next to the ground? Yep, it's a clematis. I wish I could remember the name of it. My blog buddy, Sarah, inspired me to plant it. I can't wait until it fills in!

Here's another shot of the corner. Can  you tell I'm just an eensy, weensy bit proud of it? LOL

I've got some dianthus that came back from last year in that front pot. I added a geranium.

The whiskey barrel has a geranium, some neat flowers that open up in the day and close up when it cools off. I added some pansies, too.

I've got gerbera daisies and nicatania in the other pots.

I added some plants along the fence, but the light was making the pictures look all wonky, so I'll have to try again another day.

I'm very pleased with how it looks and hope it flourishes.

Thanks for coming along a little tour. Hope you enjoyed it.

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Have a great start to your week!