Saturday, June 10, 2006

Here's another one!

Yes, another new garden bed. Well, not altogether new - more an extension to an existing one. Richard needed somewhere to bury some rocks, so they became the base of a new part of the garden. They're somewhere near the centre of the earth now, buried under many layers of pebbles, topsoil and compost. It's a real rainbow-sandwich!

The next question was what to plant in it? It's hard to decide on permanent plantings until the rest of the area is developed, so we decided to have a bit of fun with it. This morning I planted 11 red salvias that I had propogated from an unkillable plant in another garden, as well as 3900 flower seeds. TRUE - I kid you not. 3900 is a lot of seeds. How long did it take me? About 5 minutes. Just open the lid of the can and shake them onto the ground. It was a cottage plant mixture in a can, which had been mixed with vermiculite to make sowing easier. The mix included Achillea, Antirrhinum, Aster, Centaurea, Chrysanthemum, Clarkia, Cosmos, Dianthus, Gilia, Candytuft, Larkspur, Lavetera, Lunaria, Virginian Stock and Phacella. A couple of them I've never heard of so I hope I don't pull them out thinking they are weeds.

The icing on the cake was that it started to rain as soon as I finished and has continued all day. Thank you to all those who have had too much rain and decided to send it our way.

I'm thinking of digging up a few dozen self-sown gazanias to plant on the bank of the garden to hold the soil in place.




See, the green is coming. It's coming up faster along the brick wall due to the heat generated by the bricks.


There is a little story attached to this azalea, which has never flowered so well as it has this year. In 1994, after our return from England, we bought Sara a little rabbit for her birthday and she named him 'Charlie'. He was the first and only pet this family has ever had. Three years later this much loved pet fell victim to a large dog and died. Richard, Sara and I, all in tears, buried him in the garden. I called at the plant nursery on my way home from work that day to buy a plant to grow over Charlie's grave. I wanted a miniature rose, but they were a tatty looking lot, then I spied this azalea and would you believe, it was actually called 'Charlie'. Posted by Picasa

13 comments:

  1. How lovely that you found this azalea...you'll always remember Sara's precious pet when you look at it.

    Glad you're getting some rain - we need it, don't we?!

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  2. Your garden is really taking shape and can just imagine how glorious it will all look once everything is in bloom! I'm very interested in that can of 3900 seeds you had bought...it will be fun to watch all the mixture of flowers that will grow!! As for the azalea over Charlie's grave, I think it's a wonderful tribute. Have a great weekend Alice:-)

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  3. I love azalea's I've always thought of lipstick colors when I look at the beautiful bushes in Ky. I have a prom picture of my daughter...I posed her in front of a bush and it turned out beautiful!!
    Have a nice day!!
    :-D

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  4. Your garden is really looking lovely.
    Glad you're getting some of that rain you need. Loved your "Charlie" story...

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  5. That border looks wonderful Alice. Richard is such a worker! I'm curious about what you have edging it.
    It'll be fun to watch that mix come up and bloom. That's a problem with mixes, knowing what not to pull. You probably recognize all the weeds by now though.
    I'll have to look some of those up. There are a few that I don't know too.
    How wonderful to get a nice dose of rain. We've got plenty more if you'd like it. I'm desperately trying to shoo it away, but it's very stubbon and today we have a cold wind added to the dreariness. I'm trying hard not to complain, but.....argh! It's hard!
    What a lucky find your Charlie azalea was. It's so pretty. Poor little bunny. Nice that he's remembered.
    Your lawn is looking good!!

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  6. Thanks for our sunshine! Nice swap.
    You and your hubby should open a landscaping business- get some lackies to do the work though. :)

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  7. Alice, wonderful. And so big

    Sigrun

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  8. Your new area is looking so nice, Alice. It should be fun trying to identify all those new plants from the seeds. How lucky to get the rain right after you plant.
    When you are finished with the rain, could you PLEASE send some my way? Just direct it to northern Michigan, USA.

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  9. Zoey - I think it would be much quicker to ask Kerri for some rain since she's a lot closer than I am. She's got plenty to spare, whereas we haven't had enough yet. If you like, I could send you some cold weather. It was only 8ยบ here today and snow has fallen on the surrounding hills. Frosts are forecast for the morning, but then, it IS winter time here, after all.

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  10. Alice, I love your garden and flowers!

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  11. Alice, I hope you got your money's worth. I assume you counted those seeds before planting. I always find the packet states more generous volumes than what I find in them.

    It would seem a real shame if there was a couple short. TIC.

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  12. 3900 flower seeds!!!! Wow! This should be glorious when in bloom. How nice that the rain came when you were finished.

    Thanks for sharing the story behind your azalea! Azaleas don't grow very well here along the base of the Rocky Mountains.

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  13. I see lots of progress happening there. Where do you find the time? I wish my garden was comming along that quickly.

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