A Cart Full of Favorites

Elizabeth at Garden Rant is having a contest to give away five Troy-bilt garden carts and I sure could use one. This is what I'd be using now if it didn't have a flat tire again. It was left as junk by the previous owner and John keeps repairing it for me. It won't be long before the plastic will have to be held together with duct tape.

So, the contest. I have five (5) to give away so your chances are good. I had a few ideas for possible comment tasks, including writing a classic sonnet and describing and solving the most important issue facing home gardeners today. But, in the end, I came up with this: list your five favorite plants (presumably that you could put in this cart) and briefly explain why they'd be the ones you'd rescue from your garden if it was threatened by catastrophe. Or just say why you like them. Troy-Bilt will send a cart each to the five best comments, as determined by me (representing Garden Rant).

I wouldn't have had a prayer of winning one if I'd had to write a sonnet but listing my five favorites plants can't be that hard, can it? Wait a minute - just five!?


#5 - Crocuses. They are the first plants I see here in the spring and give me hope that the snow won't last into June. They wouldn't take up much room in the cart - instead I'd use the cart to shovel off my flower beds into the cart and haul the nasty white stuff away. I could have blooms two weeks earlier like everyone in town!

#4 - Monarda / Beebalm / Oswego Tea. I love everything about this plant; the bright red color, the way it spreads without taking over, it's tall, lasts all summer and the mint scent is wonderful. It also blooms right around the 4th of July here and the flower heads look like miniature fireworks.

#3 - Daylilies. My goal is to have enough varieties to bloom all season long. The season is so short here that shouldn't be hard. I love the grace of the flowers and variety of colors. If I could save just one it would be this one that I have no name for. Why this one? Besides the great color combination, it was a gift from my sister.

#2- Peonies. We had very few flowers when I was growing up but we always had peonies. The flowers are huge and just scream "Happy Spring" to me. Even after the flowers are done they stay attractive for the entire summer and they are virtually care free. Mom's peony now resides in my garden and if I could rescue only one, that would be it. I do have several others however and some of them need to be moved so the cart would get a workout.


#1- Hosta. Even before I started gardening I had hostas. They grow in the shade but don't mind a bit of sun, weeds don't grow under them, they come in so many sizes that there is one for most any spot. I love the mounded shape and even though I'm not a big fan of the flowers they attract hummingbirds. They are quite hard to kill, although I have lost one called First Frost. A plant by that name probably had no business being in my garden anyway. I need to rearrange my front bed and the cart (and a small crane) would come in very handy for moving this hosta that is competing for space with the bleeding heart.

Orange Sunshine

The ditch lilies here decided to start blooming for my first day of 

summer vacation so it's official, summer is finally here.

 Much to my delight they are as tall as me this year.

I wasn't thrilled with the image upload in the new post editor (Blogger in Draft) when working on my genealogy blog but I must say that it is going to be a great tool for inserting pictures where you want them on garden blogs! The drag and drop feature is great too and the images load much more quickly. But be warned - The auto save feature is currently disabled, so save as draft frequently!!! I've lost two posts and had to start over because of this.

Slow But Sure

We had round two of company last weekend. Ron's father and step-mother came for a visit. I should have been washing windows or baking but I was finishing up the new bed the morning of the day they arrived. It has been a slow project and is still in progress but I thought it would be fun to show you the before and after......

This is what the greenhouse looked like five years ago... It was a one time chicken coupe converted to a greenhouse in need of a lot of work!

When we first bought the place we had a lot of work to do (we still do for that matter but not like then.) Anyway, we knew the structure had potential and wanted to save it so we put a new roof on the first summer we were here and then let it sit. We figured the rest could wait. The next year, Ron scraped it, painted it and replaced the windows. The windows were rotted so he took the old ones from the the house and put them in the greenhouse. He had to build a frame for the windows so they would fit. I was quite impressed as this was one of his first "do it yourself" projects. I think he surprised himself as well!


This is what it looks like today with the new roof, windows and the bed we just put in. It doesn't match the vision I have in my mind yet but I am pleased to have the idea a reality.

The pictures didn't come out great but you may be able to see what's in there. Most are "passalong plants" but I did add a few new ones. My big purchase was the three blue delphiniums in the back left corner. I really hope they do well in this location, I love tall plants with shorter ones in front. I also planted three pink dahlias, some yellow daylilys, black eyed susans, a yellow iris, a painted daisy, hot pink thrift and marine bells in the front. I got "a tall white plant that is pretty" from the garden club plant exchange. I have no idea what it will look like or it's name but it's there in the back.

The iris' on the right side were there so I left them as is for now. I wanted something in the back so it wasn't just window and put in the line of fever few. Now that they are in there, I wish I had planted them in a clump but I will see how things look as the get more established. Apple gave me some scarlet sage she started from seed. They seem to be doing fine. You can't really see them but they are in front of the fever few. She also have me two datura. One doesn't look like it will make it but the other might. I hope that takes off; it will be the eye catcher of that part of the garden! She also gave me some foxglove. Two are from last year and two from this year so I am hoping for blooms this year from at least one. I had a few things that were in front of the windows that I just moved into the bed but I can't remember what they were, one has been nibbled on so I will have to wait and see. There is a columbine in the front, some sundrops and more marine bells. This is the fist year I have used the marine bells and I'm looking forward to seeing how they spread.


Now we just need to tackle the inside. I am also thinking of a stone entrance by the door....