Spring Plans

Just a brief note before the post....I don't know how to act...sunshine outside, news of 40's and 50's coming. Is spring just around the corner? The little titmouse was sitting on the empty feeder...looking this way and chirping his little song...where's the food? I better scoot and get this post done...birds and sun are calling me.
B.
My plans for spring planting have changed over the years. Several years ago, on Mother's Day my husband would have arranged for my kids to all bring me flats of annuals for the yard. I would spend the afternoon, after the Mother's Day festivities, in my garden happily planting. The kids never got together and planned what they would bring....so I got all colors. I had several gardens and could find room for all colors. I didn't have to buy a thing in those days.It was fun to work in those different colors in my gardens. Sometimes I would put colors together that I would never have planted on my own.
After a couple of years the kids stopped doing this and I was back to having to buy my own and plant, not always on Mother's Day, but any convenient day.The gardens weren't quite the same...because I always leaned toward the pinks and purples...not taking chances with oranges and yellows.
Now, I find that in  my old age....I don't plant many annuals. I depend on perennials and flowering shrubs to bring color to my garden. I am still leaning toward pinks and purples...but find that I love plants with pretty foliage as well. Last year I did something entirely different for my hanging baskets and the large container by the front door. The past summers have been so hot and dry...my baskets dry out so quickly. The plants that made it through the drought...were attacked by Japanese Beetles. It's really hard to look at a special plant, one that you have nurtured for so long, to succumb to the ravages of that beetle. My geraniums, grown from seed, were covered with them.They did come back after the beetles left, but it took so long for them to get pretty again. The basil in my deck pots were attacked too...we never had any basil to use in the kitchen. So, I thought and thought and came up with the idea of planting sedums and other succulents in many of the pots. The big container looked so good...it was a complete surprise to me that it turned out so well. I just placed an order with Mountain Crest Gardens for some different succulents. I learned this morning that they had been shipped. I'm anxious to see what they look like. I have ordered from them before...when I did my strawberry jar. We don't have anyplace around here to buy these different plants, so I depend on my online shopping for that. I'll show you a picture when they arrive.
I also ordered my Dipladenia (in the Mandevilla family) plants for my terra cotta pots.I ordered these before and was so pleased with the size and color of the plants. I just have two pots to fill. I noticed last year that the beetles didn't bother these plants, so I hope that they don't develop a taste for them over winter.
These plants along with a few pink petunias and some blue mealycup sage to intermingle among my perennials will be enough for me this year.
It seems that in the past I planted for other people. People going by for walks and visitors to the house. I never really just planted for us. These pots won't look pretty from the street like pots full of annuals, but they will be interesting up close, where we can see them.
Half the fun of gardening is seeing things grow from just a seed. Just look at the sunflower...a small seed becomes that huge beautiful flower.The fun isn't always the finished product.
I will continue adding to my herb garden on the side of the house and keep my fingers crossed for the basil that I will try again. This time it will be planted right along with the herbs and cherry tomatoes. Maybe the beetles won't find it there :)
Balisha