Sometimes the prettiest flowers are not the ones you’ve sown.
Here’s another basket I put together every year for the Humming birds. This is for Partial shade.
I use three trailing Torenia (wishbone flower) and three pink Calibrachoa (million bells) in a 12 inch hanging basket.
The Torenia is deer resistant but the Calibrachoa isn’t. This basket is hanging by the back door where the dogs go in and out, so unless the deer get really bold, they should leave it a lone. It’s also in front of the window so we can see the hummingbirds visit it.
I mix my own soil, 1 part organic peat, 1 part organic compost or mushroom compost, 1/2 part untreated vermiculite or perlite (no added fertilizers), and about 2 tablespoons per gallon of soil of dry organic, low nitrogen fertilizer.
I grow a lot of plants so I usually mix up a wheelbarrow full at a time- so I add about 2 cups of the fertilizer per wheelbarrow- it’s never an exact science with me- then I mix it all together with a shovel.
This is a very easy care basket for part shade areas. Make sure your basket has a drain hole and just water when soil starts to feel dry or the basket feels light (don’t let it get bone dry though). You can also get in the habit of touching the soil every time you pass by.
Happy Gardening!
As you may have already guessed from the many pictures of deer in previous posts, my new house is in the middle of deer country.
So… knowing how deer treat flower gardens as their own personal buffet, I’ve been researching plants that are supposed to be “Deer Resistant” for my new perennial bed in the front yard.
So far they’ve sampled only a few plants on the list (a Centaurea montana and the Cardinal vine –
Ipomoea), but have left them alone since.
Anyway, I also love my flower pots and usually line my porch steps and any other convenient place that begs for a spot of color. So I decided, after the deer ate my ivy gerainum off the porch last summer, to apply the Deer Resistant gardening to my flower pots as well.
Here’s what I’ve come up with:
Alyssum, dwarf snapdragon, sweet william, and corkscrew grass (Juncus) in a 20″ ceramic bowl. (oh, in case you’re wondering, I don’t use chemical fertilizers- I mix my own soil of peat, compost and a bit of organic dry fertilizer. The plants love it!). The Juncus isn’t on the resistant plant list but I thought it looked cool and I’m depending on the “undesirable” plant to protect it (fingers crossed!)
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| Leucanthemum |
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| Echinacea (‘Julia’) |
A couple of new blooms in the new flowerbed. I think my new favorite is the orange cone flower. I just picked it up at the Garden Center I work at. Can’t wait till it fills out!
When I moved, I brought a bunch of my favorite plants with me from the old garden. My Black Columbine (aka Magpie- Aquilegia vulgaris) is growing happily in it’s new flower bed.
One of my Oriental Poppies that I planted last year bloomed yesterday, but I wasn’t expecting pink. The label said it was red. That’s okay, I’m not upset. It’s still very pretty 🙂
Don’t forget about our men and women in the service!
A lovely close up shot of a beautiful rose…
But wait,
Back up a bit….
Now it’s a tulip!
When shopping for fall bulbs last year, I opted for these beauties instead of the standard tulip.
I glad I did. I love them! They are “Angelique”, a late double tulip.
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| Fingernail Moon through the naked branches of my Sycamore tree |
Finally, flowers! Last fall I rushed around at the last minute, digging bulbs into the flower beds like a mad woman. I’m sure the neighbors are now convinced that I’m a little strange. But my strangeness has paid off and I now have splashes of color, albeit mostly yellow, around the house.
It’s not as many as I’d like to have. I want to recreate the glossy magazine photos where the flowers form carpets of color throughout the gardens.
Someday I’ll get there. I’ll add more bulbs again this fall- I’m sure in a hurried fashion. But for now, it’s nice to see the color after a long dreary winter!
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| Tête-à-Tête, a very fragrant, miniature daffodil |
Lil's Garden Tour 