Garden Notes: May 9th

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of the ladies here on Multiply. Whether you are a mom, grandmother, aunt, sister, friend, or just someone who helps to mold the life of a child or offer support to others,  thanks for all that you do.

Mother's Day has come to be synonymous with flowers. It seems moms always get the day off, lunch out with family, and usually a bouquet of some sort of flowers, or perhaps a planter, or flowers for them to plant themselves. I know every year I opt to buy my mom flowers and a lot of times I end up doing the planting for her. This year with the weather being so cold (see Misty and Trudi's blog pages for snow pics, yikes!) I am waiting to get her any flowers as we both agreed  the tender annuals could possibly freeze.

My tomato and pepper plants still sit at the back patio door and as itchy as I am to plant them, I am waiting at least another week or so before setting them out. Some of the seedlings still need a little more growth time as well, so I am in no hurry. Rain seems to be in the forecast for a lot of this upcoming week, so it may be another week of "could of, should of's" for gardening. I have been out a bit wandering around today, and there are a few more blooms that I snapped a few pics of, that I will try and post  next week sometime. I have been trying to use up some old 35 mm film that I have had for I don't know how long. I did notice that the pics taken last time seem to be a bit washed out. Whether that is from the film being old, the processing, or just this picture taker I don't know. I do know that I didn't linger long on those windy days and so a few pics are a bit blurry. I will still go ahead and post them in an album today.

The pic at the top of this blog is from a north facing flower bed and if you look closely you will see that even though the foliage looks very similar, there is a wayward fern that has decided to grow smack dab in the middle of my astilbe. For now I will leave it, but this fall there will be some shuffling of plants to find it more room. Walking around I noticed I had a lot of plants that seemed to have a mind of there own and they meandered around to where ever they had a notion. For the most part I don't mind that. I like carefree cottage gardens and gardens that look like mother nature took a part in it's design. I guess a lot of my gardening style could be considered as a somewhat ordered chaos. I do have some flower beds though, such as iris that I have planted in rows, and then I have other iris beds that are a riot of color in their mixed informal settings.

That got me to thinking how no two gardeners really do things the same way, that we each have a different approach or style to gardening. Arguments are made for certain varieties of plants, mulching material, fertilizers, and a host of other things that help each of us to bring about the fruition of our efforts. So my question is for you today and this coming week is to tell us about your gardening style. Are you a perfectionist? Are your plants labeled? Do you follow color themes? Just how do you approach your gardens, landscapes, and planter boxes?

Gardens and the people that make them can be an inspiration, so don't be afraid to share even the smallest hint, or tip, or pic of what makes up you and your gardens and plantings.

Happy Growing!