I had an easter cookie decorating ,potl;uck lunch with art friends.
Came home and finished planting semps in a troth.
Mailman delivered a box from Santa Rosa,unpacked and watered.Some plants were dry and lost potting soil.
I will be planting this morning. Bluestone order comes this afternoon.

Jeepers, that must mean mine is coming soon. It is strange they are shipping to the north first. LOL. Have fun. My plants have been like that the past several orders but they do ok, I think they are using less water to prevent rot but they could do something about the soil, the selves do not hold in the soil.

I dont like the knit sleeves. Dirt sifts thru them anyway.
I had posted a "not recommended" for them last summer but they redeammed themselves bu adding 2 plants they told me were out of stock.

I do love the customer service. I got two free coneflowers last year when one arrived broken off at the soil line. I think a small piece of tape would do, it is cheap too. I got my order from Peppers Greenhouse and they had what looked to be a piece of grocery bag and tape, not one drop of soil missing on these plants and the pots are an inch bigger than SRG with similar prices. Also Niche Gardens packs good, they use wet newspaper and tape over it.


Niche Gardens



Peppers Greenhouse

I have ordered many times from Pepper's Greenhouse and everything is always packed perfectly.

My outdoor activity: Moved my seedlings around so they can harden off, pulled some mulch off of my banana tree, hoping for sprouts.

It is so enjoyable to walk around looking for perennial sprouts.

Celene said:It is so enjoyable to walk around looking for perennial sprouts.

One of my favorite garden things!
And those warmish winter days when I walk around and look at my small evergreen things still green.

My general mood and outlook has done a complete turn around. The deer ate all the tops off my established heucheras but they are troupers and putting out new leaves.

Didn't know heuchera were on their list.
But then they ate my arborvite one year when pickins were slim...
One never knows.

Deer will eat anything in winter.

Moose ate two of our pine babies in the front. I didn't thing they ate evergreens either.

They even nibbled my yucca the year they ate the arborvite.

I have recently noticed my Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus 'Heart Attack') isn't there anymore. That's not a deer thing, I don't know what happened to it. LUCKILY I have seed.

If the Dianthus is mowed to the ground,That sounds like rabbits.

There's a rabbit or two around but they're not very active here.
It just seems like it went dormant (which it isn't supposed to) and didn't come back.
No TRACE of it.

My Bluestone order came.
Everything looks great.


Got the Red Throth finally planted

Nice looking plants! I got my big hillside bed cleaned off today. All I have left now is my mini bed. Checked the watering system for the two beds in the backyard, and no broken pipes! I was really surprised, but very happy! I have lots of little hosta poking out of the ground! Supposed to be warm for the whole week, so should see them growing like crazy!

I found little green pokey things on my hostas today, too.
Loaned the neighbors 6-8 15" square potted things for their deck in return for him lifting some stuff for me.
Continuing to deconstruct my open compost pile to fill the veggie bed. Slow going - it hurts!
SOON though, I will be done and will cover the whole veg bed with bunny poo, wonderful bunny poo.
LOTS of peppers on the agenda this year. Some POPCORN, zucchini, two watermelon vines, and odds and ends, many trying for the first time. I like to grow "weird" things as I have a favorite farm CSA to get the bulk of my FOOD.

Tired and dirty - time to reset for the evening.

Sounds like a productive day.

Hello all gardeners: the weather was gorgeous today in NW Illinois!

Had to spend some time at the paying job today but grabbed a few hours this afternoon and weeded the Herb Garden. Plenty of chives but the oregano, thyme and sage look...well....dead. The lavender is a question mark so far. I see some small seedlings but can't tell if they are calendula or something unwanted...giving them a grace period for a few days.

DH supervised the hired young man who finished the chop job in the Bird Garden...the Weigelia, Physocarpus and the Dogwood are going to get a chance to rejuvenate this season. Looks better but a bit bare....

All this garden work has worked up my appetite for a nursery trip tomorrow....some therapeutic weeding equals some therapeutic garden retailing....uh yep.

I admit to salivating a bit over all of you receiving lovely boxes of plants this week - how fun.

Here's a shot of part of my old flock....they were wiped out by a mink winter before last and I was not well enough yet to start over. Nothing like hens in a garden...sigh

How awful for you and the chickens. Animalculture isnt something I want to start.Admire others who can do it.

Those were really nice. Of course you needed new ones too have now!