The Old Sled Has Peaked

Here it is when I planted it in late May


And here it is about 10 minutes ago.

I think this is about as good as it's going to get this year. It doesn't make me all giddy with excitement, but it's not bad. It has marigolds, calendulas, spikey blue salvia, 'whirlwind blue' scaevola, a small elephant's ear and one yellow zinnia (the only seed that survived). I really would have liked it if the red zinnias I planted had survived.


The morning glories reseeded themselves from last year and were a surprise when they appeared in July. I like them softening the frontal view.

All in all, I think the planting was a design success, due as much to the morning glory surprise as to my planning. I have a good combination of tall spikey, fat round, big leaves, small leaves, and just enough draping over the side to soften, yet not hide the sled.


This is last year's sled full of brightly-colored zinnias.
There was no design thought to this at all. I just stuck a bunch of purchased zinnias in. I did not even know what color they would be. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it last year. The hummingbirds liked it, too. This year they don't come around the sled at all.

Moral of the story:
A container does not have to be expertly designed to be enjoyable.

Wonderful Relaxing 4th of July

I had a very nice 4th of July.

I didn't do anything in celebration of the holiday today. (Remember we had a party on Sunday.)

After a short time at work, I came home and rearranged containers on the deck. All of my planters have filled out enough so that I can now play with different arrangements.

After I had everything the way I wanted it, I brought out a book and read for awhile. Then I pulled out the wheelbarrow and went around cutting down the dead poppy foliage, cut back some fall asters, and cut back a few more of the pink mallow.



Then I came back and rearranged a few more planters that I thought I liked, but after looking at them a bit, decided to try something different. (for the next two months rearranging the deck will give me great pleasure!)
The glider is my favorite spot to sit.
I decided to move the birdhouse with the chickadee family so I could view it more easily from my favorite seat.

I was a litle worried that Mom and Dad Chickadee would not be able to find their home when I saw them fly in, land on the railing and look all around three times. I was almost ready to put it back when one of them zoomed in from above and landed right at home.

I just realized today that both Mom and Dad feed their young. I don't know how to tell them apart yet. I saw them both together, but they looked the same to me. Now that I have the perfect seat to watch them maybe I will figure it out.



DH hung one of my new feeders at the opposite end of the deck. So far no bird has found the feeder.


When I got home from work I did dig out the scaveola from the hibiscus tree planter below and I put it in the sled.

I think it will work nicely after a few weeks of filling out.



We also went to Walmart and Home Depot this afternoon. I found some plants marked down and couldn't resist a King Coleus for $2, another coleus and impatiens combo for $4 and two 'Dragon Wing' red begonias for $4 each.

Blogger won't let me add them to this post, so I will add another below.

Sled Planter

I am still waiting for my sled planter to make me ohhh and ahhhh.
It's planted with calendulas, big marigolds, and blue salvia.
There is a morning glory vine in the front that came back from last year and I put some small dahlias in it, but I don't think they survived.
It's beginning to fill in nicely, but I need something to soften the angular sides.




I am tempted to dig out the scaevola 'Whirlwind Blue' from this planter.




I almost dug it out last night, but decided I liked it there.
I am pretty sure I won't have such self control when I get home work today.

I Didn't Intend to Rearrange the Deck Again...

All I had planned to do today was dump a few ratty-looking containers. I dumped this little wooden wheelbarrow and then I had an idea (imagine blinking lightbulb over head)...

maybe that big beautiful red double impatiens I have on the table in the woodland area would look nice inside the wooden wheelbarrow? Hmmmmm....I rarely go out to the woodland area any more and it is such a pain to remember to water that one...so much easier if it was right on the deck with everything else where I would be able to enjoy it for the last few weeks of the gardening season.

So off I trot to retrieve the big red plant.

It looked even better than I had imagined...



hmmmm...maybe I should remove the pink zinnias from the big sled container....
O.K. Now it is way too bare.




remember, I never wanted pink to begin with...I thought I had purchased all red and orange, but when they bloomed I had more pink than anything else. Maybe I could stick the big orange double impatiens inside the sled?

Ah, yes, that worked, too. If only I had more red in the sled????


Why look! There is a good-sized bright red begonia...I yank out even more plants from the sled until I have enough space to stick the begonia container in there...



I love the look! Red and orange was the color scheme I wanted to begin with.




And so began a few hours of regrouping until I ended up with this...




I was tired of looking at the grill planter while sitting on the glider. So I decided to move that and put the white bench in its place with the large 'peaches and cream' dahlia behind it. Then I called DH to help me move the giant-sized canna container. It is my favorite container of all and I wanted it where I could enjoy it. I can now see the purple fountain grass plumes blowing in the breeze from the family room and kitchen.




Here is my view from the glider where I almost always sit.



I am happy now. I probably have from as little as two weeks to as many as four weeks before I will be have to remove it all. Until then I will enjoy the fruits of today's labor.

What are the Most Cheerful, Happy, Fun Flowers?

Zinnias!

I did 2 containers of these this year. This is my mixed color sled planter.