Huge Dahlia Work Containers

The planters I did at work turned out to be nothing like what I imagined.  I could not find any cannas to buy, so I brought in some of my own cannas and dahlias and calla lilies (already finished).  I had to take an educated guess (lots of time spent searching my blog for planters with the plants I wanted). I thought I planted the bold Tropicannas with dark striped leaves and purple Rembrandt dahlias.

Instead I got yellow daisy-like dahlias and green-leaved cannas...and boy, did I get them! Whoa, these plants must be on steroids!

I wanted the canna to dominate, but it is almost hidden by the dahlias.  It does have a nice flower when you get up close:

  The pink petunia is 'Bubblegum'.

Do you love the 'Fireworks' fountain grass?  I do!  Actually you cannot tell the difference between it and the regular purple fountain grass as most of the foliage is hidden.  I just love the soft hanging tails.

I bought some of the same grass for my own planters and they have barely grown. I hate when what I plant at work, looks better than the same stuff I plant at home. :(

The Persian shield is also dwarfed by the dahlias. It is so small that I could have eliminated it--ditto for the purple coleus next to it.

The Ipomea (sweet potato vine) is on the side and you cannot even see it from the front. I don't mind that. I kind of like it not taking over the entire front of the container. I have to keep cutting it back or it would be halfway out in the driveway.

Here is what this container looked like when freshly planted in May (you can only see the annuals as the plants I brought from home have not yet come up):

and I was worried that this planter was not full enough! :)

Yesterday I was looking through my wardrobe pics. I fill huge totes with off-season clothing and then I forget what I have.  I found some pics of this grey/orange outfit that I would like to wear again:

Unfortunately I cannot find the clothing!  I think I will be searching the basement totes this weekend.

Work Planters & Quilt Decor

It took me less than 30 minutes to plant 4 containers at work.  I planted them all the same:

What you cannot see are the cannas, dahlias and calla lilies I brought from home. They are under the soil toward the back.  These containers are stuffed to the brim! I did not even realize that the petunias I bought were one of the Proven Winners called 'Bubblegum'.  I have seen 'Bubblegum' on many of your blogs, so I know it's a great choice. I am now very excited to see what happens when the big 'thrillers' shoot up.  I have no  idea what color dahlia I planted. I am hoping it is a purple 'Rembrandt'.  I will keep you posted with pics as the new plants emerge. You will be amazed at how much more I have planted in these containers!

When I was off last week, I finally put the binding on my pink star quilt.  I put this on with the sewing machine and I am pretty content with how it turned out.

My next quilt to finish will be this double star quilt:

I love this one, but I had no reason to finish it because it did not match anything in my home.  Now I think it looks wonderful with my new sofa.  It will be perfect to snuggle up with this winter.  I plan to hand quilt this one, so I had better get busy as it will take quite some time.

With the warmer weather, I am embracing my pastel floral living room.  The burgundy slip covers have been removed and the pink star quilt that I just put the binding on has found its summer home.

I made this one to match my sofa and love seat. It was a very detailed star quilt with the tiny center star being an exact replica of the large star around it.  I almost cried after I ruined it by machine quilting it.  I am a terrible machine quilter!  After it sat unused for over a year, I finally came up with idea to add a second backing and add ties to hold it together.  That worked wonderfully to hide the hideous machine quilting on the back.  I am now happy that I can display this one without shame.

I won't be posting for a few days as I will be spending time at a mini family reunion.  I hope you all have a great weekend.  May all our gardens be filled with rain water!  I don't know about you, but we desperately need rain.

Lilacs and Limes

My lilacs are just beginning to bloom. I went out last week and cut down all that I had on the bushes that I transplanted from my mom's yard.

Yes, this is all the flowers that I got off the two bushes I planted over 15 years ago!  I would say those bushes have not been all that successful. I am just happy that I did get one bouquet to enjoy for a few days.

You can tell I went back to work on Monday.  I now have no time to garden, photograph, or post.  It always amazes me how much I get done at home when I don't have to spend my most productive hours at my real job.  :)

Today the Big Kahuna (boss) and I went to buy plants so I can do the 4 containers at work.  Truth be told, he came along just to write the check and haul the plants in his vehicle...all he did was complain about how long it was taking.  The lady who works for the plant company used to work at our hotel.  She bluntly told him to be quiet and wait....he has a good sense of humor and just laughed when she said that.  We ran into quite a few locals who found it strange that the Big K was out flower shopping!  I think he was embarrassed!

As I expected, I could find no big thriller plants (cannas).  In fact the selection was pathetic for all plants.   I ended up buying a bunch of the same things I used in my containers--coleus, fireworks fountain grass, etc.  I told the Big K that I would bring some of my own cannas.  

So when I got home today I dumped out my very best  pot of Tropicana's and split it into 5 sections -- 4 for work and one for me.  It did hurt a bit to be giving these away. This bag is in my car waiting to be planted at work tomorrow:

 I also took a dozen of my yellow calla lilies that were in the long wood container that I said was rotting out.   

I just hope they produce now that I have separated them.  I don't mind planting them at work--I wanted to tend to less containers at home anyway.  The only problem is that it will be a few weeks before either the cannas or callas shoot up their magnificent foliage.  It's a lot different designing a container for a retail establishment than it is for my own home. At work I like to have the planters looking good when they are planted.  

Oh well, I guess if he does not like it, he can hire a real container designer who will charge him upwards of $100 for each of the four planters! :)  You can't complain when you get it for free!

Calibrachoa and Coleus Planter, Work Containers & The Beaded Tote is Finally Mine!

My latest small container planting is Calibrachoa (trailing petunia) in front of coleus for a shady area in one of my gardens. I hope it is not too shady for the fast-growing little flower.



I have been watching the price on this bag since last year.I loved it since I first saw it, but it was way  more expensive than I wanted to pay.  Last week it finally was marked at a rock-bottom close-out price AND I also found a take-30%-more-off -PLUS-FREE shipping coupon.  I couldn't click fast enough to order this fun bag.  It's big, but no so big that I can't use it as my handbag.  I have been using it the past week and have gotten so many compliments. 

I only wish it had a zipper on the top. It has a nice sturdy magnetic clasp, but things can still fall out --as they did when I had to slam on my brakes when a semi pulled out right in front of me!  Unbelievable...the semi pulled out into a turn lane and then shot right out in front of me! The bag flew off the back seat when I hit the brakes, scattering lipstick all over the car floor.   I wanted to lay on the horn and flip the bird to that semi-truck driver as he glanced back in his huge rear view mirror.  But being the lady I am, I just mumbled to myself while waiting for my heart rate to return to normal.

I have been all over town for the past month trying to find some cannas to plant at work. No luck - there is not a canna to be found. So I had to come up with a different plan for the four containers I do at work. I decided to use hibiscus trees - two red and two yellow - as the thriller plants with various underplantings.

I will show more pics as they grow.
I am looking forward to a nice weekend. I think rain is predicted and I like that. I will just have to stay inside and get some much needed cleaning done. 

What are your weekend plans?

Oh, You Big, Bodacious Beauties!

By now you all know I adore cannas. This year I have had to wait a long time before I had any worth oohhing and ahhhing over.

But finally the containers I planted at work have grown into what I imagined them to be. You really have to have a lot of faith when your original plantings look like these two:


My vision was big, bold canna leaves shooting out the top with contrasting foliage plants spilling over the sides and a delicate flower or two blooming at the base.






After 6 weeks there was still nothing spectacular. Even Ipomoea 'Blackie' and 'Sweet Caroline' were not spilling over as much as I had wanted. I was beginning to doubt my choices.

Ah, but finally in mid-August changes began. The ipomea spilled, the 'Palace Purple' Coral Bells burst into sprays of tiny creamy white, bell-shaped flowers, which were a nice contrast to the big bold striped Tropicanna leaves--as is the purple color of the Coral Bell foliage on its own. Now this is more like my vision of big bold leaves shooting out the top:

These planters don't even need flowers to look good.

Look at the spilling contrast of foliage in this one.

On the opposite side, you can see the coleus has spilled nicely and is a great contrasting plant.
It happens to have a canna flower in bloom. If it had about six of them it would really be making me swoon! So far none of them have had quite enough canna blooms to be totally effective.

If you look closely you can see the dainty little flowers of 'Palace Purple' coral bells:
I am still waiting for the fountain grass to shoot up a bloom or two. It may not in this planter because it's been nearly choked out by the foliage plants.

My two favorites are on the other side of the building, flanking an entrance door. If your monitor cuts off the right side, you will have to click on the picture to see them both.

They both have blooms on the cannas. I have been pinching off the coleus blooms all summer. I am now letting them bloom because there is only 4-5 weeks left until frost, and I think the flower spikes will add some pizazz to the containers. I am so much happier with these planters than I was last year when I did not do the cannas.

The container Combos at Work

I haven't shown you the containers I planted at work yet. That's because they have been incredibly slow to grow and, despite all my attention, there has been nothing interesting to show. Our cold weather this year is not conducive to canna growth.

The cannas are still not flowering, but the undergrowth has finally filled out and some of my so-carefully-planned contrasts in texture, shape and color are beginning to show.

I love the big bold canna leaves against the delicate ferny silver foliage of the Russian sage. The sage has fallen over and its blue flower spikes are beginning to twine through the heuchra 'Palace Purple' and the red/white "Grande Tampico' dahlia hybrid. I am loving that. I had expected the sage to be tall and poke through the canna leaves, but it had different ideas. 'Palace Purple' should also bloom soon with it's tiny little neutral flowers. The flowers should shoot right up to fill in the space between the heuchra and the canna and provide a definite contrast with the big coarse Trop leaves.

On the other side I have coleus 'Sedona'. It has an interesting dull orange purple-tinged color. I think it's a wonerful contrast to the dark ornamental sweet potato vine (ipomoea) and once the orange canna flowers appear the orange color will make more sense.



The planter below is done in the same colors but in opposite spots.

The top has Tropicanna 'Phasion' with its gorgeous multi-hued, mostly reddish-purple leaves. The bottom is mostly greens with a big punch of brilliant chartreuse leaves from "Marguerite' sweet potato vine.

'Phasion' will be flowering soon with brilliant tangerine orange flowers.
The grass underplanting is no weed. It's actually a dwarf fountain grass called 'hameln' which should get showy, silver to pinkish-white , wheat-like flower spikes. I see no sign of these yet. When the grass finally blooms I think it will bring the whole planter to life.

I will show you the full planters if and when everything blooms.

How Many Ways Can You Define Boring Planters?

Well, one way is Geraniums with a Spike in the Middle.

After two trips to 5 different flower places, I could not find anything that piqued my interest enough to plant in the 4 containers at the hotel.

I was about to settle for one big hibiscus plant in each planter when The Big Kahuna stated that he liked these pots that were already all planted. Well, when the Big K speaks, I'm all ears!

My heart wasn't into those hibiscus plants anyway, so I agreed that these would be fine. They only had one planter made up, so we ordered more of them and Saturday he went and picked up the four geranium planters with a spike in the middle and asparagus fern as the spiller.

There is nothing wrong with them, they are just so overused. If they didn't make a nice combo, they wouldn't be overused, but I find them pretty dull and they certainly lack the creative planting touch.

They are way too small for these big containers.

I was happy that The Big Kahuna and our Chief Engineer even planted them while I was off over the weekend. What a fine job they did. They dug out all the soil and dropped the entire plastic pot right into these containers. I noticed immediately on Monday morning how neatly they were planted.

The Chief Engineer told me that after they planted them, he said, "Zo's not going to like these." He knows me so well. What he doesn't really realize is that Zo does not really care this year and what she likes best is not having to do any of the planting or maintaing work! It only matters that the Big K likes them.

We also have a full-time outdoor landscape maintenance man. He will take over the watering/fertilizing duties. I am sure that in a month or so, they will look much better, although I suspect they will never get as big as they need to be to balance out those tall planters.

The other day Priscilla asked this question:
How do you edge your beds? with a flat-edged spade? a power edger? what? I need to do it.

Priscilla, I have nothing exciting that I use to edge. I used a plain old shovel like this:


Sometimes I use a flat edge shovel, which makes a much nicer edge, but this one was already within grabbing distance, so it's what I used this time.

The Final Canna Container Comparisons

I think this is about as good as they are going to get. From here on it's downhill. On a happiness scale of 1 - 10, I am about a 7 with these planters this year. I've learned that I must plant only aggressive growers with these big guys--no prissy little plants allowed next year!

May 10, 2007 - Freshly Planted

Take note of that little licorice plant(Helichrysum petiolare). It's the silver plant on the left.
Look at it now!
WOWZA! That baby took off like I've never seen licorice do before. The King coleus that was next to it, was completely overrun and died out. I removed the optic grass because it, too, was overrun. The orange nemesia died out early as it did in my home planter. As much as I love that bright orange color, I won't buy that one again.

Here's the other side of that container.

You may have noticed that there are no blooms -- this is the one I cut the blooms off because they were too tall. The poor Trop is still recovering from the hail storm last month that played havoc with the leaves. They are still all tattered and torn.

Here is the container on the opposite side of the same front entrance on the day it was planted.

The only difference is this one has the licorice on the opposite side and the left side has some Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’ (Purple Heart). I moved the optic grass from the one above to this one, thinking that 2 of them would have a chance to grow and be visible.

Here it is today. Just look at how tall the Tropicanna Black is! I think it's about a foot taller than I would like it to be. But, hey, everything doesn't always work out exactly right. When I planted them, I did not realize that they grow taller than the original Tropicanna.

Here's the other side of this one. The 'Purple Heart' is nice when viewing this container close up. The optic grass really does not work. It's just too small. You win some, you lose some.









Here is one of two next to the dining room entrance. The peach begonia died right away. I think the frost killed it.

The plant blooming here is not the "Black". It's one of the original Tropicannas that I brought from home. I wish they were both blooming together. The licorice plant in this one did not get nearly as large. Probably because it's more shady here.

This container has the only Tropicanna black leaves with stripes. I suspect the leaves should be nearly solid black as the other three are.

I think the stripe is more interesting. I like it.

Tuesday Tidbits

I just finished reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons.

After a slow start, it captured me, and I have enjoyed spending most of my free time during the past week with the women of Fressia Court. I recommend it as a pleasurable summer read.

We still have not had much rain. Big storms keep threatening, but never quite deliver. Yesterday's short little spurt caused much more telephone and internet outages than rainfall. Thunderstorms are once again in tonight's forecast. Time will tell.

I am just loving this red celosia with these nearly-orange marigolds. The markings on the marigolds are almost the exact color as the celosia.

Here is the full planter . I also have the same combo in my 4 large planters at the entrance to the deck.


You can't really see them in this picture. That's OK, because I wanted to show you that the drumstick allium have turned pink.

More Tango lilies

The 4 Tropicana Black lily planters have had quite a growth spurt in the past two weeks!
Cannas are one of those plants you either love or hate...there doesn't seem to be too many in between opinions. My boss thinks these planters are ugly. I like them, thought I wish I had one other tall flowering plant in them. The Angelart Orange Nemesia I planted has already died out in every planter. ..even those I planted at home. If I remember correctly that was a Proven Winner. I was not the tiniest bit impressed with nemesia and won't be planting it again.

Second set of Big Planters at Work

I thought I would show you how the second set of planters are filling out. There are two of these flanking our dining room entrance.

I am not 100% happy with these. My plan was to highlight the foliage with a minimum of flowers. That part works, I think. It's just not as full as I would like it to be.

Here's a close up of the foliage colors

The scaevola in the front (little blue flowers) is not nearly as full as I had hoped and the coleus in the back is too small.

I Couldn't be Happier

with how this container is progressing at work.

Well, it could use about three more stalks of blooming cannas jutting out the left side, but otherwise I think it's exactly as I had planned.











I have also been admiring this red astilbe for the past week. I wish I had it in my garden.

The Old Ricketty Chair

Is Back!



I had planned to toss it last year, but after DH sturdied it up a bit, I decided to give it another whirl.

It's not all that lovely at the moment, but let us not judge until mid July after it has time to fill out a bit.

Don't you just hate having to wait so long for container plants to fill in? If you ever watch the TV gardeners plant containers, they look lush and full right from the start because they don't start with 6-pack annuals. They use 4" containers and larger. It's nice to be able to do that, but VERY, VERY costly.









I did 4 containers at work this year.
Two like this



As you can see, I am not nearly as frugal with the company funds. LOL.

These big planters look pretty nice already and I just did them 2 weeks ago.






I used 4 nice sized Tropicanna Gold callas and was very surprised to see one blooming already.
















The other two planters are not as full. I am going for foliage here and very little flowers. Only the calla and the Scaevola( hanging in the front) will have flowers. I have 'Ruffles' coleus and 'Purple knight' alternanthera which should fill out nicely. At least that's the plan...