Twenty years ago, Dear Husband created a raised herb bed for me during the summer. I was eager to have some color and display, so that first year, I planted a wildflower mix in the center box. I thought that I’d be able to cut flowers for the house, and the following year the box would be ready for herbs.
What I didn’t understand, not having had a place to grow wildflowers, was that the chipmunks would harvest the seeds of the annuals and store them, and the following year I would find flowers growing in all sorts of unexpected places! The hardiest of all those flowers were ox-eye daisies. They are the traditional simple white daisy that everyone recognizes. They start with a low mound of leaves and then shoot up multiple stems with blooms. I still have the relatives of those first plants growing twenty years later!
We have had two days of rain and these low mounds of leaves have exploded into two foot tall plants ready to bloom! They were shading the rose, the iris, and several plants that I have been babying, so some of them had to go! I went out for two “weeding” sessions today, and by the time I was done there was a pile of unwanted plants roughly four feet by three feet by two feet sitting at the edge of the drive.
The sidewalk bed is looking much better, and now I have a place where I can put in a few annuals to give the bed color during the hot months. I planted two lilies, a dahlia and two lavender plants, and potted a geranium. My iris already have buds (it seems just a little early), and we’ll have masses of daisies to accent the iris color later this month.
My next foray into the garden will be to plant spinach and wildflowers. I’m looking forward to my trip to the nursery. I need to pick up tomatoes and basil and some alyssum, but I’m going to do one bed from seeds. Spring has arrived so early that I may be able to get things started by the end of the week.
Arrrgh!!!
It's just my state of mind!
Oh how I envy your green thumb and love of gardening Buffy. I’m still in limbo about what to do about my dead bushes by the front window. I know I’ve got to do something; but I don’t really want to spend loads of money replacing all of them…there’s two or three bushes and two that are more like little trees. I need to call someone about it…soon. I can only imagine how wonderful your yard looks; not to mention all the great veggies you reap from your gardens. Love, Joy
It’s funny, I don’t know a soul who can’t grow these except me. I got some fromt he neighbor and managed to kill ever one of them (even though he can’t keep them under control.
Guess they like to keep me humble!
Joy, I’d love to renovate my front gardens. I want to raise the height of the soil, and edge the beds with pavers or limestone, and then replant. Right now, my gardens tend to have that English cottage garden look, but I’d like to have a more organized look. It sounds as though you need help to accomplish the changes you want to make. I doubt I could dig out shrubs, so I’d ask my favorite landscaping crew for help. You might want to check out the shrubs at Home Depot. Once the dead shrubs are removed, I think you could replant frugally. Put in a few shrubs this year, and add perennials each year until you have the look you like.
Bogie, I’m astonished to learn that there’s something you can’t grow! You have a really green thumb, so I haven’t a clue why you have trouble with something as simple as ox-eye daisies!
Bogie, I told Dear Husband about your problem with the daisies, and he quietly suggested that I should send you all the plants that I plan to rip out! lol