All Out

What a lovely day of weather we had yesterday. It was so nice toward day's end that we decided to eat our dinner outside. Mike felt good enough to mow the field, and so it felt like summer in April.

Earlier in the day my time was devoted to working outside. With both of us outside, we decided to let the kitties out. Oh my gosh...such joy...so much hunting. I'd almost forgotten how delightful it is to find mouse guts at the back door! But, I digress.

As I was gathering up all my gardening stuff, I noticed one of the rhododendrons is showing its color. The others won't be far behind.

Also, I could swear the flower buds on this clematis appeared overnight. This is the most gratifying plant. It takes practically no care whatsoever, and it blooms, and blooms, and blooms every spring.

Also, the azaleas are starting to show their color. This one will be a bright pink when it opens. Usually, I have to tone down the saturation on my pictures because its flowers are so unnaturally bright.

Red foliage is beginning to appear on the Andromeda. This will be beautiful in a few more days.

But enough admiration of the existing landscape. My mission was to plant annuals in the flower pots. The three pots on the patio each had the remnants of last year's snapdragons coming back. I trimmed off all the dead stuff to give them a better looking haircut (unlike mine, which hasn't been touched since last November). Hopefully, they'll come back and fill up the pots they're in. In addition, I added some verbena and some of these daisy-like flowers.

And I knew I couldn't remember the name of those "daisy-like flowers," so I just took a picture of the tag. You're welcome.

Each pot got a different color combo, although I don't know what color the snapdragons will be without looking at the pictures from last year.

The larger pots that line the sidewalk steps got their usual flowers. In the upper-most with the most sunshine, I planted geraniums. I used to plant petunias here, but the squirrels and the deer liked snacking on them too much. They are less fond of the geraniums.

In the next pot over...marigolds. Because.

This next pot only gets partial sun. I've had good luck with dianthus here before. Last year, I planted cyclamen and something else...I forget what. It looks kind of like a begonia. It's still growing, and so I left it alone. I was kind of excited to see some little pink flowers in the upper left hand corner of the image below. As it turns out, they're just weeds, and I was pulling them up in other areas. Oh well...they sort of fit, and so I'll leave them until the other stuff in the pot wakes up some.

Finally, gerbera daisies in this all-shade spot. I love the gerbera daisies, but I have trouble getting them to rebloom. I say this every year, and every year I plant them anyway. Here's the thing: I love them so much that if they never look any better than they do in this picture below, they will have done their job for the season. Still...I'll keep trying to get them to rebloom.

Finally, this little cherry tomato is planted in one of the whiskey barrels we call the "everything pot." Whatever grows there gets to stay, and so it shares its space with strawberries, pansies, and tulips. I could only find tiny cherry tomatoes, and only red ones. Hopefully, the squirrels will leave it alone and give it a chance to get a little larger.

Since the kitties are mostly indoor kitties, I didn't plant any catnip this year. There are plenty of volunteers around, including this large one from last year. It grew in a place in the breezeway where a hole in the concrete allows some gas piping to connect to the house. I moved the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden stake to where it is, but then found a nicer little patch on the other side of the house. The stake is moved there now. We'll let the kitties out whenever we're out with them. Yesterday I saw both kitties nibbling at the catnip at different times.

Also, the wild strawberries are blooming. These are technically weeds, but we keep them as ground cover in some areas. They produce a tiny little strawberry that is good for eating straight from the plant. Also, it keeps the squirrels away from some of the other stuff.

Finally, the plum tree blossoms are beginning to open. It's not the best time for them to bloom with rain on the way. They'll need some bee activity to produce plums, so fingers crossed.

Aside from a little slow-stitching, it was an all-out day. There will be more sewing today. I have a few things I want to finish up, and my thoughts have turned to the layout for yet another trashy quilt. I'll probably have some pictures of that for tomorrow's post. I have a feeling today will be all-in.