Status Of The Patio Garden: April 2021

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It was in the thirties last night. Once again, I hauled all the plants from the nursery back inside. My kitchen cabinet countertops are covered on one side with those plants.

It’s still too cold out to take them back out to get some sun—hopefully, I’ll be able to take them outside this afternoon.

I think once we get past tomorrow night, we might be past the freezing weather, and I can plant them outdoors.

This lovely female cardinal came to visit me yesterday. I didn’t see her mate. She looks pretty young to me.

She’s perched on my Gingko Biloba Jade Butterfly tree in the pot.

I typically have a couple of cardinals hang out here during the warm season. And I hear the male sing his song up in the trees somewhere, so he’s nearby.

Hostas:

Here’s one clump of hostas. They’re coming up pretty fast, and in a week or so, they will be lush and full.

Lamb’s Ear, Wild Violets, & Golden Pennies:

The lamb’s ear and wild violets are filling in one end of the blue raised bed. And the golden pennies are filling out the other end near the irises.

Below is the beautiful red geranium I bought. I have to keep bringing it back due to the cold weather. It has lots of blooms, and I can’t wait to see them open.

A Nice Surprise:

Last weekend, I was transferring photos for Instagram and stumbled across some pictures from when I lived in Texas over 10 years ago. I guess they were stored on Google somewhere.

What warmed my heart were photos of Abi. And pictures of Bonnie and Clyde, my cats who have both crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

The Photos Make Me Cry:

I look at these photos, which were such a surprise to find, now safe in my possession, and I cry as I write this. This was a long time ago, but you never stop missing them, do you?

Except for the longer fur, Clyde bears a strong resemblance to Ivy, at least in the face. Clyde did not have the spots Ivy’s fur had.

Just having their photos makes me feel, in a way, that I still have them with me. At least I can see their sweet faces again and remember the time we spent together.

April 10: My Blue Fountain:

Yesterday, I had my 17-year-old grandson, Riley, come over after school and bring two bags of potting soil from my car to the patio. A guy at the nursery carried them to the car for me.

I also had Riley take my blue fountain back outside. His mom, Kendra, put it in the closet for me back in the winter. It was time to bring it back out and set it up again. The sound of the running water attracts birds to my patio.

I purchased these yellow petunias as a hanging plant, but I removed the hanging part and placed them here.

On my patio, with the wind and hot weather, hanging plants would need more frequent watering and tending.

The cold winter killed off my rosemary plant, and I missed having rosemary in my garden.

I took two seed packets of morning glories, mixed them up, and scattered them around in the pots. They began to appear in less than a week.

I’ve always been accustomed to hard-shell morning glory seeds that you nick and soak overnight. However, these were just lightweight seeds, similar to those of zinnias.

Lemon balm is making a big display in the crack in the cement again. It always looks lush and healthy in that small space, which surprises me.

The daisies I planted last year made it through the cold winter. There are more of them in another pot below.

You can see pineapple mint coming up in the middle, and I will need to remove it in the next few days and replant it elsewhere.

I don’t come across pineapple mint very often, and I want to keep it growing in case it’s hard to find it again.

The Blue Raised Bed:

This end of the blue raised garden is already pretty much filled up now. Once the hostas open fully, it will indeed be filled.

The Lamb’s Ear has spread out a bit more since last year. I adore that plant and love how it fills up one corner of the raised garden bed.

At this end, I see I have three iris flowers formed. This makes me happy because I tend not to get much out of these irises.

I drive around town and see irises growing everywhere, where they are not even tended, and they bloom in abundance. And mine rarely bloom.

That’s the current status of the patio garden as of this morning. Hopefully, it’s warm enough where you live to dig in the dirt. It’s a bit cold here today.

April 18:

Today, I’m showing you the status of the patio garden on April 18, 2021. It is bright and sunny outside. It’s been raining a lot. So I’m hoping the sun will perk up the patio plants again.

The purple verbena is starting to flower and form vines in the green pot.

A few weeks ago, I initially thought the plant below was a daisy. But it’s a salvia. And I’m glad because I didn’t purchase salvia this year, and the butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds love salvia.

The harsh winter killed the sedum in the driftwood, so I’ll have to replace it. Once you get sedum started and it develops a root system, you don’t need to buy more. It’s a prolific and robust grower.

I walked around the patio, where the sedum was growing freely on patches of dirt along the fence, and pulled some of it up. They have very shallow roots and even grow along the concrete and out from under pots. I added the clump of sedum to the soil in the driftwood and sprinkled a bit of soil around it.

I bought the brown rectangular containers from Amazon.com last year and made the mistake of putting petunias in them. The containers were down closer to my settee then. The hot sun killed them.

Hostas, English Ivy, & Yarrow:

The hostas are getting a bit of shade and are growing rapidly. Perhaps the plants underneath will be okay in the summer heat. Pansies and Johnny-jump-ups are cool-weather plants and need protection from the sun.

The English Ivy I planted along the fence is now growing and spreading. When I walked around the patio this morning, I noticed it’s now encroaching on the blue bed, so I will have to trim it back.

The yarrow is forming blooms. I’m very fond of the yellow flowers it forms.

Look how thick the Lamb’s Ear is already. I’ll probably have to divide it before long. It’s such a lovely plant.

The irises will bloom in the next couple of days if we have enough sun.

Vines Are Multiplying:

I see buds on the Mandevilla, so it will be flowering soon. Its tendrils are reaching out and winding around everything within reach.

The galvanized pot next to it has plenty of morning glories I can spread around the yard once I thin them.

Here are some token photos of the babies. I need to clean Charlie’s eyes, I see. But he fights me like the devil when I do.

Ivy is busy bird watching. She didn’t turn when I called her name. Her eyes are focused on those birds in the bushes just outside the window.

A male cardinal serenaded me the whole time I was taking photos this morning. I guess he lost track of his female partner and is calling her back.

The Patio Garden: April 26:

This is the current status of the patio garden as of April 26, 2021.

There’s something almost sacred about working in your garden. A gardener loves working with their hands and tending what they grow.

My Zen Place:

This patio is my Zen place. With the chimes tinkling and the birds singing up in the trees, I’m grateful for this little garden spot of mine.

The purpose of a Zen garden is to quiet and focus your mind. Ponds in a Zen garden, for example, represent negative space, or the “nothingness” that is essential to Zen meditation.

In addition, the sound of dripping water is intended to remind you to be present, in the here and now.

Mr. Concrete Man is glad to have his hair (golden pennies) back after the winter destroyed them. Golden pennies are wonderful plants for your garden, offering color contrast and texture.

Below, next to the new clematis, is a galvanized tub filled with morning glory seedlings. They are sturdy, little plants, reaching greedily toward the sun.

I also planted a bluish/purple clematis vine I bought last week at the nursery. You may recall that the dreadful winter weather killed my white clematis plant.

Pineapple Sage:

I finally found the pineapple sage plant Charlie likes to nibble on when his tummy is upset. I’d been to the nursery looking for it several times. Finally, they hadn’t had it in stock the other day. I love the scent of this herb.

I also got a lemon basil plant to put in the same pot as the pineapple sage and the lemon verbena. The lemon basil plant is hard to see from this angle.

Remember, lemon-scented plants are your friend because insects don’t like them. You can also repel moths, fleas, flies, and mosquitoes with lavender.

I like to keep the birdbath clean and filled with fresh water for the many birds that visit my patio. They bring me such joy!

I will soon have lots of blooming vines. They will fill the air with fragrant perfume, as only flowers can.

I won’t be planting veggies this year. Instead, this year I’m focused on flowers, vines, and herbs.

It’s supposed to be 85 degrees today. And to think that last week I had the fireplace going in order to keep warm.

The male cardinal is enjoying a drink from the birdbath. I have a stone in the birdbath so birds don’t drown while trying to drink. There is a citronella plant sitting below. It will help repel mosquitoes.

Yesterday, I gently pulled the little zinnia seedlings from the soil to thin them, then replanted them in other pots. Zinnias are my favorite cut flowers to bring inside and enjoy having in a jar.