Status Of The Patio Garden: April 2021

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I’m adding the April 2021 garden in this post, all the way to May.

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 to use on 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:

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.

My Blue Fountain:

I also had Riley take my blue fountain back outside. His mom, Kendra, put it in the closet for me for the winter, but her back and hip are bad, and she’s in physical therapy. So I didn’t want her to have to fool with it. Her pain is likely due to working on those flip houses.

I purchased these yellow petunias as a hanging plant, and I removed the hanging part.

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

Rosemary:

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

The other two plants are a mixed pot with a red geranium and a rosemary plant.

I took two seed packets of morning glories, mixed them up, and scattered them around. They began to appear within 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.

Daisies I planted last year made it through the cold winter. And there are more of them below in another pot.

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.

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

The Lamb’s Ear has spread out a bit more since last year, I think. I adore that plant and love how it fills up one corner of the 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. Have a lovely weekend. 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 the patio plants back up.

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

I initially thought the plant below was a daisy a few weeks ago. 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 put some back in there. 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 went 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. Then I added it to the driftwood.

Then I filled the galvanized container with the material I had pulled up and sprinkled a bit of soil on top; now you can see it’s growing well.

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.

Hostas, English Ivy, & Yarrow:

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

The English Ivy I planted in spots along the fence a few years ago is now growing lushly. When I walked around this morning, I saw that it’s now encroaching on the blue bed, and I will have to trim it back.

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

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

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

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.

And 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.

And Ivy is busy bird watching. She didn’t turn when I called her name. Her eyes are 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 home.

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.

Whether your garden space is big or small, that doesn’t matter. It’s working with your hands and tending what you grow.

My Zen Place:

This patio is my zen place. With the chimes tinkling and the birds singing up in the trees, it makes me grateful to be able to tend this little spot of mine.

The purpose of a Zen garden is to help 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 moment with each drop.

Mr. Concrete Man is glad to have his hair and 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 and strong little plants, reaching up toward the sun.

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

But I finally did find the pineapple sage Charlie likes to nibble on when his tummy is upset. I’d been on many trips looking for it, and they hadn’t had it in yet until 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 is hard to see from this angle.

Remember that lemon-scented herbs 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. And 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 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 trying to get a 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 in a jar.