Flower update

The weather has been incredible lately - and it shows in how quickly my flowers are growing. It was just about 2 1/2 weeks ago that I posted pictures of the flowers in my yard - and most of them were just starting to make an appearance. (you can see them in this post)

Now look at them!

We're trying to decide what new flowers to plant this year. Gus and Buddy took out the evergreen cedars that flanked the garage - so glad to have those gone!!! We're thinking of replacing them with red shrub roses (since our front door is red).

Then there is the river birch in the front yard - we've planted annuals under it each year, but I want to put perennials there this year. The problem is that whatever is planted there will get full sun - all day long. The river birch offers minimal dappled shade. And most perennials have a limited blooming season and we'd like something that will bloom spring to fall. So we bought 4 Geranium Rozanne plants  - these have blue/purple flowers that appear late spring through frost, they tolerate full sun, and don't require any maintenance. We also bought 4 white calibrachoa (they call it Supertunia - which cracks me up because it sounds like a type of sushi, LOL) plants to put in between the geraniums this year - these are annuals; they're a trailing petunia with tiny flowers and you don't need to deadhead the flowers like you do for regular petunias.

My Grammy always told me - "never plant flowers before Mother's Day - no matter how tempted you are or how warm the weather is" - and I have always listened to her advice. And I think we usually do end up having a couple of frost warnings in April and the first part of May, LOL! In fact, I think there were a couple of years where we had frost warnings after Mother's Day! So, after Mother's Day, I'll put red New Guinea impatiens in hanging baskets on the front porch and purple calibrachoa in the trough baskets hanging on the deck rails in the back. And I'll do a blanket of multicolored impatiens in the raised area beside the patio (under the deck). There will be more pictures to come!

What are you planting this year?