May Flowers

Spent most of yesterday planting out the perennials that I bought a couple of weeks ago for the yard.

The school play and general exhaustion got in the way of getting them in the ground on schedule -- isn't that always the way? -- but they needed to be planted before a storm front moves through this weekend.

And so?  I spent most of the day digging holes and then filling them with plants.

I bought them all in smaller pots, knowing that in a year or so, they'll fill in nicely.  It's cheaper that way, and this year I'll fill in the gaps with some annuals:  I think geraniums, salvia and pentas for the butterflies and hummingbirds, but I'm not certain on that yet.

What did I plant?  Stella D'Oro daylillies, which bloom the lovely bright yellow you see in the picture.  They are rebloomers, and will stay nice through our humid, hot, sticky summer weather because they also are fairly drought tolerant.  I also planted a variegated form of coreopsis -- the leaves are a mottled form of light lime and darker green, but the blooms are a clear, lemon yellow; some midnight sage, which blooms a bright, clear swatch of blue on a lovely green mound of leaves; several hostas in areas that are a little shadier; some catmint, which also blooms blue.

I added a few yarrow plants that will bloom a bright, clear red, to break up the Mountaineer blue and gold flowers.  I swear I didn't plan it that way.


And I worked all of these in and around the existing perennials in our yard -- the butterfly bush, peonies, gladiolus, tiger lilies, and assorted others.

Most of these are good in dry weather, but will also tolerate a rainy spell and some humidity.  I tried to pick plants that would be long on blooms or color, but not need me to lug a watering can all over the yard this summer in the heat.

I also planted three mounds of summer squash -- two of zucchini and one of yellow crookneck -- on either side of our front porch.

I did this last year and they worked out perfectly as foundation plantings until the squash vine borers got to them.  (Mercifully that was late August, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.)  We enjoyed all the muffins, bread, and stir-fries last summer, so I hope we get the same again this year.

I have my flowerpots and herb pots yet to plant, but I will hopefully tackle that sometime this morning.  Then I can sit back, relax and wait for the rain.

(Daylily photo via WayneKLin.)