In the last few weeks we have felt safe enough to go out to our
favorite plant nursery. The shop had been open as an essential business from the beginning but we were not ready to go out beyond the grocery store before.
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| Colorful tomato cages |
We have been to the nursery three times to get plants and potting soil for our small, neglected back yard, and each time it has been a good experience. Everyone is wearing masks and social distancing. The parking lot is tiny but people come and go and we had no problem getting a parking space.
I am sharing a few of the photos my husband took at those visits.
On the first trip we left the nursery with geraniums, dusty miller, and succulents and large bags of potting soil. We have since added verbena bonariensis, agastache, yarrow, cuphea, and begonias. And many more succulents.
16 comments:
Hi Tracy,
How incredibly beautiful, and what fun! To have the time and space to plant the things you want and to admire them and fuss over them.
Loved this post! I've been outdoors LOADS as we work on our trails. I love studying the native plants. Finally, we have bunchberry growing on our property! I've waited for years and years to have bunchberry. I've been studying up on what this wildflower needs so they will thrive and carry on til next year. We're having a bit of a drought this spring, so can you see me trotting out our 27 acres with a watering can to water them? I think I will! Bunchberry is a low-growing dogwood (CORNUS). It makes a gorgeous groundcover and has beautiful white flowers in June. Unfortunately, none of those on our land have flowered. Plants can take years to flower, and they are fussy! I will water them. It's the least I can do.
I hope you were able to get some Milkweed in, so the butterflies will have sustenance. It all sounds wonderful. I'm hoping for a photo of the finished product!
Thank, Judith, I am relearning a lot about gardening that I had forgotten (after not gardening much for several years). We used to have mostly shady areas, now we have mostly full sun. And gardening is a lot of hard work that you cannot neglect once you get started. We are really glad now to have a back area that we are happy to look at, although it still needs lots of work.
I looked up bunchberry and it does look lovely and I can understand why you would want to encourage it. I cannot imagine 27 acres but we are happy to have a small area to work with. Except for the weeds.
Rick, I have looked up Milkweed and that does sound perfect. I will ask next time if they have some; she may even have suggested it on the 2nd visit but I was a bit overwhelmed by all the names.
Next I was planning on some photos of what we have bought. The area still needs lots of work. But eventually will have photos of what has been planted. We are planting in pots for now.
Gorgeous. I wish I knew more than I do. Or had my friend from Georgia to ask.
Patti, I find that gardening is a lot like cooking, if you don't do it often enough you forget. Or at least I do. I go in and out of periods when I enjoy things like cooking and crafts, and have had illnesses that precluded gardening activities in the past. Having a friend with knowledge helps. When I first starting gardening twenty years ago, a coworker gave me lots of her plants with pointers on how to garden here.
Oh, those are so beautiful, Tracy! I'm very happy for you that you got the chance to get out for a bit and take in some nature. It's all lovely, and I appreciate your sharing it with us.
Thanks, Margot. I don't mind staying at home so much because I am pretty much of an introvert, but it is good to find one outing that I can enjoy and not feel tense all the time. (I don't enjoy grocery visits any more.) We have gone out for a few walks around our neighborhood and need to do more of that.
I should;d have started by complementing your husband on those great photographs. Good job!
We should all pick a day to post pictures from our gardens!
Thanks, Rick, he does take good photos. I would love to see more photos of your garden. I have enjoyed those that you have shared in the past.
What lovely photos. You can never have enough succulents, I love the way they grow, often so geometric. Our plant nurseries will be able to open from tomorrow, until now I've only been able to visit DIY stores and they don't have much in the way of plants.
Most people aren't wearing masks though, crazy and very annoying.
I agree about succulents, Katrina, I never leave the plant nursery without several. Fortunately my husband likes them too. We haven't been to any of the big DIY type stores although we would have tried them if we could not get into our nursery.
I don't understand people who are not wearing masks. I haven't seen that happen much here, but I have only gone to places that require masks and to pick up take out occasionally.
TracyK: Lovely photos. Sharon, despite her very poor vision, still loves to go spring shopping for flowers. It is always interesting to me how the names for types of businesses can vary between countries. In Saskatchewan there are a few places that describe themselves as nurseries but the common title is greenhouse. I expect it is because our client requires the plants we buy in May and June to have been started indoors. It is risky to plant flowers outside before mid-May in the middle of Saskatchewan. Sharon was wary of me transplanting geraniums in the front raised flower bed before the Victoria Day Weekend (It is a week before your Memorial Day Weekend.)
Bill, Gardening in your area must be entirely different than here. I did mull about how to refer to the place of business that we use. Our plant nursery calls itself a Garden Center. Several others in the area call themselves nurseries.
I am sorry to hear about Sharon's vision problems. Glen has had problems with his vision since he had retinal tears in both eyes about twenty years ago.
Nice photos and nice to see you both getting out and about.
Thanks, Col, Glen has taken more photos of some of the plants in pots and a visit to the Rose Garden near the Santa Barbara Mission, but I have been too lazy to put them in a post. Gardening has been helpful in dealing with Covid-19, even for our small front and back areas.
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