YUP, I'M JUST THAT BORING

Just a reminder of where we left off yesterday:

We took a trip to our local garden center on Saturday with 5 specific goals:

1. Buy a fern to replace the bleeding heart that was decimated by some sort of animal (perennials were 25% off).  Preferably a tall fern and not one that costs $20.

2. Get some annuals to fill the planter table because the current contents look like crap.

3. Do not come home with mums -- you don't like them -- even if there is nothing else at the garden center DO NOT COME HOME WITH MUMS.

4. Find some seedlings for the empty container in the veggie garden.  Not the ornamental kale that is advertised as on sale, get something that is actually edible.

5. Do not buy any herbs.  You don't need them, they're at the end of their season.  There isn't a lot of selection.  Just pass by without looking!

3 out of 5 isn't bad.  We got a great plant called a Branford fern which was developed right here in Branford, CT and it was only $6.50.  Then I left you hanging on which 2 of the other 4 goals we had accomplished.

Remember how awful the planter table was looking last week:

I had very lofty ambitions for this planter (which actually holds 4 smallish self-watering pots).  I was going to find some beautiful fall plants and put together something with lots of color and varied heights, foliage, etc. and so on.   Then we got to the garden center and found mums, mums, and more mums.  There were a couple of ornamental kale plants and a few ornamental peppers.  Yeah, this wasn't working out the way I thought it would.

I wandered around and finally found a few plastic patio boxes that the garden center had planted up and advertised as fall color.  No mums in sight.  VPH and I liked one of them very much and despite feeling like we were cheating, we decided to buy it.  It was a little bit smaller than the planter table, so I decided we would need a small plant on either side of the planter.  Yup, you know what I bought -- mums.  I couldn't help it, they were the only plant of that size and shape available.  And they're purple, well they were marked as purple, they're not in bloom yet, so we'll see.  Even with the mums, we are really happy with the way the table looks now:

The two end pots of the original plantings were still doing pretty well, so I snapped the bottoms back on them and, as you can see above, put them on either side of the table.  Here's a close up of the planter table:

See, the mums aren't that bad.  Unlike these sad, half-dead plants:

Which moved into the bastard garden:

So that's check on the fern, check on annuals for the planter table (though not exactly how I had envisioned it happening), and a big fat failure on not bringing home mums.

On top of that, the local garden center didn't have a single vegetable seedling, not one.  So now the question is what to put in the empty large container.  The only seed I have on hand is for lettuce (which we didn't eat in the spring -- it's off to the left out of frame of the photo above) and snow peas (which I have growing in two places already).  Any recommendations?  If not, the bell pepper in the smallest container is probably going to move in.

Our last goal was to come home without any herbs.  Unfortunately this one was rather easy to accomplish.  I guess it really is the end of the season, the selection was poor and what they did have looked awful.

Altogether accomplishing three out of the five goals isn't bad.  One was beyond my control -- the garden center didn't have any vegetable seedlings, who'd have thunk it?  And I only came home with 2 little mums and they're purple and green.  You know how I am about purple and green in my garden!

I'm going to take a couple of days off from blogging to enjoy what may be my last chance to sun with my husband and hang out with girlfriends at restaurants by the beach without a jacket.  Back on Green Thumb Sunday.

Comments

[Mummer]

Well, three out of five's not bad! What winter veggies can you grow in New England anyway?
I'm tickled to see the annuals in your centered planter. Reason, in the North, they are only annuals, but you'd be surprised at the number of 'dishonest' garden centers that tout the lysimachia (green trailing 'creeping jenny') and that purple fox tail grass as hardy perennials.
And, frankly, I love mums - to me they are a true sign of Fall...

[layanee]

Love the planter and laughing at the mums. They are hard to resist and they do look good on the ends! Put in the lettuce seed! That's my vote anyway. I think you will be happy when you are picking it for dinner! Have a good mini vacation!!

[Shannon in Cambridge]

I found your table planter in a google search for "fall planter". Love the new look; tall, low, and hanging.