Two Hours Just About Killed Me

Saturday was a silly busy day for us with people coming and going, the U.S. team losing their World Cup game, and the town fireworks, so I didn't get a lot of gardening done.  I did, however, make a dash to the garden during half-time of the soccer match and cut the hydrangea flowers off the bush that were hanging on the ground.  VPH had a bit of difficulty mowing around it the day before.  I ended up with 2 large arrangements and the bush has loads left:

I'm still loving the hot pink astilbe in front of the blue container:

 

I couldn't quite get the photo I wanted, but this cropped one is pretty close to what I envisioned:

 

All the astilbe are putting on a show:

The Royal Purple Bush beans also caught my eye:

As did the ittle-bitty Ichiban eggplants:

 

Saturday morning brought the first yellow day-lily bloom (and three more rust colored ones):

   

And VPH and I both headed out to the garden at the crack of noon.  He had a host of chores to perform.  Finally fixing the rocks around the Mother's Day garden was one of them. Perfectly round circles are so boring, don't you think:

 

He planted the purple buddleia, though now that I look at it, maybe a little too close to the fence...oh well:

 

I can't wait to see it get enormous:

 

He also washed the cushions for the lounger, weeded the mulch area under it and put down another two bags of mulch.  Hopefully that will eliminate the need to weed again.  We also have two bags of mulch sitting in the veggie garden that need to be spread, but the heat and humidity did VPH in rather quickly too:

While he did all of that, I planted the pink buddleia in that purple container on the patio:

 

But what did I do with the zinnias?  A few went into a container of fingerling potatoes where only half of the seed potatoes sprouted:

   

A few more in another container of fingerling potatoes where only half of them sprouted:

   

And the rest went into the patio garden in two different clumps.  Once the day-lilies are done, there won't be any flowers in this garden, so I thought it could use some more color.  Not only for aesthetics, but also to attract pollinators to the zucchini.  They're planted so far back to try and avoid the row of bulbs along the front, but I found a few as I dug the holes:

 

I'm really loving the patio garden right now:

 

Right after I transplanted the zinnias I had to sit down rather quickly because I nearly blacked out.  I don't know if it was the heat and humidity or that I hadn't sweat that hard since the surgery (almost a month ago now), but it scared me.  I drank a large ice water and sat for a few minutes.  But I didn't do much more after that.  Monday's supposed to be insanely warm with violent t-storms here so I doubt the afternoon will bring much gardening, but I still need to plant all the herbs and get the malabar seeds mom sent me into some soil.  But I've set a July 3rd deadline for all planting to be completed and I think I'll probably make it.

Comments

[Katie/Gardenpunk]

I also like the astilbe/pot combo.

[meemsnyc]

Your hydrangea has so many blooms! Lucky! Love the eggplant.

[Heather's Garden]

Katie -- It's one of those lucky accidents since I planted the astilbe bare-root and had no idea what color it would bloom.

Meemsnyc -- It's been a long 4 year wait, but the hydrangea has clearly hit its peak! And I wish I enjoyed eating the eggplant as much as growing it, but VPH loves it.