Beth Ferrier’s Blog

The toughest decision every year is settling on a color scheme for the planters. Mostly I just head for the garden center and go with what catches my fancy, sort of like picking fabric for a new quilt. This year I wanted to create an old fashioned garden feel, so I settled on red and white. Red geraniums and a tall glass of lemonade on the porch swing, that says carefree summer time to me. (I do feel a quilt coming on. Red and white? Red and green and white? We shall see.)

Along the front of the house we have two hanging baskets, four urns and two planters. I decided to just start with those and consider the back yard planters seperately. See the bird’s nest on the ceiling fan? Momma robin was very patient with me as I worked on the porch. We’ll wait for her babies to fledge before knocking down the nest.

The plants wait their turn, sassy red geraniums, verbena and superbells (those adorable tiny petunias), and white bacopa, diamond frost and mini daisies. Tall daisies, medium geraniums mixed with trailing verbena, like a quilt, dark, medium and light.

The garden beds are all perenials. The spring flowering bulbs are all done. Soon we’ll have flashes of color from the irises and peonies. This is the view from the front door.

And from the other end of the walk.

A few years back I decided to group collections of plants. Coral bells come in so many beautiful leaf colors, they are perfect for this partly shadey spot under the old apple tree, at the start of the front walk. Just a few feet away, a gathering of cone flowers, purple, white and red drink in the sun. And just beyond, delphiniums will send up fountains of blue, pink and white.

The lily of the valley smell heavenly for now, but they threaten to overrun the garden. Every year I cherish them as they flower and tear them out when they’re done. Anybody want a shovel full?

Just as a quilt should catch your attention from across the room and then draw you in with the details, I’ve added little bits of color under the main plants. These ornamental strawberries are just charming (looks like my favorite flower shape for applique, huh?) They will bloom for another week or so and then fade into the background.

On this Memorial Day, as I savor the routine tasks of tending a garden I’ll be remembering the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. As one of my youngest son’s best friends ships out to Afghanistan, I am reminded that our freedoms come at a heavy price and must never be taken for granted. I am proud to be an American, and try to live my life in a way that honors the sacrifice of our military. Thanks, guys.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 9:09 am and is filed under daily life, garden stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.