Recap volume 3

I think I shall post about my burgeoning garden, because it's the only thing I have pictures of, and I can't find any AA batteries in the house for our ancient and perpetually-low-on-batteries digital camera. Plus, it's my very favorite thing right now. I love flowers, I'm absolutely obsessed with them. I have aspired to be a successful flower & plant grower for years, but never had much luck. My first plant purchase was in college. Something palm-like and tropical. (Always the escapist - I lived in Ohio). I loved it so much that I watered it profusely every day, until it succumbed to root rot and I dropped it off at my Grandma's begging her to save it. No go. Chuck has always attributed my lack of plant skillz to the plague of a brown thumb, but truth be told, I'm all about the planning and the prepping and the planting, and pretty lax with the maintenance. This seems to be a common theme in my life...

Living in the desert for 8 years didn't really help my gardening aptitude, combined with the fact that no matter how many books you read, or how many sources you consult, there is no hard and fast rule for any flower or plant. There are so many variables, soil, climate, species of the type of plant, etc. It is largely trial and error, and more than a bit of luck. Since we moved back to Atlanta from Los Angeles, Lady Luck has been prevalent all around, but I am most pleased with my newfound success in the gardening department. I've turned over a new leaf. I think I might actually be the plant whisperer.

The only fortunate part of planning a wedding while renovating a house, is that I was able to incorporate decorations for the wedding that we could actually use at our house. In lieu of the gazillions of fresh flowers that I originally envisioned, the majority of our wedding decoration budget consisted of plants that were meant to end up in our yard.

Here's what we started with:



When we moved in at the beginning of April, we lucked upon an annual plant sale at the fantastic Oakhurst Community Garden, which is about 2 miles from our house. For less than $50, we picked up:

3 mature irises



a crinium lily



4 calendula plants



2 asters



and 3 mature day lilies



These were all plants that had been donated to benefit the garden, and came from people's yards who actually knew what they were doing. I was told they would be much hardier than the usual overpriced crop I bought at Home D or Lowes. And they were a bargain - between $3 & $5 a piece for mature plants. I'm loading up at next year's sale!

Due to the abundance of Georgia red clay, prepping the bed proved to be a little more work than anticipated. I did most of the planting with a spade, rather than a trowel. While chipping away, I encountered a mound of fire ants, a black widow, and this lovely relic:



That would be a crack pipe.

The irises bloomed almost right away. I thought I took pictures, but hell if I can find them. We added a border and some decorative red mulch, and that's how it stayed until last week, when I finally planted all of the plants and flowers from the wedding. I'm so excited because our front beds are an abundance of blooms!!!





However, it is late and I am turning into a pumpkin, so I'm going to have to continue this later...