camellia finally planted

I started the day today by starting some seeds. I have 3 tarragon, 3 sweet marjoram and 6 chamomile started in a Jiffy pack, then 3 pots of summerlong basil started in 3" pots. I am trying to decide if I want to start more basil, which I think I will try to do in the 3" pots. It is supposed to germinate in 7-10 days. Flo managed to tip over one of the little pots of Chinese lantern seedlings, and we couldn't find the seedling anywhere, so that one is a goner. I did try to transplant an extra seeding I had in another pot into the now empty pot. We will see how that goes. Also when I was looking at my containers this AM, I noticed that the long flowering branch of my coral million bells was looking SUPER wilty. Sure enough, the dogs had broken it most of the way off. I pulled it the rest of the way off and stuck it in a bottle of water on the window. It did perk right up, we will see if it can root itself.

After my seed starting, I did a bunch of weeding in the grass in the front yard. They were calling for rain today and tomorrow so I wanted to try AGAIN to seed the lawn when there would be some rainy weather to help me out. Got the front yard seeded and then did a bunch of seeding in the back as well, though I haven't done as much weeding back there. Maybe this time I will get grass. I tried a different seed this time, Sta-Green, some mix formulated for the south.

This morning I FINALLY planted the Margaret Davis camellia. She is done blooming for the year. Before I planted her, I weeded the whole area between the existing Toms and the hydrangea, then planted Margaret. The plan is to cover the bare ground with newspaper, then top it with mulch. This should keep down the weeds and make the soil really nice if I later decide to plant something around the camellias. I did get some more bricks and have now bricked the whole camellia area along the back fence. I still need to weed up the patch of ground between the hydrangea and the Miss Biloxis. Then, I also am really going to have to move the brick, push back the mulch and do something about trying to eradicate all the grass that is around the Miss Biloxis.

We went to the farmers market this afternoon and I got some more plants to make containers for the porch with. I still need to find some place to move my big begonia, then I can put the creeping Jenny into the pot with the coleus and rose form impatiens. When we got home the rain had not yet arrived, so I potted up most of the plants for display on the porch. I have added a pink lily, by itself in a brown pot; a big blue pot with the coral million bells, a lantana; an annual dianthus and some trailing plant with white flowers and a fiberglass terra cotta looking pot with 1 purple petunia, 1 blue bacopia, 1 white phlox and 1 white penta (I think). They all look good and hopefully should keep blooming all summer. I also have some pinky coral petunias that I will plant maybe in a green plastic pot for the back yard, not sure yet.

I moved a sage into the pot with the thyme and rosemary, where the coral million bells had been. The wave petunia in a basket is on the gazebo right now, but I don't think it looks great, so I'm going to move it and get something else for the gazebo.

The one group at the farmers market that I have been buying from had the tumbling Tom tomatoes I want to get for my co-worker (they are supposed to grow in a hanging basket), but they were out of them, so I will have to go back during the week.

The weather report called for rain starting at 4, and I kept waiting for the rain, but as long it it stayed dry, I kept working. I planted 6 impatiens down in front of the Margaret camellia, just inside the brick border. I think they will look nice once the grow in some more. With the rain still holding off, I was also able to get the firewitch dianthus planted in front of the tea olive. I think it looks great.

Jordan and Dante came over to visit today. Sometimes Jordan wears me out a little bit and today was one of those days. He always wants to help, but he kept wanting to mess with my big basket of million bells and kept trying to pull of the formed buds, thinking they were dead. YIKES!

Tomorrow we are supposed to have rain for part of the day but it will be dry between 10 and 4, so I am hoping to get to Wal-Mart in the early AM to get some mulch, then work on mulching in the camellia bed area some more. I would like to find a cheap pot to put the petunias in. We also need to get over to storage and get the hanging baskets and try to get them installed if the weather holds tomorrow. I did get all the stuff for a semi-shade basket today at the farmers market, I think it will look really nice.