Hen & Chicks
Above is a birthday gift from a very thoughtful neighbor. Over the years she has added some amazing florals to my porch and garden. I've always admired this sort of set up for hen and chicks, but always passed as I thought it was too expensive.
I have several hen and chicks growing in log crevices and on rocks. This one is like a beautiful center piece.
White ones in an old galvanized pail that was used to collect maple syrup by my father in law's dad.
For me this year, the flowers have it. I can be close to the house yet still outside working in the tiny gardens and watering those flowers in containers on the porch.
My neighbor professes to have a brown thumb. Indeed she sort of does, but she has a wonderful eye for adding to my collection of flowers. Last year a lavender plant showed up on my stump with a note when my MIL died.
Another year some beer and Gerbera Daisies showed up.
Flowers have a way of making me smile. My Grandmother Pearl loved flowers. Grandpa only let her have a small area for her flowers. She managed to have the most incredible flower garden in a tiny space.
Moon flowers were my favorite. I have yet to grow some of those.
At one time I disliked geraniums. But my MIL always had a wonderful mix of them on her porch or later on her balconey. I'd cut the spent flowers for her and learned to have an appreciation for them.
This year I have 3 colors of geraniums. I potted some exotic pink ones in an old pot I inherited from her balconey.
The Hen and Chicks I moved to the Forest Garden are doing well!
I couldn't resist a bit of playing around in the woods. The shade is nice and the breezes were warm but tolerable.
I didn't plan on a moderate drought this year, so hauling water daily to water my seedlings is an extra chore, but one I don't mind.
I had to put some 'fake' flowers in the basin of the Old Man's head. Real flowers would have withered away in this wind and heat.
In a way, I am happy that I didn't decide to do a large veggie garden this year. The lack of rain and the heat would have made the work much more intense.
My garden this time last year:
It was rather impressive.
Rich keeps telling me that he will till it. But he has forgotten that the tiller is partially broken and lives at the neighbor's house now. My neighbor has tilled for us for the past 4 years.
I just don't have the heart to ask him to do it for us in this heat.
At least if we do get some tilling done. The garden will be much smaller but I will reserve an area for Zinnias and other colorful flowers to admire.
If it were left up to me, I'd have flowers and plants to work with every day.
I have such a hard time resisting all of those bright colors.
Have a wonderful Monday.
My June week is filled to the brim with fun and exciting activities.
Ahem.
Who am I kidding?
It looks to be awfully hot and icky this week with a chance of humidity, clouds, maybe some rain, and chance of viewing a partial eclipse of the sun on Thursday!
Flowers....I just love them!
Flowers will brighten any day! Especially those with memories or meaning attached to them. Your neighbor sounds wonderful. My hubby loved the hens & chicks I had growing in the nooks of our field rock wall by the pond. I never did a thing to them, other than plant the original succulent. They duplicated and grew happy spilling over the edges & all over the rocks with no soil/sand. I spent many, many hours nearby. They must have gotten lonely, and all but withered away. I recently brought home what was left of our Hens & Chicks. I planted some in different areas on our retaining walls, and a few in a planter. Will be curious to see if they take here. Do you over winter your geraniums? There is nothing like a cheery geranium blooming inside on a cold wintery day. My grandmother loved the old fashion red ones, and always had them growing on her balcony in Spain.
ReplyDeleteI tried overwintering the geraniums once and it was a huge failure. I didn't know they could live as a houseplant? They would grow all winter inside?
DeleteI don't have much room in the way of inside the house so my indoor plant is very tiny. It is an ivy and some tiny succulent that would grow in a fairy garden.
At one time I had plants all over the place.
My grandmother had hen and chicks and I just thought they were so cool in her rock garden.
Yes, geraniums absolutely can be grown inside as a houseplant!! After trying most of the basement methods (dormant/semi-dormant, bare root hanging upside down, paper bags, totes in peat etc etc) I found if you want to keep any, they do best as houseplants. I have kept a couple growing on my windowsills for decades. I will email you the things that worked for me :)
DeleteWhat a nice neighbor you have! My in the cooer and wagon lettuce will be great in a few more weeks I was so late planting it. Crazy spring weather leads to crazy summer weather, I am real tired of the heat ...we got rain last night finally. about a half of an inch maybe a bit more...yes exciting stuff happening here too...you can imagine it is a bit like your wild and crazy week:)
ReplyDeleteTerribly hot here in Iowa too. River is WAY down. Rained for 5 seconds today, but will be dry in the future, they predict. I have to water the cardinal creeper before it dry s out. I don't even thing I will be planting tomatoes this year.
ReplyDelete