Thyme Keeps On Creepin’

I invited my in-laws over for dinner and we ate on the patio. I bought 3 lantern tea lights and hung them from the fence. I also bought over the door hangers for the hanging baskets. Also in this photo you can see the toss pillows and the tray I bought yesterday. I spent $88 at Garden Ridge on things for the patio. I got a set of 5 nesting pots for half off. So of course I had to get more plants. I didn’t have time to plant them before the party, so I will take pics later. As you can see I need one more hanging basket.

I think the oxalis likes it’s location on the front porch. It was blooming like crazy today. The tomato plant also has blooms. Let’s pray for tomatoes! I saw a wasp or bee fly by, so I hope there was some pollination going on.

It’s a lovely Saturday. Perfect weather. 74 degrees, sunny, a breeze. I wish it would stay that way forever. My patio is a lovely urban oasis. My front porch is blazing hot with the full western sun. Last night I got some more potting soil and mulch, so I’ve spent the afternoon planting my remaining plants and three more new ones. I let the cats out to enjoy themselves as well. Lula went straight to the cyclamen and started munching on the petals. Picchu discovered that she can slip under the fence surrounding the patio, so I ended up chasing them all back inside. Now that I am done and relaxing, I have let Tucker back out. One of these days, I will fix the kitty fence so they can be let out on part of the patio.

My mom is sending me some birthday money, so I may get a fire pit. I want one really badly. My neighbors have one and I’m jealous. I also want to get a screen door for the sliding door. The management doesn’t provide them, which is idiotic. And I want to get shoji screens to go in front of the sliding door for privacy. That way I can leave the hideous vertical blinds open.

The new plants I got are Georgia Blue creeping speedwell (veronica peduncularis). The are so adorable and whimsical. I looked for tall grasses but couldn’t find anything at Home Depot. I still have these two planters left to fill. I will try another nursery.

These are the plants I have:

Purple Queen Reina Morada

Citronella

Labrador Violet

Dianthus

Lavander 

Dusty Miller
Cyclamen

Rosemary

Lamb’s Ear

Greek Oregano

Basil

Snapdragons

Pansies

Mint

unknown plant

Purple Oxalis

Tomato

And of course, as soon as I can find it, I must have torenia. I want to get a couple of new big pots and fill them with my favorite flower.

We got socked with another snow/sleet storm today. I had to rescue my plants and put them under a blanket. I hope they survive. Looks like we got 3-5 inches. It’s hard to tell because it’s melting. All the empty pots are full of snow.

Last week I bought $50 worth of plants and now I have no money for groceries. But at least my patio is pretty! I planted most of them on Sunday before the arrival of the Great Blizzard of 2008. Literally as soon as I put everything away and went inside, it started pouring rain. The next morning I moved everything to right in front of the sliding door so they wouldn’t get snowed on later. It’s a good thing I did. By the time I got home from work it was snowing hard and the ground was covered.

One thing I will admit to having learned from Martha Stewart is bleaching pots. She informed us viewers that we should soak our pots in bleach water to kill all the germies (my word) before reusing them. So Sunday night I stacked my pots in the large Rubbermaid container I store garden stuff in and set it where it would catch the runoff from the roof. It was full of water the next day, so I added some bleach. I finally got around to taking them out tonight. The water was extremely cold. Brr. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain, so I set out all the pots on the patio so they will get a good rinse. This weekend I will finish planting.

Now I will finally tell you about my plants. A few plants have hung on since last year: a dianthus, a snapdragon, a lamb’s ear, a dusty miller, and a clover which is really a bulb. I have 3 other purple flower somethings that are dying a slow death. I got a hanging basket of purple flowers for my front porch.  I am also going to try to grow tomatoes on the front porch, as it gets a lot of sun. I also got oregano, basil, lavender, rosemary, citronella, cyclamen, pansies, and a few other things I will have to write down. Pictures soon.

I would love to find some tall ornamental grass or something that I can put in pots on the deck railing for some privacy. The property slopes, so my building is a full 5 feet lower than the building behind me. Anyone walking by on the path can look straight down into the pit of our patio. And did I mention I would really like a fire pit or a chimenea? I do plan on getting some solar lights and some party stuff. My birthday is on the 25th and I want to have an outdoor party.