Spent an hour at the nursery trying to choose flowers for my remaining container, and couldn't decide between carnations, sweet williams, or flowering nicotiana. Settled instead on something to fill in an empty corner of the back garden: a handsome specimen of Monarda called Blue Stocking. Monarda's common name is bergamot or bee balm. This cultivar has a really nifty violet-blue flower. You can eat the blossoms and make a tea of the leaves as it's a member of the mint family. I'm hoping it flourishes in the few hours of sunlight it's going to get where I planted it. The books say it will do okay in partial shade, and lord knows that's what we have around this place.
Meanwhile, I have installed the hosta in the front garden (which John persists in calling the back garden for reasons unknown to me). It looks very happy. The astilbe go in next. All that's left of the displaced plants is the little euphorbia, and I can't decide where to put it. I've realized that the type of hosta I have, a 'Francee,' is going to be huge. They can be four feet across when they mature. Yeek. So it went into a corner from which it is welcome to spread as much as it wants. Hopefully, it will cover up the ugly automatic sprinkler hoses which I don't use. I prefer to water using a regular garden hose or my little green sprinkling can. There are several nice ferns out in that garden which I am hoping to revive. Too bad I never found any online company which could supply me with a mouse-tail plant. It would be just the thing.
Here is a photo of the astilbe, currently ensconced on a table in the back yard. Note Keiko investigating the ever-fascinating kiddie pool of dirt in the background. Neither she nor Natasha use it as a litter box. They like to lie in it, though. So does Dixie. Animals are weird.
Today was a real pleasure. John was home, the weather was perfect, and I finally had my day off. Naturally, I hate the thought of going back to work just when I was getting the hang of relaxing. Luckily, I have a real vacation coming up next week. As late as last week I was feeling bad about only going to domestic destinations with my time off, but suddenly I'm starting to look forward to it. I really do like Wisconsin. I have every intention of finding a new cement pig to replace Henry, although I fear shipping a 25 pound pig home is a very silly and expensive thing to do. But heck, my garden needs a good cement animal to lend it some whimsy.
Like I'm short on that.
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