Planting time

I have a bad habit of buying plants and letting them sit for a long time before actually planting them. After a bad experience last fall, I vowed I'd get these new plants in right away after I bought them Sunday.

John  photographed me many hours later, in the front garden. Things didn't go quite as I'd hoped.

It’s always fun to go into a garden centre and buy lovely plants. The problem – for me at least – is getting them into the ground.  Last fall, when I bought my spring bulbs, which should have been planted immediately, I was in the middle of a university course. By the time I was ready to tackle them, it was snowing. And snowing. And freezing. For months, the window that allows West Coasters to cheat on normal gardening practices never opened. It was March before I finally dug those bulbs – some should have been blooming by then – into the ground. The squirrels must have been waiting all winter for this great event, because they promptly dug them up and ate them.

So when I brought this summer’s plants home on Sunday, I immediately put on my grubby gardening gear and headed into the garden. Alas, it’s not that simple. Months of spring rain combined with recent sunshine have encouraged a fine crop of weeds, all of which must be cleared before anything can be planted. Half a big garbage container of debris later, my determination that it would be different this time was fading. As evening fell, I was about half done. I set the remaining plants in a safe place and promised I’d be back soon. I don’t want to be planting them this fall, when those spring bulbs should be going in.

 I bought a lot of delphiniums, and 10 new bamboo stakes to hold them up when they get bigger, 

A closer look at my purchases. The white daisy-looking thing is an osteopernum, which will go in one of my few sunny spots. There are also some New Guinea impatients, a little pink rose, petunias, and a lot of  basket--fillers. The baskets didn't get filled on Sunday.