Planting Season in Canada

Above are 2 of the 3 large and luscious geraniums I got out of 1 hanging planter I bought at the grocery store for $7.50.  Normally I buy geraniums as separate plants but the color of this one caught my eye and I knew I could separate them to put in single planters.  The planters, by the way, are large ceramic ones that I bought at a yard sale for $1.  Who says gardening has to be expensive?


The plants are a little askew right now because of how they sat in their original planter but they'll gradually fill out uniformly.  They are very healthy looking and all have lots of buds waiting to bloom.  These will definitely go down to Florida with me in the fall.


It's funny how I begin to lose interest in my Florida plants at about the time I'm getting ready to go home in the spring and then, once home, my gardening interest rises once more.  I'll lose interest in my Canadian plants around September and then go gardening crazy again once I get back down to Florida in October.


I'm trying to cut back on the amount of plantings I do because I don't want too much to look after.  I'm also using better soil for my plantings and that's a plus.  I've learned that you can't count on good soil in those hanging planters you buy even if they're filled with healthy looking plants.  Sooner or later they'll dry out and the plants will die.  A good example of that happened a few years ago when I purchased 3 beautiful geraniums in hanging planters from Costco.  I hung one up and planted the other 2 in the garden and the difference was amazing.  The 2 planted in the garden flourished and doubled or tripled in size while the one left in the planter hardly grew at all.


The way I plan my garden is to sit outside and just survey it.  Soon I can picture just what plants and colors will make me happy and that's when I begin buying.  I do it in spurts because it's more fun that way.  In prior years I've planted lots of hostas and they continue to be such a pleasure, beautiful without needing much care.  I'll probably stick mainly to impatiens this year because of the many varieties of color and little work needed to keep them lush.  I don't think I'll plant any annuals in the front garden at all but, of course, I'll put a few pots of portulaca out there because they thrive on sun and dried out soil.  With the existing perennials and the portulaca, that should be all the color I need.


I haven't finished cleaning up the yard, washing the furniture and toys, but all things happen in their own time and I'm just taking mine.  I dug some massive dandelions out of the grass yesterday and am now considering hiring a lawn service again.  At the very least I'd better sow some grass seed out there because it's looking pretty rough.


I didn't spend much time in the yard last year because of the skin cancer treatments but I'm beginning to lose my irrational fear of the sun and will be out there more this year, in the shade and with sunscreen on!  It's emotionally therapeutic to tend a garden, nurturing your plants and just watching the beauty of nature unfold.  I'm looking forward to it.