The Flower Bed, Now With Actual Flowers

No one would ever mistake me for having a green thumb. As much as I love plants and flowers, I am terrible at looking after them. If you're not in my face saying, "Hey, over here! Feed me!" you're probably going to go hungry. I am doing pretty well inside the house right now. I think I have 3 plants on the go and thriving. True, one is a cactus - the definition of low maintenance - but I have had them die before. I'm admitting to all this neglect and yet people still allow me to have dogs. (Note: my dogs aren't neglected. Just my plants. And sometimes my husband.)

My next door neighbour is a groundskeeper at a golf course and he takes his lawn and garden very seriously. He works on them every single day. I'm sure he's a bit embarrassed to be living next to me. I'm lucky that the previous owners planted perennials in our garden to at least keep up appearances. But even perennials can't last if you don't look after them.

So last weekend I broke down, bought new flowers and some super soil to spruce up our digs. I wish I had some good before shots but I don't often take pictures of the front of the house, since I know there isn't much to see.

This is the best I could find:

Previously there was echinacea growing, and a couple of near-death clematis (clematii?), so I pulled most of it out. The echinacea was pretty, but it just grew too tall every year and would usually fall over. The soil was also pretty old so I gave it a good mix with some super soil and lovingly spread it around. 

I chose the flowers for their colours, for the differing heights, and for their ability to spread out.  The neighbours must have laughed, watching me with my flower pots spread out in front of me, wondering what to do next. I planted the impatiens along the front in groups of two to make them a little more substantial right off the bat. Then I planted the salvia and this other guy (new guinea impatiens, maybe?) along the back. That guy started out in a hanging basket, but because he likes partial to full sun, I split him up into four plants and spread 'im around.

Now each morning when I leave for work, I give my garden a smile. So far it's been 5 days and a bit of a heat wave, and they're still hanging in there. Just look at how that coral one in the middle popped.

And as a bit of extra fun, we pulled out the tree in the front flower bed. It's never been a favourite, and this year it seems to have given up the ghost, so we pulled it out redneck style. 

Yes, Tom wrapped a tow cable around the tree trunk, attached it to his truck hitch, and pulled. We can't have one flower bed looking nice without the other one looking like a grave, right? 

Now to find a tree that we really like (I'm voting for birch).

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On a different note, I'm sure you're aware that Google Reader is hitting the road on July 1st, right? Have you found an alternative for your feeds? Both Bloglovin' and Feedly are popular. And they both offer easy importing of your current feeds. Don't wait, the clock is ticking!