Blooms

 

One of my housecleaners remarked to me, "You sure do like flowers." I do sometimes have fresh flowers in my home, but I think she was referring to my decorating. I have 2 framed prints of flowers (irises; pink generic blossoms), a decorative cross-stitched pillow, and my bedspread which is pictured above.

I have pots of flowers on the front porch to enjoy. Geraniums, calibrachoa, and the violas are still hanging around with the cool spring weather continuing.

The geraniums are the same as what I bought last year. I was glad to see Meijer had them again this year.

Since I put the pot of geraniums under the Victorian gazing ball, I moved the violas to the other side of the porch. I expect them to fade out once hot weather arrives.

My cheddar pinks in the patio plot are in full bloom now. Once the flowers dry up, I will cut them off. Usually, I will get a second blooming later in the summer. They smell nice. I always take a sniff while standing on the patio grilling.

What is in bloom at your house?

Almost Ready

 The new woodworking/hobby shop is almost ready to occupy. The closing on the property with the old shop takes place May 24th or 25th. The people hired to do the painting are supposedly going to move the equipment and supplies and workbenches, etc. So far, nobody seems to know when, but obviously it needs to be soon.

My husband supplied the movers with a floorplan with the equipment represented with templates. He and the other two guys have finished boxing up supplies. Once everything is moved, I expect to see very little of my husband for many days as he gets situated in his new workshop. 

They did a lot of fixing up and sprucing up of the old garage now converted to a shop.

The new heating/cooling unit is mounted up high so it won't take up valuable floor space. It is a heat pump. It has a remote controller for changing the temperature.

There are 3 windows plus a backdoor with a screen door that has a window to allow air in.

There are two overhead doors, but one was blocked off with a wall of pegboard. (Sorry I didn't get a photo of that; you will have to wait until things are all set up.)

An epoxy floor replaced the pitted cracked cement. Lots of outlets were added and a new breaker box to up the capacity of the electricity for all of the machines.

Things the guys really wanted that were nixed were a sink and a urinal. No running water. They walked to the Robin Hood Community Center for a bathroom. They jerry-rigged a water source in the old shop with jugs of water and a sink and will have to make do in the new shop as well. The man who does stained-glass needs water to ground down edges. Two of the guys live within easy walking distance and can use their own condo bathrooms. We will have to invite the third guy to use ours if he needs facilities.

Last night we turned on the furnace in the evening and I slept with my electric blanket on low. Later today we will probably have to turn the air conditioner on as it gets to 80 degrees. 

I have some plant growth in my patio plot: cheddar pinks and Asiatic lilies.

Along the side of the house is a blooming bush whose name I never obtained. Some years it hardly had any flowers (I think because of pruning at the wrong time), but this year it looks pretty good. My irises only have 6 buds so definitely not as good as in the past. My neighbors' peony bushes have the round globe buds already. Won't be long before they bloom.

I finally have a hanging basket on the porch. I first bought a fuchsia; we have a chain hanging down from the porch ceiling hook. The crook of the pot only fit part way through the link. My husband was working in the garage when he heard a crash. The plastic pot had fallen and split into pieces. I thought I might buy a pot but I really wanted a plant to hang not sit on the porch. It probably would not have received enough sun anyway. I saw a calibrachoa on sale at the grocery store and bought it. I have grown these in the past; they ended up with powdery mildew a few years. I hope this one doesn't get that problem.

I saw a pot of verbena for $5 and added it to the geraniums.

I bought a pillow to use with my porch rocking chair. My scoliosis makes one area of my spine bulge out, and the hard polywood slats hurt my back. Most of the pillows are too poufy. This one I bought at Walmart has a zipper; I took out some of the filling.

Now it feels comfortable and if it gets flat I can add back more stuffing. Spring always makes me feel happy after the cold winter.

Calibrachoa

In northern Indiana, Mother’s Day is the safe point for planting flowers. I usually just get pots/containers anyway so can move them into the garage if a frost is predicted. Yesterday I bought these two plants. Typically, I would buy one container to put on my small parsons table on the porch. Meijers had a sale that if you bought one plant, you could a second of same or lesser price for half price. The garden area had lots of plants, but nobody to answer questions. The tags did not have any identification of the flowers. I think the small roundish ones are calibrachoa. I had them in a planter last year and was pleased. They don’t need deadheading like petunias. Calibrachoa looks like small (about 1 inch across) petunias. They come in many colors. The common name is million bells.

 

I don’t know what the bright pink flowers are. They remind me of some purple flowers I had a few years ago in a mixed container. Do you know what they are?

I don’t have my mother’s green thumb. Hopefully, these will last thru the summer. I will have to get a neighbor to water them while I am in southern California for a few weeks in July. We are getting a few nice days to sit on the porch though next week will not be as nice because of wind and rain. In the back next to the patio, the moss roses are coming up and spreading out. No blooms until June probably. The cheddar pinks have stems with buds which I think will open in another week. Starting to look like spring.