In pots on Monday

. . . and every day.

I saved two fancy-leaved Begonias that I bought last summer indoors over the winter. I ordered some annual Begonias to complement them and potted them all up by the front door. Alas, the bright Begonias in the back pot are not doing much while the ones in the other pot have overtaken the original Begonia.

I added a pot of an unknown Heuchera and a Japanese painted fern to support the big pots. At some point I put a vase of the clippings from my shredded umbrella leaf in the rear and potted up a crown of my favorite fern on its way to a new location. 

Before the recent rain, I potted up all my unplanted mail order plants, including Clematis 'Lime Close' and a big Epimedium, as a way to keep track of them and water them more easily. The garden is full of yellow flags marking things that have been newly planted and need water.

Turns out the watering is drawing thirsty critters who are digging the little plants out and flipping their roots up into the air. Luckily I've discovered most of that activity before I'd lost more than one plant.

I put my Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Parsley and Mint in this wide pot and raised it up so the rabbits couldn't reach things as easily. Everything has been growing like crazy since this photo was taken. Rosemary is planted with the pot of Calla lilies above. Other than the mint, those herbs are all annuals here. 

I spent time last week weeding the Carexes that cover the slopes in the back garden and removing a few where a shrub was encroaching on them. I want to replant them elsewhere and so popped them in pots, along with a few Bergenia that a critter flipped out and another mail-order plant awaiting its home. 

I decided to plant a few Calla lilies this year as I am always taken with them when I see them as cut flowers. Turns out I like them less as a plant. 

I might like the Calla Lilies if they looked more like the photo on the bulb package. And if all of the bulbs had sprouted. Luckily they weren't expensive and growing them was one more garden learning experience. 

Comments

[Elizabeth]

Good morning! I'm always impressed by your rock wall. I'm a pushover for a nicely made rock wall. Calla lillies are so regal looking. They would grow wild in big clumps in the vacant lots of my youth. Those thick velvety white petals elegantly curving around a bright yellow spadix. Gorgeous. The leaves were pretty too. But I can certainly see why you're disappointed -- they look nothing like the photo. It's a lovly plant, but not what you were expecting, which is disappointing.

[Kris P]

The potted plants look great against the backdrop of the rock, Linda. Your spotted calla lily foliage is more interesting that the plain green leaves of the white-flowered form I have, which was inherited with the garden. The calla lilies, plants and all, are long gone here despite our cooler-than-usual spring - they won't return until the rain does during the winter months.

[danger garden]

I had to enlarge the first couple of photos so I could really appreciate the details, lovely! To me Calla lilies always look too erect and thus fake in a garden setting. They're beautiful cut flowers!

[Barbara H.]

Your callas may not look like the picture but I really like them. Sometimes our expectations interfere with reality and lead to disappointment. If you didn't have the picture of how they "should" be would you still be disappointed by how they are? (Of course, it's much easier to suggest this about someone else's garden rather than one's own garden.)