Succulents

I started an area in the tiny garden for succulents. I'm not sure I chose the right spot. It's sort is just in the middle of everything, but it certainly doesn't look bad in my eyes! I'm still working on it and learning about filling out the empty spots. I purposely left some space in between to allow for growth. I've got quite an assortment of succulents in there. I've placed some purslane, moss rose, and gold sedum in there to mix it up a bit. I hope it turns out okay! I'm hoping too that I can start a succulent garden behind my classroom with my kindergartners and first graders when the new school year begins at the end of this month. We've usually planted mammoth sunflowers, herbs, veggies, and wildflowers. It ends up looking trashed during the summer. Succulents would just fare better with no care over the summer months. Plus, it's so cost effective since propagating from cuttings is so easy.  What do you think?

I probably should move the "hula" themed garden decor to another area of the yard! By the way, to the right is a

Lantana that I was hoping to train into a tree. Also, where the "hula" stuff is places, there is a blue plumbago growing. That's for anther blog post!

You might notice that I moved the spray painted cacti that I got from Home Depot from a previous post into this area. If you compare the pictures, they've actually grown and the paint is wearing off.

Impatiens Cuttings

I propagated impatiens right in the ground last week. I had never done it before, and I was afraid I was going to kill the poor things. I did read about it prior to trying it and everyone said it was one of the easiest things to do. Turns out is really is! I love gardening on the cheap, and this fits the bill!  It helps me multiply the number of colorful flowers in my yard without spending any cash. In a few weeks, these should be much fuller and flowering. I'm excited to see what they will look like.

You can see in the above photos the bare patch right in the middle with the small cuttings. I cut them from the lush New Guinea Impatiens to the left and the Double Impatiens on the right side.

Containers Front and Center

I have several containers in my yard. These were ones that just purchased yesterday from Sunshine Growers in Ontario, CA (an awesome nursery that you should visit if you're ever in the area). These large posts were just $10 each! They are heavy duty, great quality pots too!

Anyway, I filled them with coneflowers and mums....and some tiny little purple stuff (hey I'm a beginner, remember?)!! They didn't have a label, which is one downside to the Sunshine Growers Nursery. Why would they only label 80% of their pots?! Frustrating for a newbie! Sorry for the rant. I'll continue on with my little project...

I placed the pots at the front gate entrance to my house. I hope the coneflowers get taller and the smaller plants below fill in the gaps. I think I didn't do too bad, though. These pots make the entryway look so much more inviting.

Balloon Flower

The balloon flower is a wonderful perennial that blooms from spring into late summer. I have the purple variety. The flowers are beautiful when fully open, but the thing that attracts me the most to this plant is when the flowers are right at their "balloon" stage. It is a sight to behold! It's honestly just so cool! Pictured below is one of my flowers in that "balloon" stage. I have it planted in a container next to the front gate of my tiny garden.  Sorry, it is a bit blurry.

Zinnia- One of my Faves

I love zinnia because they are so easy to grow from seed. I also like that they come in so many varieties. My favorite are these tall ones! Zinnia easily add color to a garden. They are a cheerful flower that remind me of sunshine and they kind of look like fireworks in the garden.