The Awful Truth - It Gets Worse

People often ask how I have time to work several jobs, post five times a week, and have time to garden.  The answer is, I don't as you'll see in the pictures that follow:

First up is one of the many special gifts my pals at work gave me during teacher appreciation week: That was two or three weeks ago and these poor annuals are crying out to be planted.

You must be tired of seeing beautiful, tidy gardens on the interweb.  This is surely the antidote to that. WARNING If clutter and disarray  bother you, you may wish to avert your eyes now, read no further, simply leave the computer and ask a friend to shut it down.  

 The table in the back of the house where guests sit in the summer is full of plants.  I'd made a little dent in this.

 then came some more nursery visits.last weekend.  In case you wondered, the chairs are full too.

Brugmansias are out of the greenhouse and have made the transition nicely this year but they displaced the evergreens that were in the pots for winter. Now where did I put those last summer? 

You may remember the Danger Gardenette which looks something like this in the summer:

And similar to this in the winter: 

May brings this awful reality.  Most of the winter plants are moved away but the summer plants haven't journeyed out of the greenhouse yet.  All of that bamboo litter needs to be removed before the migration begins. 

Some of the begonias started inside have made their way into these hanging baskets (from a 70% off sale at Fred Meyer.  With my Tuesday senior discount added to that, they were a steal in January.)

Just don't look down!

It was time to re pot this staghorn fern as it wasn't doing all that well. A closer inspection revealed that mealy bugs were the culprit.  Out came the rubbing alcohol before potting it up. (A little alcohol for the gardener would surely help as well.)  Let's hope it makes it.

Close ups are much nicer as one can omit so much.

Nothing says welcome to my garden like a nice tangle of hose to trip over.

I believe you were  warned  not to look down.  When I get home from work, I take a little break and then dash out to get a few things done like cutting back, pruning, planting.  In the garden, I have a bit of attention deficit disorder and go from project to project, not fully finishing anything.  It all will eventually get done, perhaps by the first frost.

This Aechmea blanchetiana has been with me for three years now, wintering in the greenhouse.  Once it gets more sun, it'll turn golden yellow and orange.

speaking of bromeliads, here are a few of my long time specimens and some of the new ones from Rare Plant Research.  I kind of want to do a bromeliad area here but don't want to get rid of that glorious Adiantum pedatum which has taken some time to achieve that size.   What to do, what to do?

It's a jungle out there!

I don't know how these allium ended up here.  There are others planted around but these just appeared a few years ago.

Meanwhile, there are still more begonias that should go outside soon.

The miniature hosta collection grows.  I'm scared to plant them in the ground as that's a bamboo rhizome pruning area and they seem quite happy in pots.  The new ones in plastic will be potted up in terra cotta pots one of these days.

How about having a seat on a bench.  Oops, more plants.  Someone needs to get busy!

Often new plants get dropped over the front gate from the car.  Hooray, Clematis florida sieboldii was found yesterday at Watson's!   Should I power wash those bricks or just enjoy watching the moss cover them?

No path is complete without a bale of potting soil ready to fall on anyone who passes by!  By the way, if it falls on you, it's your job to carry it to the greenhouse. 

So, there you have it, the awful truth of my garden at this time of year.  The good news is that I have today, Saturday, and Monday off from work and plan to use all three days to do nothing but work outside.  I hope you'll also have a weekend full of gardening fun!