Containers!

Yesterday afternoon, David and I went over to a nursery close to our house and bought a bunch of plants. For a couple of years now, I've really wanted to put together some attractive containers. Last year, I managed to let the spring slip by without doing anything about it (possibly because I was looking for jobs at that time). But this year, we actually got the stuff, and I planted several this afternoon.

The centerpiece is a mixture of spike, coleus, marigold, sweet potato vine, and basket grass. I've had the pot they're in for over a year, but it's been empty until now. It needs full sun (actually, they all do) which should be okay once I get some of the trees in the back yard removed (I have an estimate scheduled on Tuesday).

The other containers are simpler (with fewer plants) and basically hold the leftovers from my trip to the nursery. I went with a list, but it's somewhat overwhelming to stare at tables covered with little plants and then try to imagine four or five of them sitting together in a container. Especially since the ones you plan to put together are all on opposite sides of the place! This container has coleus for height and focal point, verbena to fill up the middle, and licorice as a trailer.

The biggest "mistake" that I made was to get lots of single plants, rather than four packs. In my big container, that worked out okay; for the others, it meant that I could only put a few plants together. Two of my coleus were quite large. In this container, I set a large, mostly-green coleus against the purple/white/green of basket grass.