Michael and I are very nearly unrestrained nursery hoppers and shoppers. They're thrilled when they see us coming dragging a wagon. Our most recent adventure was at the UC Davis Arboretum. The prize that day was Iris Watii. One of our favorite places is the Half Moon Bay Nursery(in Half Moon Bay) It's huge place with all kinds of tempting things. We go far and wide though we also have some great local places like Digging Dog.

Did a little nursery hopping this week too. I had already bought all my roses so I didn't shop for more but came home with some pretty annuals to fill the patio pots and window boxes.

Don't know how it is in other parts of the country but in Michigan there are no impatiens this year because of the terribly mildew blight we had last season. Instead there are tons of begonias, vincas and the sun impatiens. Picked up some of each along with some fancy petunias and geraniums. My pots and boxes are filled to capacity, lol!

I also got charmed into a new trend. I built a fairy garden!

I recently finished my most recent round of veggy planting. I got seven tomatoes, some bush and pole beans, herbs, companion flowers, and a batch of seeds for planting. I also couldn't resist getting some annuals to bring a little more color to my front yard, so now I have some lobelias, cosmos, and little yellow daisy-like flowers. I love it when I plant flowers and by the time I get the hose to water them in there are already bees visiting. Oh yes, I also got a new floppy garden hat to keep the sun off of my neck.

I have a cute story from that nursery visit too, when I was at the counter checking out a man came in with his little girl, probably about four years old, and she walked right in and looked at the clerk and asked: "Do you have ponies?" Everyone was charmed, and suddenly somehow disappointed that there weren't any ponies at the nursery.

Was she trying to pronounce peonies?

She definitely wanted ponies, the nursery has 'farm' in the name and with all the fertilizer and alfalfa meal inside it does smell a bit like a place that should have livestock, I think she was expecting animals instead of plants.

I went to one of my favorite nurseries to buy pine bark mulch in the form of small nuggets. They didn't have any because they didn't get any in this year because they didn't think that it sold well enough last year. But, but, but... So, did I just go home? Of course not. I bought plants. Perhaps this was their plan from the beginning. Because I have ordered an unconscionable number of roses this year by mail order, I did not buy roses. I bought two Dianthus, 'Eastern Star' and 'Neon' (and it is). I know only one Dianthus that really grows well here and that was a pass-along plant (not to me and unnamed so I don't know what it is nor how to get it) but I keep trying and the tags said that they bloomed all Summer. We'll see. I also got Liatris 'Kobold', Phlox 'Shortwood' , Iris sibirica 'White Swirl' (I think) and 3 flats of Impatiens. They said that the impatiens had been treated to prevent mildew while they were being grown but that the treatment could not be bought by the public to continue the protection. I buy Impatiens every year for certain large pots. I cannot imagine being without them. I hope I don't have to learn. Every year I think that I will cut back on plants and every year there are more. This is not even the tip of the iceberg. Others purchased by mail order are, for example, Rhodea (an evergreen shade lover), Thelipteris kunthii (a fern that is supposed to keep growing throughout the Summer), Hellebores 'Joseph Lemper', 'Jakob', 'Winter Moonbeam' and others, Alstromeria ('Tangerine Tango' for my sister and one for me) and on and on.Then there are the roses; 'White Cap', 'Pax' (Vintage), 'Mme Isaac Periere', 2 'Pope John Paul II', 'Devoniensis', 'Eden', 'Young Lycidas' (lovely perfume), 'Mlle Cecile Brunner', 'Mme Alfred Carriere', 'Darlow's Enigma', 'New Dawn' and then there are those that haven't arrived yet. And yet, the 'Blanc Double de Coubert' that I planted years ago looks better than it has in years as do the number of buds on the 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' and 'Ilse Krohn Superior' (alfalfa really does work!) and peonies new to bloom are budding so it IS worth it even if the Mlle de Sombreuil' did die.

Cath

I went to one of my favorite nurseries to buy pine bark mulch in the form of small nuggets. They didn't have any because they didn't get any in this year because they didn't think that it sold well enough last year. But, but, but... So, did I just go home? Of course not. I bought plants. Perhaps this was their plan from the beginning. Because I have ordered an unconscionable number of roses this year by mail order, I did not buy roses. I bought two Dianthus, 'Eastern Star' and 'Neon' (and it is). I know only one Dianthus that really grows well here and that was a pass-along plant (not to me and unnamed so I don't know what it is nor how to get it) but I keep trying and the tags said that they bloomed all Summer. We'll see. I also got Liatris 'Kobold', Phlox 'Shortwood' , Iris sibirica 'White Swirl' (I think) and 3 flats of Impatiens. They said that the impatiens had been treated to prevent mildew while they were being grown but that the treatment could not be bought by the public to continue the protection. I buy Impatiens every year for certain large pots. I cannot imagine being without them. I hope I don't have to learn. Every year I think that I will cut back on plants and every year there are more. This is not even the tip of the iceberg. Others purchased by mail order are, for example, Rhodea (an evergreen shade lover), Thelipteris kunthii (a fern that is supposed to keep growing throughout the Summer), Hellebores 'Joseph Lemper', 'Jakob', 'Winter Moonbeam' and others, Alstromeria ('Tangerine Tango' for my sister and one for me) and on and on.Then there are the roses; 'White Cap', 'Pax' (Vintage), 'Mme Isaac Periere', 2 'Pope John Paul II', 'Devoniensis', 'Eden', 'Young Lycidas' (lovely perfume), 'Mlle Cecile Brunner', 'Mme Alfred Carriere', 'Darlow's Enigma', 'New Dawn' and then there are those that haven't arrived yet. And yet, the 'Blanc Double de Coubert' that I planted years ago looks better than it has in years as do the number of buds on the 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' and 'Ilse Krohn Superior' (alfalfa really does work!) and peonies new to bloom are budding so it IS worth it even if the Mlle de Sombreuil' did die.

Cath