Spring Gardening

The weather here has finally stabilized a little bit (i.e. not monsooning daily), so I bought a few pallets of flowers and planted them in the sad wasteland that was once my beautiful garden.

In December, everything was still blooming. The caladiums and coleus were on their last legs but still looked vibrant and colorful. The hibiscus and canna lilies were still blooming!

 The knockout roses bloom incessantly all year round!  I had to trim the bush back because it gets ENORMOUS every year!

 This angel's trumpet is about 12 feet tall. I planted it as a 2 ft stick January of last year. Amazing how fast these things grow!

Sigh. I can't wait for everything to bloom again this year!

I planted a few packets of zinnia seeds in late October because I had kind of a bald spot on this corner of the garden and they just exploded within a few weeks. 

This canna lily is one of the best investments I've made. I was warned that it might not do as well outside as it would indoors, but it has bloomed constantly since I planted it last May. I just trim up the dead-ish looking leaves and otherwise leave it alone.

Anyway, unfortunately, it RAINED and RAINED and RAINED and RAINED incessantly for about a month so everything drowned, so I am pretty much starting over with spring flowers.  I got a pallet of red snapdragons, multi-colored pink/yellow/orange snapdragons, pink dianthus and orange calendulas. I got some light purple wave petunias and blue daisies for pots. Additionally, I planted some orange gladiolus bulbs and some white caladium bulbs (which won't pop up until May probably). 

These are the Amazon Neon Duo Dianthus. I got some in cherry and purple. The purple ones are a super vibrant electric purple, almost like a highliter color.  They are supposed to get up to 3' tall, and are approx. 18'' now. 

The neon Dianthus are in the background. See how sad it looks? :(  Stupid rain. I planted a row of Super Parfait Strawberry Dianthus along the front, and a row of red snapdragons behind it. In the middle of this area is supposed to be a hydrangea, but it doesn't seem to like its spot there because it has grown about 3 leaves in 2 years. I keep hoping it'll make a comeback, but it may be time to pull it up. Around the hydrangea I have about 10 "Breast Cancer Awareness" hyacinths that kinda half-ass bloom, but it's really too warm in Louisiana to grow those outdoors.

I planted the orange Calendulas on this side with red snapdragons behind it. There are some black-eyed Susans that should bloom shortly (seeds planted in September), along with some gayfeather that may pop up eventually (they survived the rain but look a bit sickly).

An overview of the whole garden with my super awesome free slave labor sister in the background who helped me plant stuff since she was here visiting for Mardi Gras. It's just devastating to look at everything that died!

You can see how freakishly bright those neon Dianthus are. I may have to go get some more!

Along the side here I planted some more of the Strawberry Parfait dianthus, some of the multi-colored snapdragons (they're called like Malibu Beach or something). Closest to the house is a white Camellia and a walking iris that hasn't bloomed in 3 years. I'm hoping this year will be the year!

 These are some gorgeous blue Cineraria. They are so vibrant and lush! A bunch of petals fell off when they got rained on, so they might turn out to be more of a porch plant than a true outdoor plant. I paired the Cineraria with some light purple wave petunias.

One sad Calendula!  These flowers are so pretty and fragrant but they seem to be a little finicky, although my definition of finicky is that if I don't water them for 5 days and they die, they're finicky. I left them in the little 6-pack containers for a few days without watering and a bunch of them shriveled up. I went ahead and planted them even though some were a bit crispy. I always just cross my fingers and hope they'll make a comeback.

 Excuse the hose and crap in the background!  I wanted to get a shot of these Crotans (the red/orange/yellow plants), which I got 50% off last year, and are doing fabulous!  I want to get some more of them. They are so colorful, and grow super slowly so they don't overpower the annuals I plant around them!