Monday, November 20, 2017

about the pansies...

... that were calling my name when I went to the hardware store a week ago. Purchased a little nine- plant pack to go in the planters I have diligently watered and fed over the summer. Two large pots in little patio area just outside a door at church.

When I first felt the urge to take responsibility for the care and maintenance of these containers, they were thoroughly neglected. With deceased rosemary plants, and rapidly dying English ivy, really pitiful looking. I bought some spring blooming shrubs that will keep their leaves, stay green year-round, called Sweet Spire. Supposedly very fragrant, but they did not do much the first season. Hopefully, they will be better established, over initial planting shock, and bloom well next spring.

Added some bulbs that are a wee version of jonquils, donated from a friend. Then put several small plants around the base of each Sweet Spire, that would bloom all summer. Dianthus in shades of burgundy and white.  Most survived with ample watering, though a couple did not make it through the summer, possibly due to sitting on concrete slab that radiated blistering heat. I added some creeping Jenny, to trail over the lip and down the outside of each pot along with mulch to try to preserve moisture. Most Sundays, and maybe another day mid-week, I filled a big pitcher or bowl from the kitchen ice machine, and dumped in the shrub, to melt and provide water.

I have recruited a friend who will meet me this morning to put the happy faces of little pansies in today. How can you look at the bright colorful blooms of pansies and not want to smile back? These are the little ones, sometimes called 'viloas', so they might be related to violets? My mom had them growing in her yard, where they would re-seed, and come back year after year. So prolific, in the perfect environment, they were everywhere: coming up between bricks on walkway, along the edge of asphalt drive apron.

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