church planter...

This is one of two planters that sit in a little patio area at church. I had not been by the building in a couple of weeks, and was so surprised to find it looking so lively, colorful and happily greeting everyone with bright bloomers. When I was volunteering at the retreat last weekend, I missed getting to Sunday service, so seeing it greened up and looking spring-y was a  delight when going in the side door this week. That light green draping plant around the edge is (donated) creeping jenny - I thought it had died off in the summer heat, though I was quite diligent about watering once a week if there was not generous rainfall. Jenny is one of those things that is super easy to grow: meaning if you turn it loose in a flower bed, it will eventually cover the whole thing and might make you think: kudzu.

I had a friend help me plant the pansies, those teeny ones with the tiny little blooms and smiling faces back in the fall when I was disabled and my right hand was useless. Added a little of the timed-release fertilizer that is pelletized to dissolve over several months, hoping the pansies would do well in the cold weather.  They have acclimated really well to contiainer living, blooming since we put them in the pots back in the early fall.

When I planted the big central shrub last spring, I put in some bulbs donated from another friend that I was optimistic about blooming over and over. Really did not expect the pinks/dianthus will do so well - I could not believe my eyes when I walked up and it was so full of tiny little pinks and happy pansy faces. Though the dianthus is supposed to be a perennial, because it is in a big planter and roots would be more exposed to cold weather, I was not expecting it would survive cold weather. What a nice surprise.

The big shrub planted in the middle is a Virgina sweet spire. I recently read an article in the paper about a newer version that has pink blooms, but the two I planted last spring will be white. They are fragrant and a delight to discover when your nose draws you to wonder: 'what in the world is blooming that is so aromatic?' Then you follow your nose, as you track the delicious fragrance wafting on the breeze and see that homely looking little shrub, think: 'what in the world is this blooming thing that is so aromatic?' Ask me. I am the only one who knows!