Max works on planting a pot by the door while Tuesday soaks up the sunshine.

When is it safe to plant in May?

Today, May 3, was a record early start for planting the containers in the backyard. Even though there have been a few unwelcome frosts along our spring journey, it had been overall unusually warm. My grower, who grows the flowers for McCumber Gardens, called to let me know that the plants, grown in a mostly unheated greenhouse, were ready. We all know the average last frost day is May 15th, so perhaps I am playing with fire, or ice as it is. decided to take the plunge. While there have been some heartbreaking frosts in the past few weeks that have left some of us fruit tree fans wondering if we should just give up after three years of fruit blossoms blooming and freezing, I do think, that this year, it had got to be over. the first order of plants came on a Friday, I decided to start with my own plants. With the traditional labor force of Max, Henry and myself, we drove Max’s truck to the business holding yard and loaded up a selection of beautiful texture and color.

Henry planting the pots at the pergola posts.

When planting pots, make sure that the soil is soft and enhanced. We use MetroMix, added with p4 water holding gel, and enhanced with Yum-Yum. If you start with well prepped, soft potting soil, your job will be easy.

With pots, we follow a formula, but also abide by my first and foremost rule of garden arrangement, which is: there are no rules. No color rules. None. That said, it is good to find a good balance between repetition and uniqueness. Choose the plants you love the most and copy them in all your containers. For me that is usually the tall rocket snap dragons. Then move into other varieties that you use often, and top it off with a few splashes of one unique thing.

Every year is different, but this year we chose snap dragons, plum petunias, wine petunias, pink angelonia, pink and red geraniums, dusty miller, whit alyssum for the edges, red and purple verbena, trailing sweet potato vine in both green and purple, euphorbia, and, my special secret, dahlia bulbs. Later I will drop in some pops of yellow and a few herbs such as Thai basil, ornamental oregano and thyme. Step one as usual, was to make sure the soil was soft and well prepared.

Kendall working on the outer pots

We pull out the roots from last year, top it off with new MetroMix, mix in some new p4 water holding polymer, and mix in some Yum-Yum. From there it is easy street. With the plants on the patio, we spread them out in each pot, mixing them up with the usual balance of the repetition and exotic, also starting with the big plants and working our way down to the little six packs. When we were finished there was the usual watering in with Superthrive, a plant hormone mixture mixed with kelp. The whole process, for sixteen pots, took us 3 hours each for nine pots. Stay tuned for pictures of these pots over the course of the summer as things will be growing and changing. These really are one of the greatest joys of our summers here and a huge element of our outdoor living. Max too brought up today who amazing it is that people can grow and cultivate gardens, which brought me back to the question of “Why do we do it?” Why is it so important? I guess the answer is that life is about beauty and about appreciating other life, and life can only be lived to the fullest if you surround yourself with the amazingness of it as much as you can. over.

Successful pot from 2014

Every year is different, but this year we chose snap dragons, plum petunias, wine petunias, pink angelonia, pink and red geraniums, dusty miller, whit alyssum for the edges, red and purple verbena, trailing sweet potato vine in both green and purple, euphorbia, and, my special secret, dahlia bulbs. Later I will drop in some pops of yellow and a few herbs such as Thai basil, ornamental oregano and thyme.

Step one as usual, was to make sure the soil was soft and well prepared. We pull out the roots from last year, top it off with new MetroMix, mix in some new p4 water holding polymer, and mix in some Yum-Yum. From there it is easy street. With the plants on the patio, we spread them out in each pot, mixing them up with the usual balance of the repetition and exotic, also starting with the big plants and working our way down to the little six packs. When we were finished there was the usual watering in with Superthrive, a plant hormone mixture mixed with kelp. The whole process, for sixteen pots, took us 3 hours each for nine pots. Stay tuned for pictures of these pots over the course of the summer as things will be growing and changing. These really are one of the greatest joys of our summers here and a huge element of our outdoor living. Max too brought up today who amazing it is that people can grow and cultivate gardens, which brought me back to the question of “Why do we do it?” Why is it so important? I guess the answer is that life is about beauty and about appreciating other life, and life can only be lived to the fullest if you surround yourself with the amazingness of it as much as you can.