Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. ~Lou Erickson

After the poison ivy scare of 2008*, I suited up in long sleeves and finished clearing out the mass of growth behind our house. I was left with a rather tidy spot of dirt that looked… dirty. It was blank and boring.

I had imagined we would have a flower or vegetable garden in this area. It wraps around the side of the house going from total shade to full sun, making it tricky to pick out the perfect inhabitants. And then there was the concept of keeping up with the stuff… I would have to water and weed, deadhead blooms and keep the three year old from mutilating the pretty ones.

I worked hard last Saturday. I went to Lowe’s (by myself!) to pick up various plants- annuals, perennials, herbs, and one tomato plant. When I got home Damon had to help me get the tiller going and then I prepared the soil. Eventually I got down to digging holes for the perennials, found flower pots for the annuals, and put the herbs in a strawberry pot. Damon took charge of making an upside down planter for the tomato plant.

Originally I was really excited about the hydrangea plants, because I have always thought hydrangeas would look good next to our house. And I look forward to cutting the flowers to bring in the house to spruce it up. I bought two that already had pink blooms. We will see if they stay pink or turn blue (it depends on the pH of the soil).

However, my excitement shifted to the Sentimental Blue Balloon Flowers we planted on the side yard. They require full sun, and their picture looked pretty on the plant tag. Within a day of putting them in the yard, the blooms were starting to puff up to look like balloons. As they got bigger, they started to turn blue, and today our first “balloon” popped open.

Small blooms like that make me think our garden will survive and maybe we do have a little bit of green in our thumbs.

*I am still not sure if it was poison ivy or not. But I prefer to be safer than sorry.

Technorati Tags: garden, flowers, hydrangea, tomato plant, upside down tomato plant, sentimental blue balloon flowers

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