THE PORCH

 I just couldn't wait any longer. The weather's stable. The flowers are  sitting patiently in their flats. More patient than I am.  I lined them up  to have a look.Checked the dirt in the pots. Lovely, it even has worms squiggling about in the grainy depths.  Counted the begonias. It was time......

 The porch. A gathering place. A place to sit. And write. Or have a snooze. If you are a cat. Penguin was there before the flowers went in. He didn't stay to see the dirt fly.

 The flats were ready. Waiting.

 Even Cordelia sat in her window in the greenhouse. The anticipation mounting. The dirt will be flying.  She knew.

 Spencer and Smokey also knew to stay well away from the hub and bub.   They watched Cordelia, watching them, watching Penguin on the Porch.

 Up till today, the greenhouse has been a collecting point for as many flats as I could cram inside. I bought them one by one, little by little. And now it's time. Knee pads, trowel, hat, gloves, buckets, fertilizer.......

 Baskets stuffed with Tuber Begonias. They will get big and lovely and last and last till October in the shade. The porch will look friendly again. Not empty , like it does all winter, as if it were a black and white photograph. Now it will be in colour.And Lobelia, with Impatiens added; not one of my favourites. But  inexpensive and they spread. And I loved the name of the variety I found: "Super Elfin Lipstick". How could anyone pass that by? The dirt loved it.

The little pots from the flats were flying around, as they were tossed into the recycling bucket. Smokey was wary of all the flying plastic pots. They weren't birds, he thought, I'm sure. The posts were stuffed  not only Begonias, but sweet peas. Sounds crazy, I know. Sweet peas are meant for sun, but I've found  they grow REALLY well on the porch, or in other shady areas, as long as it is warm, and protected.

 And Fuschias. So many varieties: Display,La Campanella,Dollar Princess,Millenium,Dark Eyes,Miss California, Blue Eyes, Swing Time, and Ringwood Market. Who would think that fuschias have so many names. So easy to grow in a  moist, partial shady spot. 

 And then the bench was empty . Till tomorrow. Till the next batch will be placed out to plant. But not on the porch. There are other pots to plant. Other places where dirt is bare and just scream for flowers . I must have dirt. More and more of it to plant. The porch is ready. The stage is set. The Dirt is calling......

GREENHOUSE STUFFING

 I've been busy. It's time to stuff the greenhouse.  Greenhouse stuffing is a yearly event. Can't pass up finds. Too early to plant. So stuff the greenhouse. I've still got a ways to go . This is a typical spring for Campbell River. Cool nights.Cool days. Some warm afternoons. The sweet pea seeds love it.

 I tend to buy flats of flowers. Not individual ones , but complete flats. I get a discount sometimes. Or if I have a Canadian Tire coupon card, I get $10 off each completed card. The other day I had TWO completed cards. that was $20 of my purchases of flowers.  Woo Hoo!

The nurseries are great. But far more expensive. Even Thrifty's  and Wal Mart has cheaper plants. I buy their geraniums by the flat ($1 per seed geranium. And they get big. So don't be fooled by their appearance right now). I also  got Ivy Geraniums, which are quite tender, and should not go out with the others until it warms up. You can overwinter ivy geraniums. This year I have a purple one that has lived inside in the upstairs window . It's starting to flower.

 Spencer usually supervises. He's not much help lugging the flats into the greenhouse. But he seems to approve. This year I picked up Variegated Potatoe Vine ( Loose clusters of white flowers with yellow beaks. Green and golden yellow leaves. Very strong vine) Of course, Rhodochiton Atrosanguineus ( MY FAV), known as "Purple Bells". Pendulous purplish red flowers are followed by balloonlike fruit, It's very very cool. They like parital sun. Hang a basket of them under a tree.

 Hanging iron basket in greenhouse has been stuffed full of rhodochiton. They will cascade out of there before long. Also found a new one for  me: "Scaevola" ( Makes a large display of pink, fan-shaped flowers on a  trailing plant. Flowers forever, I have been promised. Good. We need things to flower forever.

 Of course, Penguin isn't too interested in flowers. He just wants a snack and the opportunity to sleep on the chairs on the porch.  The porch is where the fushcias will be draped, when ready.I love reading the tags on the flowers. On the Fuchsia tag it says: "Decoration only. Do not eat". I guess they ARE pretty enough to eat.......

 I was also able to pick up Tuber Begonias. They can be rather delicate. I'm hoping we don't get too many goopy, sloppy rainy days, cause the greenhouse could get too murky....Have a new  Setcreasea "Purple Heart" to try out. Wonderful, upright/semi trailing purple plant, kind of reminds me of  Aloe Vera. Only purple. And pale pink flowers in the depths. What else did I get so far......ummmmm, let's see.......Lobelia, Verbeena.Hmmmm, keep thinking there's more ( well, there will be).

 And against all that I usually do, I picked up Impatiens. Not wild about them. Messy , silly little flowers. But figured they would be good filler in the porch pots which get complete shade, most of the time.  I'll hide them under the Fuchsia.

 But it's still early. A few weeks to go till things can be planted outside. The grafted cherry tree is just flowering. A little late.  And Spencer,at the end of the day, in the twilight, after all the excitement at the greenhouse, has decided to snooze on the porch for a short while.All that supervising  of Greenhouse stuffing has been extremely taxing. Soon he will off for home, into the night......