New Season of Life

Spring is here in North Logan.  It's a different type of spring than I have grown accustomed to.  It's a different altitude and a different zone (to say nothing of the difference in humdity levels).  It's crazy to think that I lived and gardened in Chicagoland for 20 years.  I don't feel that old and I don't feel that experienced.  But now it is time to adapt to gardening here. 

First change - we are several zones colder!  Since the winters in Chicago get so cold I thought that the gardening zones would be similar from place to place.  But apparently here in Cache Valley we are zone 3-4.  That means flowers are slower to come out and that my container gardens get started later in the spring.  I'm used to planting my annuals right around Mother's Day and now I have to wait clear until Memorial Day. 

However, it's been such a warm spring and our front porch is so protected that I decided to jump the gun a little bit and planted up some perennials over the weekend.  It feels so good to have a pretty pot to greet me at the door.

I went with my good old standby's, Hosta 'Brim Cup', Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Pennisetum 'Rubrum'.  I added in a pretty Dianthus 'Coconut Surprise' for blooms.  I don't know how long she will bloom, or if I will get much rebloom from her, so I may take her out and replace her with a long blooming annual once it really warms up and we get well into May.

Even if we get below 32 degrees at night I think these plants will hold up okay.  Especially considering that the porch is very sheltered.

Sorry about the image quality, the flash washed the colors out.  I obviously need to practice shooting without the flash. 

The colors actually play very nicely together in this combination.  I thought about using Hosta 'Patriot' to play off the white from the Dianthus but the green and yellow in 'Brim Cup' worked so much better with the other foliage colors. 

I still need to add a "spiller" to the pot, and will do that once we are past Mother's Day.

We should be closed on our house early enough next fall that I can go ahead and plant these in the ground once we move in.  I'm not sure if the deer will eat them or not.  Another thing for me to learn about and discover.

In other news.  We put together a quick and easy raised bed garden so Aunt Marianne could grow her tomatoes this summer.  It was much bigger than we expected so I decided to claim half of it for myself and planted lettuce and peas.  First time in years I haven't had to fight rabbits for a salad!