May Flowers

I have a joke for you.

What do April showers bring?
May flowers.

And what do May flowers bring?
Pilgrims!

:)

Mother's Day was, what, almost two weeks ago? Hey, at least I'm posting this in the same month that it happened.

The McHusband and I spent an obscene amount of money at The Home Depot getting lawn stuff, gutter guards, and flowers. After stopping at Jersey Mike's for lunch (Anyone else love that place as much as we do? We look for any excuse to go into Fuquay around lunchtime on the weekends because it's pretty much understood that there'll be a stop at JM's.), we got started on our tasks for the afternoon. I'd just started prepping the mailbox area when the McHusband called me to help him with the gutter guards. This involved not one but TWO tall ladders and both of us being up on the roof of the porch.

I don't really do heights so it wasn't my favorite part of the day, but I put on a brave face for the camera.
















At least I got to work on my tan while I was up there.
















Once I was done with my reluctant rooftop apprenticeship, I headed back to the mailbox. I planted three poppy plants, three garden sages, and then three evening primrose plants in the back.
















Guess what I've since learned? Evening primrose is a nighttime/low light bloomer. The informational thingie stuck in the pot didn't say a WORD about that, only that it bloomed in the season that I needed it to and liked lots of sun. Yeah, that's because it's storing all the energy for later. Sure, maybe "evening" should've been a clue, but that's like saying knockout roses are dangerous if you get too close.

I really love the poppies. The colors are so vibrant and the flowers themselves are a good size.





















My phlox is coming back strong in the middle area as is whatever the sorta creeping pink flower is.
































I added some two-toned daisies to the area. I believe they're perennials so fingers crossed that they come back bigger and better next year.
















I kept the urns by the front porch pretty simple - just four plants and only two of them are flowers. Hopefully it'll be a really pretty combo in about a month.





















That's dracena in the back then, from left to right, a yellow flower (the tag just says "Butterfly), a begonia, and then coleus.





















I stuck the tags in the ground next to the urn so I could easily refer back to them.





















Finally, I had three more "standard" daisies that I added to the area in front of the bushes on the right side of the porch. They're a little random, but I'm hoping mulch plus the returning vinca will help them feel at home. You can see my irises going strong under the dogwood tree. Those things came back super-strong this year!
















A close-up of an iris. I love how frilly the petals are.
















Hopefully I'll be good about taking some follow-up pictures and be back to report on my successful gardening. At the very least, I think we're adding mulch this weekend so that'll be the icing on the cake. We WILL get that Yard of the Month stake!