Sunday, June 9, 2013

Garden Purchase Methods


Back in May, we had the task of buying plants for our garden areas…



My husband’s method:
Goes to grocery store. 
Sees plants. 
Says to self, “Oh, these look nice.” 
Buys 3 of each for a total of 9 plants. 
Brings them home. 
Plants them in garden, wherever, or assigns me the task of planting them. 

Total time for his method:  1 hour.
Results: gorgeous.



My method:
Stand outside looking at garden areas.
Make note of which areas get full sun, which have poor soil. 
Shake head at growing weeds. 
Go to garden center. 
Look extensively at plants. 
Check whether plants require full sun/partial shade, do well in poor soil, need acid soil, how long blooms last, if drought resistant.
Consider the color scheme permutations– purple and yellow plants together? white and red together? Does orange fit in somewhere? Be sure to include white.
Decide on which plants to buy.
Buy 9 of each kind for a total of 45 plants.
Bring them home.
Put them outside, and forget about them for a few days.
Spend about an hour deciding which kind of plant goes where.
Rethink the color scheme.
Finally decide to plant them on the one day when it is 85 degrees outside.

Total time for my method: 7 days.
Results: mixed.


Example: 
He got me these plants for Mother’s Day - picked them up at the grocery store.  

I asked what they were called, and he said, “I don’t know.  I just thought they looked nice.”  They didn’t have any labels on them at all.  I took a guess and planted the spiky deep pink ones (on the right in the photo) in full sun areas.  I guessed right – they are called celosia (sounds kind of like a disease) which I learned by buying more of them at a place that cares to label the plants.  The red ones went in a shady area.  I still have no idea what they are, and I feel stupid about that.  I think the name starts with a ‘G’ – Geranium?  Gardenia? Geronimo?

6 comments:

Chris B said...

Begonia :-)

Angie said...

I enjoy plants and gardening, too, but can't remember the names of most of the flowers. At my house, Bob is the one who wants to put thought into it, and I just buy what looks pretty.

Anonymous said...

I love your different styles. And it's so cool that you both garden together. Mr. D could care less, and that's the sad truth.
I think those are begonias he got you.

Cassi said...

And begonias can go in sunny or shady areas, so you guessed well :-)

I have not planted any annuals this year, except I did take the petunias from my aerogarden and put them in a barrel outside. It looked like they were going to die at first, but now I think they've taken root.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I prefer to buy the plants, telling my husband that I will plant them, and leave them for him to plant. I might not like the results but it is better than getting bit by mosquitoes!

(I'm glad someone named those begonias -- I had no idea!)

The Crislers said...

I do love celosia, but you're right- it really does sound like a disease! I often leave plants sitting around after bringing them home. In fact, I'm doing it right now!