The Reluctant Gardener Strikes Again

Snow-in-summer, May 2015
It was neither snowing, nor summer.
But aren't they pretty!

Sunday the weather was wickedly cold and windy.  So we went to the garden store.  I bought seeds and potting soil, in what will probably prove to be a futile attempt to bring beauty into the world.

Yesterday the weather was nice enough that I did this.

Forget-me-nots, Thyme, and
Black-eyed Susan vine

The Black-eyed Susan vine seeds are
fairly large. 

By contrast, the thyme seeds are tiny.

The fatal flaw in this whole project
may be that I did not throw out the old
dirt but just mixed it with the new dirt.

Then out to the yard.
I set to digging two holes in
our less-than-ideal soil.

Into those holes I put two snow-in-summer
plants.  The existing snow-in-summer 
is at the tip of the trowel in this photo.  It 
is on its last legs, so perhaps it was
foolish to plant new ones in the same spot.

And then I sprayed the 
balloon flower sprouts with
Liquid Fence to keep the #$&*#
deer and rabbits away.

I want to eventually plant more perennials, and my more-experienced-at-gardening friends have suggested:

• butterfly weed 

• bee balm 

• anise hyssop 

• yarrow

• allium = ornamental onion

Here are my reasons – first, because all of them claim to be deer- and rabbit-resistant, grow in poor soil, and are heat tolerant.  I plan to place them next to the wall of the house that gets the sun all afternoon.  The downside is the interwebs say they are prone to powdery mildew, a fungal disease.  I don’t want to have to use chemicals. 

Here are more pros:

Butterfly weed:  I want to be nice to the butterflies.  As Ron Weasley said, “Why couldn't it have been 'follow the butterflies'?”

Bee Balm:  It is fun to say.  And I want to be nice to the bees.  As long as they keep their distance and don’t build homes in the walls of the house.

Anise hyssop: Hyssop is biblical.  “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  (Psalm 51:7)  Never mind that Penn State Extension says that anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is not bona fide hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis). 

Yarrow:  I would plant this for the interesting foliage, although the flowers online look charming too.  

Allium:  Ornamental Onion is fun to say.  The flowers look like pompoms.

And I am also thinking of Black-eyed Susans because I have always loved them.  

And Bleeding Hearts, because we have had two that came up every spring since we moved to this house, but I think the weeds have finally choked them out.  And I’m hoping they will grow in mostly shade.  I would have bought some on Sunday but the garden store had none in stock.

Do you have a garden?  What are you planting this season?  Do you have any experience with these perennials?