Color Combinations

So, I will say that while looking through the seed catalogs all winter, I had decided on a shades of pink color scheme for this year. It seems I forgot about the perennials I grew last year that came back better than expected this year. The end result is a great mix of just about any color out there, but I think it turned out quite well (completely unbiased opinion there ...).

Here is one container that has some Night and Day Snapdragons I grew last year as well as some Calla Lilies I planted about two years ago. I threw in a dahlia tuber this year (not knowing what color it would bloom) and got lucky that everything came up in reds and pinks.

Kris actually said he liked how the blue balloon flowers looked with the leftover yellow snapdragons, so I thought I would include a pic. There are a few small pink dahlias (one of my favorite flowers if you hadn't guessed already) on the right and some red bee balm blooms speckled in the middle. The balloon flowers came back so much bigger than they were last year and are just exploding (quite literally) with blooms this year.

Last, but not least, the blueberries are finally ripening! After a month or two of watching the little berries grow, it's nice to sample the sweet rewards. We still need to supplement our berry supply from the Farmer's market, but this is definitely one of the few shrubs I don't mind having in the yard. We have two Sunshine Blue plants in one large container (their leaves turn a lovely red in the fall) and one miscellaneous variety I picked up from the Farmer's market a year or two ago. I probably need to amend the soil a bit this year to make sure it is acidic enough.

Arg! It's that time of year ...

So, it has been a bit since my last post and this is largely due to the ridiculous amount of time I have spent outside hand-picking and killing the Japanese Beetles that are trying to decimate my plant collection. First the slugs, then the grasshoppers, now the beetles - my patience is definitely being tried this year. Unfortunately, the only safe way to control the beetle problem seems to be the grab and squish method that makes me really happy I bought extra gloves this year. They come across a bit blurry in the picture, but I figured I would spare you the detailed before and after view. They seem to favor the hollyhock, dahlia, and (as of today) blueberry plants. And here I thought we only had to worry about the birds stealing our ripening berries.

As for the slugs, we finally put out some beer for them as they seem to prefer this to Sluggo any day of the week. I'd say a dozen or so decide to drown their sorrows (and mine) each night. I'm sure there are dozens more hanging out elsewhere, but every little bit helps :)