Two Down, Two to Go

We knew that today was going to be our day to finish the gardens by the Florida Room by actually planting the bushes that we purchased yesterday.  What we both underestimated was the amount of time and energy that "just a little planting" would take.

We love the firecracker plants in the corner
and ends of the garden.

We had to start with soil preparation.  We knew that part of the garden was filled with stones, so once again, as Rick started to remove some the excess soil, we knew we would have to remove a great number of stones.

We used crotons called "Sloppy Painter"
on the south wall of the garden.

The easiest way to remove the grass and stones from the soil was to dig out our trusty "shifting table" that we have used in the past.  This little patio table has an open mesh tabletop that we found works wonders to remove palm seeds, stones, and debris from the soil.  Three buckets of stones later, we actually had some soil that we could use to house the new bushes.

Another kind of croton called a Batie Croton
graces the eastern-facing wall of the garden.

We also had to turn over all of the soil in the rest of the garden to get the grass and weeds out.  We spent over an hour just getting the soil prepped and level so we could start the planting.

The eastern walled garden had plants with room to grow.

The southern walled gardens complete the look.

For each bush, we had to dig the hole, mix in a little fertilizer, add some water, and then position the bush.  We needed to make sure the bush was planted not too deeply into the soil since we still must add landscape fabric and red cedar bark stone on top.  The stone will come later.

As the day grew warmer and the sun started to fill the garden space, we worked as quickly as possible to get all ten bushes into the ground.  The whole process took the entire morning, which was longer than either of us had expected.

We also discovered that although the process seemed fairly simple, we were both exhausted by noon. This puzzles us. We know that we have been fairly inactive since Rick hurt his hand this past summer, but we have not sat around and done nothing. We cannot blame inactivity for the way we feel.  We also cannot blame "old age" since neither of us are THAT old.  The only thing we can figure is that we are not used to working in the heat, humidity, and strong sun.  The environment takes a lot out of us, but we will persevere.

We have now completed the corner garden and the Florida Room gardens.  Two gardens are complete, and two more gardens -- on the south and west sides of the house -- are yet to finish.

The hibiscus blooms only last a day or two at most, but each
day new blossoms open.

Meanwhile, Polly continues to offer new, gorgeous blossoms each day. Gladys is beginning to love the flowers that we are bringing to make her pretty again.