Mossing Around!

I received my Oregon green moss from http://www.kinsmangardens.com/ and it is always a process to get it ready to put on the baskets, hayracks and urns.  One note, it has never happened in my garden, the leftover moss I had from last year, I donated to my daughter-in-law's urns and the birds are taking it to build nests!  I am going to take a chance putting it around my urns and hayracks.  Mine is fresh moss, so maybe they will leave it alone.

It comes in a bale all tied with string which needs to be cut away.  The moss can then be peeled away in sections (do not soak what you are not going to use) and soaked in water for about thirty minutes.  It needs to be squeezed as much as possible and then can be torn, pieced, stuck inside of the rungs of the baskets, and layered between the plants if you wish.  This is not like the moss you will buy at Home Depot or the local garden center.  It is so natural, green and brown, almost seems like you plucked it from the woods.

Once used outdoors, it lasts for the season.  If you have kept it dry from last season, it is still good to go, maybe a little darker.  I am going around today to collect the old moss from last year, and I will place it in the middle of my posts between the plantings to conserve moisture.  This may seem like overkill and fussiness, but it really does conserve moisture in those pots that are exposed to the heat and sun.

Go ahead, begin "mossing around."

P.S.  I bought a large basket of pansys (10 pansies in the pot), and will separate them into two hayracks.
Remember, if you buy those small ones in the flats they will barely get big enough when you will have to take them out because of the heat (if you live in zone 5 or above).  I put mine on the north side of my house when they are big and beautiful (around May 1, here in Chicago area).

The Countdown Has Begun

We had a snowstorm last night, but my countdown has begun!  I have decided I am not going to be affected by the weather because I know that four weeks from now I will be planting my seeds in the raised bed vegetable garden, onion sets, radishes, lettuce, spinach and parsley.  There have been years when I planted these seeds with snow flurries in the air, and there have been years when the weather was quite mild.  But, spring break heralds the beginning of the spring planting season.

It is a very small raised bed and I do not have the ability to rotate crops.  So, as Martha Stewart said today on her radio broadcast, if you cannot rotate improve the soil.  I do this every year like clockwork, manure, compost, some additional soil, shredded peat and some slow release fertilizer.  My husband came in with the dog and said it was like "flakey rain" coming down.  I do not want to hear this!

Valentine's Day Plants

Love Lies Bleeding is such an inappropriate name for this beautiful plant.  The year I grew this there were lots of  O's and Ah's from my neighbors.  I started them from seed and they were quite WOW in my front garden along a walkway.  This variety can  be grown in a container with complimentary plantings.  They grow approximately four feet tall and two feet wide.  There are different varieties of Amaranthus Caudatus ( red, green and purple).  The green is especially lovely dried.  Amaranthus dates back to Aztec civilizations used as a food product even into the current day in certain cultures (toasting and grinding of seeds).

Amaranthus 'Love Lies Bleeding'

Amaranthus Green

A similar looking plant is Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate (Persicaria Orientle).  It can grow to twelve feet tall and two feet wide and can be planted in containers (although you would require a huge container to hold this height) or in borders.  My photo was taken at the Chicago Botanic Garden last summer where it was planted in the ground with dahlias framing their entrance.

I have included my photo of inky fingers coleus crawling through my raised bed (this is just one plant).  I had to go back into my 35mm prints to find these.  It sure makes it a lot easier when everything is digital.

Some Favorite Border Annuals

I am always looking for interesting annuals to fill in my borders.  Perilla Magilla (a relative of coleus) can be grown in full sun to part shade and has become a staple each year in the narrow area of my garden border.  It does not have showy flowers, but it has beautiful magenta colored leaves similar to coleus.  In my garden it grows close to three feet tall and about two feet wide.  It looks wonderful next to David Phlox and blends in with pinks and blues.

Another annual that blends in beautifully with perennials in the border is Coleus 'Inky Fingers.'  It is a weaver, trailing up to eight feet.  Inky Fingers is described as mounding, but mine always sends out shoots on each side about four feet in length.  It looks great with other brighter coleus plants, oranges, light greens, yellows.  I plant it in the raised bed where I have boxwood bordering my patio.