Let's grow!

I have Spring fever bad (along with bad allergies). It's been Winter here in the arctic far too long. So when I heard today would be 70° and the rest of the week in the 60s (accompanied by rain of course - wouldn't want us to go into sun shock or anything), I decided to plant flowers today. That should send a signal to Mother Nature that we're ready for Spring and won't tolerate any more frost!

I am typically a planner and one of those wacky people who like to have a scheme or theme for most everything, but this year I had no earthly idea of what to do. I knew there were two things I wanted for sure going into today's adventure - 1) lots of color and b) a repeat of last year's successful double impatiens at the front door. I was traumatized by last year's sad, sorry internet flowers/herbs so I knew I was going to need to plan from scratch. My first stroke of genius was spying 'Sunset' California Poppy seeds at the grocery store the other day. I could get a boat load of packets for less than $2 each and sow seeds around the mailbox area. They should look like this -

Another stroke of genius was Star Jasmine topiaries for either side of the garage door - they give the garage a "wow" factor with some height and how simple is transplanting one pot each?! Bonus! I added white alyssum along the base to give them even more punch and a simple color scheme that won't compete with the poppies. I couldn't pass up a sweet little lavender plant for the bistro table. Finally, I picked up potted herbs to add delicious flavor to summer meals. The fragrance in the front yard should be amazing!

Voila -