Let the Planting Begin...

I've done a lot -- still have some left, but wanted to share what I've done before the *&^%#*^ rabbits eat all of my efforts. Even with the strongest repellents on the market, they love my impatiens, verbena, and roses. Mind you, the impatiens and verbena are in pots! They're climbing in and feasting. Time to borrow one of the grand dogs. Keep in mind that nothing is in full color, yet. Our weather hasn't been consistently warm enough, but I know it's coming.

These lovelies are waiting to be planted.

My Turtle Garden

The Back Garden


Lemon Tree; Gerbers; Verbena, Red Geraniums, and Creeping Jenny; and a pot in waiting. These are the steps the bunnies live under.

The garden that got away -- we'll be reworking this beginning this weekend.

Heirloom Tomatoes and the patio corner garden

Plants on the patio steps
So now you know that I haven't been spending ALL of my time on Facebook!

"Pat the Bunny"? I don't think so.....

When I was a child and we were returning home at night, my dad would pull into the long driveway behind the rowhouses, flip on the high beams and go very slowly. Much to my delight , we would spot a few bunnies.
Who would have known that 50 years later, the little rodents would become my nemises. One of my greatest joys in life is my gardens. I have several perennial gardens replete with day lilies, shasta daisies, penstemon, oenthera, thread-leaf coreopsis, echinacea, astilbe, rudbeckia, and yarrow to name a few. Since perennials are a great source of texture, but not one of constant color, I fill in with annuals. I love "hot" colors: mixing purple with orange-red geraniums, rust colored miniature zinnias, lots of purple, red, and burgundy trailing verbenna, yellow and orange zinnias, red impatiens, tons of coleus. These gorgeous annuals fill about 30 terra cotta pots that are positioned on our steps, on our patio, and in the gardens as well. You know where this is going....fighting off deer is a problem, but rectified by two substances that I use: Treeguard, which is a latex solution and not water soluable, and Deer Scram (yes, this is the actual name). The former we spray about once a month; the latter we scatter as it's in powder form. The deer did the responsible thing and avoided our property altogether. The rabbits on the other hand (both substances are SUPPOSED to deter rabbits as well) have gotten brazen and to make things worse, they were living under our deck so not only were we feeding them, we were boarding them as well.
They feast on the impatiens and verbenna planted around borders, and actually get up into the pots and completely devastate the plantings. One day, standing on our porch overlooking the patio, I held our baby grand daughter, showing her my completely laden blueberry bush. Right before our eyes, a small rabbit jumped into the pot and proceeded to devour both berries and stalks. I was so shocked I couldn't even move. The baby was delighted. All I could say was, "Nonna Kathy's gonna get her a gun!" I bought blueberries this year; I had to.
Wouldn't you know that the baby's favorite book is Pat the Bunny. I'm writing my own sequel....