FRIDAY FINDS

The rabbit struggles continue here. I have borrowed a few traps but the little buggers aren't big enough to set them off. They are absolutely decimating any annuals I've planted in the ground and it is getting so frustrating! Deer repellent seems to have no effect on them. If you have some proven ways to manage them, I'm all ears.

I had to take a break from gardening last weekend to give Odin a bath. This is a full half-day activity but the pay off is a clean, fluffy, good smelling dog. It's not often that I get a clean dog and a decent looking garden at the same time! By the way, those white alliums that you see in the foreground ('Mount Everest') are real winners. Going to have to add more of those.

I also got very late in planting in the vegetable garden, just planting many seeds in the last week. But I figure better late than never. I'll just have these crops later in the season.

Matt is clearly more on the ball than I am this year and his sweet pea pictures are to die for. My sweet peas are currently 8 inches tall.

This cake is beautiful!

I might do that cake thing, but this? Gimme a break. 

I look forward to each and every post from Deborah Silver this time of year, when her amazing container creations spill forth. Don't miss her latest post. 

Lastly, in case you missed my latest video, here it is. I was supposed to be in it, but as you'll see at the end, I had a bit of a miscalculation in trying to shoot it myself. Whoops.

Will you be spending time in the garden this weekend or are you into "relax" mode? Either way, I hope you have a great weekend and avoid some of the crazy weather that is popping up all over the country.

HOW THIS YEAR'S CONTAINERS CAME TOGETHER

As promised, last weekend I banged out all the container planting (save for three small containers on the front steps that I usually plant with whatever I have leftover). 

I like to show the starting point for my containers because they are all a little sparse. I think people who are new to creating container designs are disappointed if they don't look full and lush right from the get-go because that's what they see. But the average gardener doesn't have access to huge annuals. Plants are smaller and may not even have a flower on them yet. I always have to squint a little to imagine what it's going look like in a few weeks.

But that's the joy of annual containers: They start looking great quickly. In fact the challenge with containers is often keeping them from looking junglelike midway through the season (as evidenced by some of my containers in years past). 

Here's how everything turned out. I didn't include the window box in this post as I feel that deserves its own post. I also made a video of how they all came together that you can watch here or at the bottom of the post.

DECK CONTAINERS

I put less in these containers than in the past and I think that's for the best. Frankly I think I was cramming too much in there and everything was a little hampered in its growth. Everything I've been told about the Cuphea suggests that hummingbirds go nuts for that plant so I thought I'd try to encourage them to come in close. So far no sightings, but it's pretty small still.

• Mandevilla • Lemon Coral sedum • Superbena Dark Blue • Cuphea Vermillionaire

GARAGE 'TROUGH'

This is a close copy of what I did here last year, but I liked it so much I didn't want to change it too much. I did have to replace the clematis as the others didn't make it through the winter. If I lose these again I will rethink using clematis as the climbers in this pot because obviously replacing them every year is not a great option.

• Dichondra Silver Falls • Infinity White impatiens • Plectranthus Silver Shield

DRIVEWAY CONTAINERS

These pots are new this year. You may recall the pots were cheap finds at the Restoration Outlet that I stained over the winter. I'm really happy to report that the stain is holding up great and I'm loving having these. For a long time I've felt that we were missing something near the entrance of the house.

I wanted to keep these simple. Between the circle garden, the annual planting along the house, the window box and everything else going on over there, it's a riot of  color and I thought something a little simpler might be nice.

The centerpiece is a white rose that I planted bare root several weeks ago. It won't get big this year, but I hope we get to see a few blooms at least. In the meantime, the "skirt" of gray and blue around it will be the star this year.

• 'Windermere' rose • Licorice plant • Lobelia Laguna Compact Blue with Eye

GARDEN URN

I must be on a gray kick this year because there is a lot of gray foliage showing up in my containers. I loved the 'Elegant Feather' I used in a few containers last year, but I also love cardoons. They get huge (even though they are tiny when planted), so they'll fill up most of this container, but I added in a few Superbells to make a "skirt" and I threw in some Verbena bonareinsis seedlings as well. They are tiny and I don't know how they'll fair but there's no harm in trying. If they grow, they'll get tall and provide some much-needed height there.

• Cardoon • Superbells Blue Moon Punch

• Verbena bonareinsis

FRONT DOOR POT

The container by the front door (which we made, by the way) got a similar treatment. It's always a big of a leap of faith putting such a small plant as the cardoon in as the centerpiece, but I've had great luck with them before. In fact I worry it may cover the Gaura, but I'll just play it by ear if that happens.

• Cardoon • Dichondra Silver Falls • Supertunia Bordeaux • Gaura Karalee Petite Pink • Ipomoea Sweet Caroline Bewitched After Dark • Verbena seedlings


Here's how they all came together.

You can be sure I'll keep you updated on how everything is looking as the season progresses. In the meantime, how are your container plantings looking?

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BRITISH GARDENING TELEVISION FANS, HAVE I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU

I can't tell you how happy I am that so many of you have been enjoying the British gardening television shows I've been linking to for the last year. It makes me feel like a normal human being, because when I see a new show pop up on my Youtube feed, I get downright giddy, immediately drop everything I'm doing and sit down and watch it.

And I found another one that I think you'll really like. It's called "Monty Don's Big Dreams, Small Spaces." Just the title encompasses so many things that I love: Monty Don? Obsessed. Big Dreams? Well, yeah, who doesn't have big gardening dreams? Small Spaces: Check.

Sadly there are only five of the hour-long shows. Each episode features two families who are creating new gardens over the course of a year. My man Monty shows up in the beginning to help them with their plans, once or twice in the middle of the project to pitch in and then comes back a year later to see how the garden ended up. The gardens ranged from low-budget overalls to $20,000 dream gardens. Some of the concepts and designs were downright strange, but to Monty's credit, even though you knew he was thinking, 'This is not going to work,' he never tried to talk people out of their dream garden but tried to help them make the design more practical.

So here's my question: What would you do if Monty Don or any other serious gardening expert came to your garden and suggested ways you could improve it? I know I'd be taking notes and probably doing exactly what they suggested. I found it interesting that that's not the case in this series. There were some homeowners who were so set in their plans, no matter how impractical, that they weren't going to listen to a thing Monty said. That sort of blows my mind.

Anyway, give it a watch and see what you think of it. I like it because it's gardening on a bit more approachable level.

And I have even better news for you. I figured out how to set up a Youtube channel with playlists of all my favorite gardening shows. So now you don't have to wade through a mass of links in posts. You can just go to the channel. I got most of the shows I've mentioned before linked there into playlists by show and I'll add more as I find them.

I've added the latest in "The Great British Garden Revival" to that playlist and you may want to check out a show that is airing on a different network called "Show Me Your Garden." There's only one episode up so far but I'll be on the lookout for more. The quality isn't as good as in the BBC shows, unfortunately.

It sounds like "Gardener's World" is set to return in March, which seems like it's ages away.