the wall

"Mom's plant," we call it, because she re-plants these seeds every year and they grow beautifully all over her front porch. For us? It did horribly the three months of its life, but has miraculously come back and actually begun to flower, ever since Naomi started to fertilize our potted plants. Thanks for the tip, Ginny. Things look SO much better. Who would have known?

not geraniums

this year we're trying strawberries on the railing. We've had them there about a week and so far they're looking fantastic (it's nice to have a good start). So great, in fact, that I'm planning on going back for more. Naomi suggested we do the next batch with a semi-sandy soil. Apparently that's what strawberries like -- ??? Also, sun and not much wind. I'm not quite sure how they'll do with the not-much-wind part, but we definitely get sun on the porch during the summer.

rununculus

rununculus...Naomi planted them yesterday. This'll be our first attempt (last year we grew anemones). We soaked the bulbs twice (once last week, once this week!) -- hope that won't be a problem!

woody herbs

The Parsley is left over from last year (we can't seem to kill it). The rosemary is new, as is the thyme! The rosemary we bought a couple of days ago. Last year's rosemary? we didn't water it during the winter. And the same goes for last year's thyme, which was really quite lovely to begin with (as is this one, which we bought at Eleclerc about two weeks ago).

and they're all in a big old pot with the olive tree, which Miriam brought back to life last summer.

for our guests

Really, I think we need to plant these much-much-much-much earlier next year. What's the deal with Not Blooming until (almost) July?? Hopefully our summer guests will get to enjoy lots of bright flowers because of these slow-pokes.

the surprise (ie, not basil)

May picture

and now (see how they're wilting? the heat started two days ago). I'm wondering if I've been watering them too much -- well, not too much for them, but too much for the cilantro. Do you see it to the right? It's yellow. Also (and you can't see this in the picture), all the cilantro plants are starting to seed. I suppose I should look up what that means.

all done

the anemones, yesterday. I'm going to pull them up and use the pot for our one hardy geranium.