by Melody on May 5, 2019

Well, busy, busy, busy, week! I got so much done and I'm pretty happy with most of it.

First, my wedding-pallet is planted now. I packed in the soil and got the plants in place – a few cold nights last week though – so I had to cover everything. Petunias, calibricoa, and phlox can take the cool night temperatures fairly well, but the euphorbia and sweet potato had me worried. Everything made it through it seems. I cut plants back a little bit when I planted them, but should have a good "progress" picture soon – I am seriously hoping anyways – the wedding is less than two weeks away!



I really need to do a post about cutting plants back because many people ask me about the proper way to do this; it can be kind of scary to know when and how to just "whack" off parts of a plant.

I also planted some large pots with the same plant material I used in the pallet; two plum-purple pots and a camel/caramel colored pot. They are filling in very quickly and look like they will be ready in time. I'll have pictures of those soon, as well as some pictures of some other "rustic" planters I have prepared for the wedding.

Now on to my chain-link camouflage project; I bought several (32) five feet long bamboo stakes at a local garden center, painted them bright periwinkle-blue, and tied them with twine to my chain-link fence. I do like the results. The bright color of the bamboo stakes really stands out and draws the eye away from the original fencing.

So (again) a picture of before:



And – a picture of after:



I also could have bought wooden fence pickets and painted them. I very luckily found three dwarf Alberta spruces, a Nikko blue hydrangea, three pink-flowered hibiscus, and some other assorted plants (for very cheap!- yay!!) and planting began today. I should have some great pictures soon. I am also going to add some garden lighting as soon as I figure out how to take some cheap ($1.00) solar lighting stakes apart and put the parts in some colored glass bottles. Maybe it won't work – but I'm going to try.

My daughter asked me to "do" her bouquet also and she wants a lot of foliage in the bouquet rather than flowers. I am very excited about a fantastic plant I discovered that just incorporates foliage and flowers into one great package – Dianthus "Green Ball" – a very striking plant. The plant blooms, but the blooms never color – just an amazing presentation of bright emerald-green flower heads. Here are a couple of pictures of this plant in combination pots.



And again – look at the great height; a great cut-flower for bouquets



I bought a couple of these Dianthus this weekend and I am really excited to use the cut stems in my daughter's bouquets, along with foxtail fern, eucalyptus, and ivy – and then place the plants in my garden to complement the other plant material.

I am having a lot of fun with the wedding plans, but am also very ready for the madness to be over!! More pictures soon!!