I’m way into the veggie season and my plants and flowers are all starting to come in nicely. In the beginning of the spring here in South Jersey there is an abundance of pansies so this year I joined the craze. I’ve got three pots of various pansy sizes – purple, white and yellow. They were a lovely “hello spring!” visual even though we still had a bit of snow joining us from time to time.
Different Pots for Pansies
I had a small orange turtle ceramic pot holding the yellow flowers, a plain white pot holding the purple ones and my pretty tall blue pot held the white ones. I must say it was a very welcoming front porch!
Do you just plant things to make you smile? A little joy to a dull space perhaps? It’s a good reminder that Spring is coming – get ready!
In June, the Pansies Need Help
After a bunch of sunny, warm days my pansies were needing some clean up in the form of “dead heading.” That’s when you pull off all the dead leaves and dead flower heads from blooms past. This frees up the plant to create new blooms. It’s good for the plant.
I also move the pansies to the backyard area and let them hang out under a bush so they are not sweltering in the hot sun for the rest of the summer. I may decide to plant them, but for now I enjoy my orange turtle!
Sometimes it’s the container that makes me smile way more than the plant!
Freeloader Traveler
I moved 2 of the pansies to my backyard to work on cleaning up these plants and I found a daddy long-legs spider hanging out in the purple plant. I was careful not to bother him and he tried to hide from me. I was determined to help him get back to the front porch in case he had a family in the front area.
My new pink planter on the front porch is now home to 3 hot pink geraniums from my local garden shop. During the deadheading of the purple pansy, Mr. Daddy-o spider jumped to the new plant. He’s a smart one! Now he is heading back to his home location. Glad he’s got a new plant to hang out in on the front porch. The orange turtle ceramic pot and the white purple one are now in the shade in the backyard.
As simple as planting pansies to get your gardening vibes going – that’s what it takes sometimes. I’m growing into a better gardener. I’m no expert, but I’m not really a beginner either. I try stuff. I want things to look interesting, different, so you won’t find lots of matchy, matchy things happening in my gardens. Mostly fun flowers and veggies I find as a deal or because I enjoy cooking with them – either way – they end up in my garden!
There are a mix of annual and perennial items. I’m sort of surprised when things come up again as In the past I did not have as good of a green thumb as I tend to have now. Or it good be I finally figured out that good, healthy soil is the key to a good garden.
You will figure out what makes your garden grow too, just like me. Hang around here once in a while and see what’s going on in South Jersey. I hope your growing season is full of many fabulous harvests and bright colors and happy bees! I hope to blog weekly and share my experiences working in my small garden plot.
Until next time – Gina 🙂